FROM LA MARQUISE DE VILLEROI TO I REALLY begin to be alarmed, ma chère Caroline, at the audacious pertinacity with which De Carency pursues you. He has discovered your dread of him, and will make it a profitable source for levying contributions. I know not what to advise, unless it be that you induce milord to accompany you to Paris, where, should the vile wretch De Carency follow you, we could easily manage to have him thrown into prison. We have only to get some person to swear that he had been seen hovering near the Tuileries with an air-gun in the shape of a cane, or lurking on the route to Neuilly with a pistol in his pocket, and you will be troubled by him no more. Five Louis, judiciously disposed of, will quicken the sight of as many persons of le bas peuple here, and enable them to see any thing their employer suggests. Imaginez vous mon malheur, ma chère amie! -ma mère est morte. But that is not all: she has left the whole of her fortune to le père Maubois ! This is, indeed, a heavy blow; and pauvre Florestan and I are nearly overwhelmed by it. I have long expected that she would have bequeathed a a considerable portion of her wealth to her Jesuitical confessor; but, that she would leave him all, never entered into my mind. The only legacy I have received is a letter filled with reproaches for my extravagance and errors, and an exhortation to turn from my evil courses ere it be too late. My liaison with the duc she stigmatises as a crime of the deepest die, meriting opprobrium here, and perdition hereafter. In short, never was there such an epistle. It is, however, well calculated to preclude any very deep regret for the writer; though it prevents not my chagrin for the loss of my fortune. Quelle mère dénaturée ! She Ma tante, avec cette douceur et cette amabilité qui la distinguent, appears more gratified than grieved by our cruel disappointment. knows that we are now wholly in her power, and hers is not a nature to use that power generously. How right you were, ma chère Caroline, when you pronounced her to be aussi méchante que bête! I must leave you, as ma couturière has come to take my orders for my mourning. How I hate black! for it makes me look so ill. I shall resume my letter when Victorine departs. Only fancy what has occurred,— never was there such a piece of meanness! Madame ma tante came into the room where I had left my unfinished letter to you, while I was giving my instructions to Victorine for my mourning, and had the want of decency to read what I had written. She was frantic with rage at the mention made of herself in it, and vows ven geance against me and you. You, fortunately, are out of her reach; but on poor me it will fall heavily. It was very unthinking of me to leave the letter open upon my desk; but who could dream of her being guilty of so reprehensible an action as that of reading the letter of another! and beneath her own roof, too! What a violation of the rights of hospitality and decorum ! She declares she will reveal my liaison with the duc to Florestan. Little does she imagine that it has long been no secret to him: he, pauvre cher homme, was always reasonable, and adopted the philosophical system which takes for its motto, vivre et laissez vivre. This ancient dame was positively transformed into a fury by the perusal of my letter. She looked a very Megara, with her bleared eyes, and withered cheeks flushed to crimson by the violence of her anger, " 1, bête! I, méchante!" exclaimed she; "what a vile calumny! and this, too, from you, base and ungrateful woman! who owe me so much on whom I have lavished such generosity and kindness. Yes, your mother was right to disinherit you. She knew your wickedness, and has punished you in the only vulnerable point- your love of wealth. The example shall not be lost, depend upon it. The méchante bête shall find means to repay you for all your sins!" |