CHAPTER II

THE STEWARD IN DANGER

Monsieur Huguet de Serisy descends in a direct line from the famous
president Huguet, ennobled under Francois I.

This family bears: party per pale or and sable, an orle counterchanged
and two lozenges counterchanged, with: "i, semper melius eris,"--a
motto which, together with the two distaffs taken as supporters,
proves the modesty of the burgher families in the days when the Orders
held their allotted places in the State; and the naivete of our
ancient customs by the pun on "eris," which word, combined with the
"i" at the beginning and the final "s" in "melius," forms the name
(Serisy) of the estate from which the family take their title.

The father of the present count was president of a parliament before
the Revolution. He himself a councillor of State at the Grand Council
of 1787, when he was only twenty-two years of age, was even then
distinguished for his admirable memoranda on delicate diplomatic
matters. He did not emigrate during the Revolution, and spent that
period on his estate of Serizy near Arpajon, where the respect in
which his father was held protected him from all danger. After
spending several years in taking care of the old president, who died
in 1794, he was elected about that time to the Council of the Five
Hundred, and accepted those legislative functions to divert his mind
from his grief. After the 18th Brumaire, Monsieur de Serizy became,
like so many other of the old parliamentary families, an object of the
First Consul's blandishment. He was appointed to the Council of State,
and received one of the most disorganized departments of the