because she knew that by two words a woman may cause the death of
three men.

She had parted from M. d'Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he
not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and
in the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most
intimate friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing
about her none of Cornelia's jewels, who come and go, and
unconsciously betray their mother's age, took her for quite a young
woman. The two boys, about whom she seemed so anxious in her petition,
were, like their father, as unknown in the world as the northwest
passage is unknown to navigators. M. d'Espard was supposed to be an
eccentric personage who had deserted his wife without having the
smallest cause for complaint against her.

Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of
twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before
deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she
benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house,
though she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short,
all the details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life
during the years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were
recovering from the disasters resulting from political tempests. She
belonged to one of the most important and illustrious families of the
Faubourg Saint-Germain, and her parents advised her to live with them
as much as possible after the separation forced upon her by her
husband's inexplicable caprice.

In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to
Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in her own house. From