allied. This young man remained sub-prefect for five years. The
beautiful Madame Beauvisage was not, it was said, a stranger to the
reasons that kept him in this office for a period far too prolonged
for his own advancement. We ought to say, however, that these remarks
were not justified by any of the scandals which in the provinces
betray those passions that are difficult to conceal from the
Argus-eyes of a little town. If Severine loved the Vicomte de
Chargeboeuf and was beloved by him, it was in all honor and propriety,
said the friends of the Grevins and the Marions; and that double
coterie imposed its opinion on the whole arrondissement; but the
Marions and the Grevins had no influence on the royalists, and the
royalists regarded the sub-prefect as fortunate in love.

As soon as the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne heard what was said in the
chateaux about her relation, she sent for him; and such was her horror
for all who were connected, near or far, with the actors in the
judicial drama so fatal to her family, that she strictly enjoined him
to change his residence. Not only that, but she obtained his
appointment as sub-prefect of Sancerre with the promise of advancement
to the prefecture.

Some shrewd observers declared that the viscount pretended this
passion for the purpose of being made prefect; for he well knew the
hatred felt by the marquise for the name of Grevin. Others remarked on
the coincidence of the viscount's apparitions in Paris with the visits
made by Madame Beauvisage to the capital on frivolous pretexts. An
impartial historian would be puzzled to form a just opinion on the
facts of this matter, which are buried in the mysteries of private
life. One circumstance alone seems to give color to the reports.