Madame Marion, _nee_ Giguet, had another brother who was colonel of
gendarmerie at Troyes, whom she followed to that town at an earlier
period. It was there that she married Monsieur Marion,
receiver-general of the Aube, who also had had a brother, the
chief-justice of an imperial court. While a mere barrister at Arcis
this young man had lent his name during the Terror to the famous
Malin de l'Aube, the representative of the people, in order to hold
possession of the estate of Gondreville. [See "An Historical Mystery."]
Consequently, all the support and influence of Malin, now become count
and senator, was at the service of the Marion family. The barrister's
brother was made receiver-general of the department, at a period when,
far from having forty applicants for one place, the government was
fortunate in getting any one to accept such a slippery office.

Marion, the receiver-general, inherited the fortune of his brother the
chief-justice, and Madame Marion that of her brother the colonel of
gendarmerie. In 1814, the receiver-general met with reverses. He died
when the Empire died; but his widow managed to gather fifteen thousand
francs a year from the wreck of his accumulated fortunes. The colonel
of gendarmerie had left his property to his sister on learning the
marriage of his brother the artillery officer to the daughter of a
rich banker of Hamburg. It is well known what a fancy all Europe had
for the splendid troopers of Napoleon!

In 1814, Madame Marion, half-ruined, returned to Arcis, her native
place, where she bought, on the Grande-Place, one of the finest houses
in the town. Accustomed to receive much company at Troyes, where the
receiver-general reigned supreme, she now opened her salon to the
notabilities of the liberal party in Arcis. A woman accustomed to the