Our prospects were varied daily. The dauphine, madame, and all the de
Rochefoucaulds, de la Tremouilles, de Grammonts, de Rohans, de
Crillons, &c. &c., were out of the question. The royal family were in
England, the Orleans branch excepted, and the high nobility were very
generally on their "high ropes," or, a bouder. As for the bankers, their
reign had not yet fairly commenced. Previously to July, 1830, this
estimable class of citizens had not dared to indulge their native tastes for
extravagance and parade, the grave dignity and high breeding of a very
ancient but impoverished nobility holding them in some restraint; and,
then, THEIR fortunes were still uncertain; the funds were not firm, and
even the honorable and worthy Jacques Lafitte, a man to ennoble any
calling, was shaking in credit. Had we been brought into the market a
twelvemonth later, there is no question that we should have been caught
up within a week, by the wife or daughter of some of the operatives at
the Bourse.

{de Rochefoucaulds, etc. = various French noble families; a bouder =
silent; Jacques Lafitte = French financier (1767-1844) who supported
the 1830 July Revolution; Bourse = stock exchange}

As it was, however, we enjoyed ample leisure for observation and
thought. Again and again were we shown to those who, it was thought,
could not fail to yield to our beauty, but no one would purchase. All
appeared to eschew aristocracy, even in their pocket-handkerchiefs.
The day the fleurs de lys were cut out of the medallions of the treasury,
and the king laid down his arms, I thought our mistress would have had
the hysterics on our account. Little did she understand human nature, for
the nouveaux riches, who are as certain to succeed an old and
displaced class of superiors, as hungry flies to follow flies with full