wondering all the while at the extraordinary fantasies of the
marchioness.

My brother had been made a member of the Academy, on the exhibition of a
battle piece which had taken all the critics by storm. The picture was
purchased by the Academy for five hundred louis.

He had fallen in love with Caroline, and would have married her but for a
piece of infidelity on her part, which so enraged him that in a week
after he married an Italian dancer. M. de Sanci, the ecclesiastical
commissioner, gave the wedding party. He was fond of the girl, and out of
gratitude to my brother for marrying her he got him numerous orders among
his friends, which paved the way to the large fortune and high repute
which my brother afterwards attained.

M. Corneman, the banker, who was at my brother's wedding, spoke to me at
considerable length on the great dearth of money, and asked me to discuss
the matter with the comptroller-general.

He told me that one might dispose of Government securities to an
association of brokers at Amsterdam, and take in exchange the securities
of any other country whose credit was higher than that of France, and
that these securities could easily be realized. I begged him to say no
more about it, and promised to see what I could do.

The plan pleased me, and I turned it over all night; and the next day I
went to the Palais Bourbon to discuss the question with M. de Bernis. He
thought the whole idea an excellent one, and advised me to go to Holland
with a letter from M. de Choiseul for M. d'Afri, the ambassador at the
Hague. He thought that the first person I should consult with M. de