* "Revue des Deux Mondes," 1865, vol. lvi, p. 501 et seq.

** Henri Rochefort ("Les Aventures de ma Vie," vol. i, p. 245) casts a
doubt upon the originality of his wit.

At the time when I met him he was president of the Corps Legislatif,
where, without the slightest pretension to oratorical talent, he wielded
an immense influence. He was what we call a "leader" in every sense of
the word--at court, on the Bourse, and in the political as well as in
the social world.

On that morning he was with the duchess, bent upon the same errand as
ourselves, and seeing us, he had come to ask M. Jubinal to give them his
opinion upon the value of a possible purchase. After discussing the
subject, which was all-engrossing for the moment, the duchess turned to
me and politely drew me into conversation. Her kindly manner set me at
ease, and she soon extracted from me the information that I was about to
sail for Mexico. At this she became much excited, and exclaiming, "Oh, I
must tell M. de Morny!" she immediately moved to where he and M. Jubinal
had wandered, saying, "Just think, this young girl is going to Mexico on
the Louisiane alone, under the care of strangers." A gleam of interest
brightened the great man's dull eye as for a moment it rested upon me.
He asked me a few questions; but as the duchess rather commanded my
attention, he soon turned to M. Jubinal, and I overheard my guardian
telling him of the tragic events which had caused my rather sudden
departure, at the same time expressing some anxiety with regard to my
own safety. "Oh," said the duke, "by the time she arrives there we will
have changed all that. Lorencez is there now; our army will then be in
the city of Mexico; the roads will be quite safe. Have no fear."