neglect this warning, my responsibility is past. _Agreez mes
sentimens les plus sinceres_.
J. L.




CHAPTER II.

The Marquis de Rochebriant is no longer domiciled in an attic in the
gloomy Faubourg. See him now in a charming _appartement de garcon an
premier_ in the Rue du Helder, close by the promenades and haunts of the
mode. It had been furnished and inhabited by a brilliant young
provincial from Bordeaux, who, coming into an inheritance of one hundred
thousand francs, had rushed up to Paris to enjoy himself, and make his
million at the Bourse. He had enjoyed himself thoroughly,--he had been a
darling of the _demi monde_; he had been a successful and an inconstant
gallant. Zelie had listened to his vows of eternal love, and his offers
of unlimited _cachemires_; Desiree, succeeding Zelie, had assigned to him
her whole heart--or all that was left of it--in gratitude for the ardour
of his passion, and the diamonds and coupe which accompanied and attested
the ardour; the superb Hortense, supplanting Desiree, received his visits
in the charming apartment he furnished for her, and entertained him and
his friends at the most delicate little suppers, for the moderate sum of
four thousand francs a month. Yes, he had enjoyed himself thoroughly,
but he had not made a million at the Bourse. Before the year was out,
the one hundred thousand francs were gone. Compelled to return to his
province, and by his hard-hearted relations ordained, on penalty of
starvation, to marry the daughter of an _avoue_, for the sake of her dot
and a share in the hated drudgery of the _avoue's_ business,--his