Along the road to Brittany the Vicomte de Troisville was stated to be a younger son without a penny, for the estates in Perche belonged to the Marquis de Troisville, peer of France, who had children; the marriage would be, therefore, an enormous piece of luck for a poor emigre.  The aristocracy along that road approved of the marriage; Mademoiselle Cormon could not do better with her money.  But among the Bourgeoisie, the Vicomte de Troisville was a Russian general who had fought against France, and was now returning with a great fortune made at the court of Saint-Petersburg; he was a foreigner; one of those allies so hated by the liberals; the Abbe de Sponde had slyly negotiated this marriage.  All the persons who had a right to call upon Mademoiselle Cormon determined to do so that very evening.

During this transurban excitement, which made that of Suzanne almost a forgotten affair, Mademoiselle was not less agitated; she was filled with a variety of novel emotions.  Looking about her salon, dining-room, and boudoir, cruel apprehensions took possession of her.  A species of demon showed her with a sneer her old-fashioned luxury.  The handsome things she had admired from her youth up she suddenly suspected of age and absurdity.  In short, she felt that fear which takes possession of nearly all authors when they read over a work they have hitherto thought proof against every exacting or blase critic:  new situations seem timeworn; the best-turned and most highly polished phrases limp and squint; metaphors and images grin or contradict each other; whatsoever is false strikes the eye.  In like manner this poor woman trembled lest she should see on the lips of Monsieur de Troisville a smile of contempt for this episcopal salon; she dreaded the cold look he might cast over that ancient dining-room; in short, she feared the frame might injure and age the portrait.  Suppose these antiquities should cast a reflected light of old age upon herself?  This question made her flesh creep.  She would gladly, at that moment, spend half her savings on refitting her house if some fairy wand could do it in a moment.  Where is the general who has not trembled on the eve of a battle?  The poor woman was now between her Austerlitz and her Waterloo.

“Madame la Vicomtesse de Troisville,” she said to herself; “a noble name!  Our property will go to a good family, at any rate.”

She fell a prey to an irritation which made every fibre of her nerves quiver to all their papillae, long sunk in flesh.  Her blood, lashed by this new hope, was in motion.  She felt the strength to converse, if necessary, with Monsieur de Troisville.