VAL-NOBLE (Madame du). (See Gaillard, Madame Theodore.)

VALOIS (Chevalier de), born about 1758; died, as did his friend and fellow-countryman, the Marquis d’Esgrignon, with the legitimate monarchy, August, 1830.  This poor man passed his youth in Paris, where he was surprised by the Revolution.  He was finally a Chouan, and when the western Whites arose in arms against the Republic, he was one of the members of the Alencon royal committee.  At the time of the Restoration he was living in this city very modestly, but received by the leading aristocracy of the province as a true Valois.  The chevalier carried snuff in an old gold snuffbox, ornamented with the picture of the Princess Goritza, a Hungarian, celebrated for her beauty, under Louis XV.  He spoke only with emotion of this woman, for whom he had battled with Lauzun.  The Chevalier de Valois tried vainly to marry the wealthy heiress of Alencon, Rose-Victoire Cormon, a spinster, who had the misfortune to become the wife, platonically speaking, of M. du Bousquier, the former contractor.  In his lodging at Alencon with Madame Lardot, a laundress, the chevalier had as mistress one of the working women, Cesarine, whose child was usually attributed to him.  Cesarine was, as a result, the sole legatee of her lover.  The chevalier also took some liberties with another employe of Madame Lardot, Suzanne, a very beautiful Norman girl, who was afterwards known at Paris as a courtesan, under the name of Val-Noble, and who still later married Theodore Gaillard.  M. de Valois, although strongly attached to this girl, did not allow her to defraud him.  He was intimate with Messieurs de Lenoncourt, de Navarreins, de Verneuil, de Fontaine, de la Billardiere, de Maufrigneuse and de Chaulieu.  Valois made a living by gambling, but pretended to gain his modest livelihood from a Maitre Bordin, in the name of a certain M. de Pombreton. [The Chouans.  Jealousies of a Country Town.]

VANDENESSE (Marquis de), a gentleman of Tours; had by his wife four children:  Charles, who married Emilie de Fontaine, widow of Kergarouet; Felix, who married Marie-Angelique de Granville; and two daughters, the elder of whom was married to her cousin, the Marquis de Listomere.  The Vandenesse motto was:  “Ne se vend.” [The Lily of the Valley.]

VANDENESSE (Marquise de), born Listomere, wife of the preceding; tall, slender, emaciated, selfish and fond of cards; “insolent, like all the Listomeres, with whom insolence always counts as a part of the dowry.”  She was the mother of four children, whom she reared harshly, keeping them at a distance, especially her son Felix.  She had something of a weakness for her son Charles, the elder. [The Lily of the Valley.]

VANDENESSE (Marquis Charles de), son of the preceding, born towards the close of the eighteenth century; shone as a diplomatist under the Bourbons; during this period was the lover of Madame Julie d’Aiglemont, wife of General d’Aiglemont; by her he had some natural children.  With Desroches as his attorney, Vandenesse entered into a suit with his younger brother, Comte Felix, in regard to some financial matters.  He married the wealthy widow of Kergarouet, born Emilie de Fontaine. [A Woman of Thirty.  A Start in Life.  A Daughter of Eve.]