At the age of thirty-five, this man, then known under his true name of des Tours-Minieres, affecting a sincere piety, professing the utmost devotion to the interests of the Comte de Lille and a reverence for the memory of the insurgents who lost their lives at the West, disguising with great ability the secrets of his exhausted youth, and powerfully protected by the silence of creditors, and by the spirit of caste which exists among all country ci-devants,—­this man, truly a whited sepulchre, was introduced, as possessing every claim for consideration, to Madame Lechantre, who was supposed to be the possessor of a large fortune.

All parties conspired to promote a marriage between the young Henriette, only daughter of Madame Lechantre, and this protege of the ci-devants.  Priests, nobles, creditors, each with a different interest, loyal in some, selfish in others, blind for the most part, all united in furthering the union of Bernard Bryond des Tours-Minieres with Henriette Lechantre.

The good sense of the notary who had charge of Madame Lechantre’s affairs, and perhaps his distrust, were the actual cause of the disaster of this young girl.  The Sieur Chesnel, notary at Alencon, put the estate of Saint-Savin, the sole property of the bride, under the dower system, reserving the right of habitation and a modest income to the mother.

The creditors, who supposed, from Madame Lechantre’s orderly and frugal way of living, that she had capital laid by, were deceived in their expectations, and they then began suits which revealed the precarious financial condition of Bryond.

Serious differences now arose between the newly married pair, and the young wife had occasion to know the depraved habits, the political and religious atheism and—­shall I say the word?—­the infamy of the man to whom her life had been so fatally united.  Bryond, forced to let his wife into the secret of the royalist plots, gave a home in his house to their chief agent, Rifoel du Vissard.

  The character of Rifoel, adventurous, brave, generous, exercised a
  charm on all who came in contact with him, as was abundantly
  proved during his trials before three successive criminal courts.

The irresistible influence, the absolute empire he acquired over the mind of a young woman who saw herself suddenly cast into the abyss of a fatal marriage, is but too visible in this catastrophe which now brings her a suppliant to the foot of the Throne.  But that which the Chancellor of His Imperial and Royal Majesty can easily verify is the infamous encouragement given by Bryond to this intimacy.  Far from fulfilling his duty as guide and counsellor to a child whose poor deceived mother had trusted her to him, he took pleasure in drawing