The King was very fond of his daughters, but had no idea of bringing them up properly. The four younger ones were sent to the convent of Fontevrault, in Anjou, to be educated, and as they never came home and were never visited by their parents, they were strangers to each other when, after twelve years, the two youngest came back. As to the others, Madame Victoire returned when she was fourteen, and Madame Thrse, who was called Madame Sixime, because she was the sixth daughter of the King, died when she was eight years old at Fontevrault.Far from being forced, as formerly, to keep in the background her marriage with the Duke of Orlans, it was for that very reason that she was high in the favour of the First Consul and the more en vidence she made it, the better it was for her.In the evenings they rode or walked, watching the gorgeous sunset and afterglow; and in those radiant Italian nights, when the whole country lay white and brilliant under the light of the southern moon, they would wander through the woods glittering with glow-worms and fireflies, or perhaps by the shores of Lake Nemi, buried deep amongst wooded cliffs, a temple of Diana rising out of its waters.
FORE:But her aunt, Mme. de Montesson, was most [384] anxious that she should enter the service of the Duc de Chartres, who was the eldest son of the Duc dOrlans, and very much opposed to Mme. de Montessons designs upon him.
FORE:DivorcedM. de Fontenay escapes to SpainThe mistress of TallienHer influence and his saves many livesRobespierreSingular circumstances at the birth of Louis XVII.The vengeance of the Marquis de Enmity of RobespierreArrest of TrziaLa Force.
ONE:
TWO:The noblesse depe was the highest, most brilliant, and most scandalous in France; but in its ranks were to be found heroic examples and saintly characters; while far away in the convents and chateaux scattered over the country and in quiet bourgeois families in the towns lives were led of earnest faith, devotion, and self-denial.
THREE:Another time a certain M. de Comminges, who had been with him at the cole militaire, in reply to his questionIt is a singular thing that all the three races, Captien, Valois, and Bourbon should have ended with three brothers.
FORE:
He spoke in the pompous jargon of the Revolution, the language of his paper, LAmi des Citoyens. Then turning to the gaoler he sent him away upon [305] a message. When the door had closed behind the spy of his party, in whose presence even he himself dared not speak freely, he took the hand of Trzia and said in a gentle voiceOthers there were who showed the basest ingratitude. The Marquise de had been saved by Mme. Tallien, and hidden for three weeks in her boudoir. Not even her maid knew of her presence there. Trzia herself not only brought her food and waited upon her, but obtained her pardon and got part of her fortune restored to her. For some time she appeared very grateful, and as long as Tallien was powerful she came constantly to see Trzia, often asking for fresh favours.The lavish, almost barbaric hospitality of the [131] great Russian nobles both at St. Petersburg and Moscow astonished Mme. Le Brun. Many of them possessed colossal fortunes and kept open house. Prince Narischkin, Grand Equerry, had always a table to sit five-and-twenty or thirty guests.
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