Atlantida

"I was one of the first whom he called to the Elysée. My fortune was

definitely established by a defamatory note on 'Napoleon the little.'

The next year, when Mgr. Sibour was out of the way, I was made

Gentleman of the Chamber, and the Emperor was even so kind as to have

me marry the daughter of the Marshal Repeto, Duke of Mondovi.

"I have no scruple in announcing that this union was not what it

should have been. The Countess, who was ten years older than I, was

crabbed and not particularly pretty. Moreover, her family had insisted

resolutely on a marriage portion. Now I had nothing at this time

except the twenty-five thousand pounds for my appointment as Gentleman

of the Chamber. A sad lot for anyone on intimate terms with the Count

d'Orsay and the Duke of Gramont-Caderousse! Without the kindness of

the Emperor, where would I have been?

"One morning in the spring of 1852, I was in my study opening my mail.

There was a letter from His Majesty, calling me to the Tuileries at

four o'clock; a letter from Clémentine, informing me that she expected

me at five o'clock at her house. Clémentine was the beautiful one for

whom, just then, I was ready to commit any folly. I was so proud of

her that, one evening at the Maison Dorée, I flaunted her before

Prince Metternich, who was tremendously taken with her. All the court

envied me that conquest; and I was morally obliged to continue to

assume its expenses. And then Clémentine was so pretty! The Emperor

himself.... The other letters, good lord, the other letters were the

bills of the dressmakers of that young person, who, in spite of my

discreet remonstrances, insisted on having them sent to my conjugal

dwelling.

"There were bills for something over forty thousand francs: gowns and

ball dresses from Gagelin-Opigez, 23 Rue de Richelieu; hats and

bonnets from Madame Alexandrine, 14 Rue d'Antin; lingerie and many

petticoats from Madame Pauline, 100 Rue de Clery; dress trimmings and

gloves from the Ville de Lyon, 6 Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin;

foulards from the Malle des Indes; handkerchiefs from the Compagnie

Irlandaise; laces from Ferguson; cosmetics from Candès.... This

whitening cream of Candès, in particular, overwhelmed me with

stupefaction. The bill showed fifty-one flasks. Six hundred and

twenty-seven francs and fifty centimes' worth of whitening cream from

Candès.... Enough to soften the skin of a squadron of a hundred

guards!

"'This can't keep on,' I said, putting the bills in my pocket.

"At ten minutes to four, I crossed the wicket by the Carrousel.