I have had the honor to explain my position to Madame la Dauphine.

At the time of the marriage, it was a question of saving to the family a million of francs which my uncle had left by will to that person.

Happily, my wife took to drinking; at her death, I come into possession of that million, which is now in the hands of Mongenod and Sons.

I have thirty thousand francs a year in the five per cents, and my landed property, which is entailed, brings me in forty thousand more.

If, as I am led to suppose, Monsieur de Soulanges gets a marshal's baton, I am on the high-road with my title of Comte de Brambourg, to becoming general and peer of France.