Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840
behaviour is to be attributed to his recovery from this failing, and
also the pleasure with which she saw him enter her room by the window
when he did not come in by the door. Those who persist in thinking
Madame Lafarge guilty say that the first experts should be believed,
who performed their analysis after the first post-mortem, rather than
the second, who went to work when putrefaction had set in. They also
emphasise the evil tendencies, established by yesterday's evidence, of
the accused: her habits of lying and playing a part; her evil
reputation from her youth; the haste with which her family attempted
to get rid of her by marriage, even going so far as to apply to a
matrimonial agency. She is the granddaughter of a certain Madame
Collard, who before her marriage bore the sole name of Hermine; she
was brought up by Madame de Genlis, and was generally supposed to be
her daughter and the daughter of the Duc d'Orléans, father of the
present King of France. This ancestry of hers is supposed to account
for the keen interest taken in her case at the Tuileries. The
accusation concerning the diamonds is differently regarded in
different circles. Mdmes. de Léautaud, de Montbreton, and the Nicolai,
belonging to the Faubourg Saint-Germain and that clique, think her
capable of theft and poisoning; the democracy, who are delighted to
find a society lady guilty, regard the fable which Madame Lafarge
invented about Madame Léautaud as true. Party spirit appears in
everything and destroys all feelings of equity and justice.
I have just received a letter from the Duchesse d'Albuféra, of which
the following is an extract: "I was at Auteuil with Madame Thiers the
evening of the day before yesterday. Considerable uneasiness prevailed
about current events; these are moving rapidly and becoming very
complicated. The decision to fortify Paris had thrown the Stock
Exchange into excitement; it is a measure which will be enormously
expensive to carry out, and will rouse much apprehension. M. Thiers
said that all his efforts were intended to gain time to finish his
preparations; he added that if we could prolong the matter until April
next we should be in a state of defence, and he said that no one could
be more keenly interested in the question than the King and Queen. As
regards Spain, he seems very uneasy and doubtful of the result; he
receives telegrams every day. On the 7th the Queen-Regent was still at
Valencia, but he thinks that she will perhaps have to fight a battle
to return to her capital. The Town Council of Madrid appoint fresh
Ministers every day, and anarchy there seems complete."
_Courtalin, September 15, 1840._--At dinner-time two new arrivals
appeared, the Duc de Rohan and his son the Prince of Léon. They
brought certain information that M. Anatole Demidoff had married
Princesse Mathilde de Montfort in return for the payment of the
father's debts by M. Demidoff. He is moved only by considerations of
vanity, and has so acted in order to become connected with the King of
Würtemberg and the King of Russia, but the connection is said to be
unfavourably regarded by the two Sovereigns, and not likely to bring
him much satisfaction.
_Bonnétable, September 17, 1840._--The day before yesterday, in the
evening, after all the usual gossip of the Courtalin drawing-room, we
had some amusing anecdotes very well told by M. de Roothe concerning
his father-in-law, Marshal Richelieu.[125] He was married during three
different reigns, and the first marriage was ordered by Louis XIV.,
who had found a perfumed cap of the young fool too near the bed of the
Duchesse de Bourgogne.
[125] At the age of fourteen the Duc de Richelieu, then Duc de
Fronsac, married Mlle. de Noailles, by order of King Louis XIV.
In 1734, after the sieges of Kehl and Philippsburg, where he
greatly distinguished himself, Richelieu married Mlle. de Guise,
Princess of Lorraine, and at the age of eighty-two he married a
third wife, Madame de Roothe. It is said that after the marriage
ceremony he went home to change his clothes, threw down the
ribbon of his order on the bed, and said to his footman: "You can
go; the Holy Spirit will do the rest."
I am astonished by the thought that I have dined with a man whose
father-in-law had been at the feet of that charming Princess and had
been scolded by Madame de Maintenon. M. de Roothe said that Marshal
Richelieu was always a lady's man, and that an hour before his death,
when his daughter-in-law came to his bedside, and said that she
thought he was better and looked stronger, he answered: "Ah, the fact
is that you see me through your fair eyes." M. de Roothe gave the
following account of his mother's marriage with Marshal Richelieu: A
few years previously, when her first husband was still alive, as she
was driving with him, they passed a carriage overturned and broken
upon the Pont Neuf; they stopped to learn to whom the accident had
happened, and whether they could help the sufferers. It was the
Marshal Richelieu whom they picked up and took home to his house in
their carriage. The next day the Marshal called to thank M. and Madame
de Roothe; he was struck with the beauty of the latter, and renewed
his visits so constantly that people remarked upon it to Madame de
Roothe, telling her that the Marshal's reputation was such that it
might be dangerous to receive him too often, in spite of his eighty
years. Madame de Roothe therefore kept out of his way. Some time
afterwards she became a widow, and was left with four children in such
straitened circumstances that she was obliged to sell her horses.
Marshal Richelieu, disguised as a horse-dealer, appeared as purchaser,
said that he could not come to an agreement with Madame de Roothe's
servants, and asked to see her herself. He was taken in, and a
recognition followed. To cut explanations short, she told him that she
had changed her mind and would not sell her horses. M. de Richelieu
withdrew, but in order to help the poor widow he induced the King,
without her knowledge, to find rooms for her in the Tuileries, the
very rooms where we have seen the Vicomtesse d'Agoult and Madame
Adélaïde. Madame de Roothe accepted the King's kindness. Some months
afterwards she learnt that she owed it to the Marshal, and she thought
it her duty to write and thank him. He came to call upon her, fell at
her feet, and said: "If you are comfortable in these rooms, allow me
at least to say that they are unworthy of you, and that the Richelieu
residence would suit you much better." The proposal was accepted, and
the marriage took place. Madame de Roothe became with child, but the
Duc de Fronsac was furious at the thought that a birth might prejudice
his rights, and induced a chambermaid to give his mother-in-law a
draught which brought on a miscarriage.
Yesterday I travelled rapidly, thanks to good roads, good horses and
postillions, and in particular to a hurricane which blew on our backs
and swept the carriage, servants, and horses along in its blast. I
found the Duchesse Mathieu de Montmorency in good health, but slightly
deaf. Her chaplain is ill, and the customs of the house are
consequently altered.
I have a letter from M. Bresson. His account of the political
situation is as follows: "Things here have become somewhat calmer; the
matter will blow over, but resentment and distrust will remain. People
will no longer meet with the same cordiality, and will be continually
on their guard; in short, the ground is by no means as clear as it
was, a thing which M. de Talleyrand never liked, but I think that the
main storm has turned aside, and if you have made plans for a journey
to Prussia next year you need not abandon them for any possible war.
Herr von Werther has been rather seriously ill. The Prince of
Wittgenstein comes back to-morrow from Kissingen. Frau von Reede,
seventy-four years of age as she is, is the leader of society at
Königsberg. We shall have some splendid festivities for the
Huldigung.[126] The nobles of the Mark of Brandenburg have alone
subscribed twenty thousand crowns. All this brilliant prospect does
not restore my good-humour; my health is certainly changed by the
climate, and my character by isolation and exile. I have reached one
of those periods in life, one of those frames of mind, when change is
required at any cost, and it is for change that I hope. My best days
are past; my few remaining ties in this world will soon be broken, and
I ought to try to strengthen my connection with my country. You would
do me a very great service if you could induce my patroness, Madame
Adélaïde, to smooth the path for my retirement."
[126] King Frederick William IV. was not exactly crowned, but he
went to Königsberg to receive the homage (_die Huldigung_) of his
subjects, who took the oath of fidelity to him through their
Deputies on September 10, 1840.
I have an idea that M. Thiers will soon have no trouble in finding
high diplomatic posts for his friends, owing to a large number of
voluntary resignations.
_Valençay, September 19, 1840._--I am now at Valençay, a spot so full
of memories that it seems to me like a native land. M. and Madame de
Valençay are alone here with their children. They both seem very glad
to see me again, and I am always happy to be back at Valençay. Here I
am less cut off than elsewhere from an eventful past, and the dead are
less far away than anywhere else.
_Valençay, September 22, 1840._--M. and Madame de Castellane arrived
here yesterday from their native Auvergne, which seems by no means a
pleasant district in which to live. There are no high-roads to their
residence, but only badly made paths, which must be traversed in a
litter or on horseback. The snow is already upon their mountains,
where there are no trees and no cultivation, nothing but grass for the
cattle; there is no fruit and no vegetables, no game, and no doctor
within easy reach. Pauline has grown thin and sunburnt; her husband is
very thin, and I hope they will pick up at Rochecotte, where we are
all going. Their little daughter, Marie, is most satisfactory, fair,
fat, and fresh, always in a good temper, laughing and restless, a
little angel whom I was very glad to see again, and her mother with
her.
To-day is St. Maurice's Day, formerly the most festive and animated of
days at Valençay. This year it will be celebrated only by a mass for
the repose of the soul of our dear M. de Talleyrand. It will be
celebrated in the chapel where he rests.
_Valençay, September 24, 1840._--The great Lafarge drama is now
concluded; she has been condemned. The reflection which came to me
upon reading the verdict is that the appearance of this woman, her
speeches, her gesture, and her bearing, produced a very striking
effect and secured her conviction. It is a verdict which could by no
means be inferred from the facts, for she has shown for a long time
great presence of mind, while her counsel were extremely talented, and
the Public Prosecutor displayed a tactlessness akin to rudeness.
Public sympathies were widely divided, and Madame Lafarge was
supported by a powerful family. The extraordinary and unusual element
in this case is that I can see no one, not even the condemned person,
who is in any way attractive. Apart from the prisoner herself, there
is Denis, who seems to be a bad man; her mother Lafarge, who is too
anxious about the will; the deceased man, whose business transactions
were a trifle shady; Madame de Léautaud, very frivolous; Madame de
Montbreton, who was too fond of hypnotism; Madame de Nicolaï, who did
not look after her daughters properly. As the accusers of Madame
Lafarge numbered so few estimable persons, she must have strongly
impressed the jury with her guilt for them to bring in a verdict
against her.