Abetted by the spirit of the age, he introduced into the intellectual
world the risks and unexpected hazards of stock-jobbing circles. He made
a great deal of money in this trade, and, besides, it gave him the
pleasure of making a great deal of noise in the world, of overturning
governments, of dreaming of being minister, nay, prime-minister, when
the day may come in which good, sense is to be challenged and France
made bankrupt. Everybody around him, even his wife, seemed to accept his
superiority for something unquestionable. Their union was not one of
those affectionate, faithful, and tender marriages, such as commonplace
folk hope to enjoy, but it was a copartnership of two smart people,
aided by two bunches of quills. Each pretended to admire the other with
an extravagance of show which made it hard for the bystander to repress
doubts and smiles.
Monsieur Jules Sandeau had informed Madame Emile de Girardin that he
intended to bring me with him. I do not know how she found out that I
had, in the very heart of the Faubourg Saint Germain, an old aunt, a
_real_ duchess, who was recognized as an authority whose _dicta_ could
not be disputed by any noble family to be found from the Quai Voltaire
to the Rue de Babylone, which, as all the world knows, are the frontiers
of that, the most aristocratic quarter of Paris.
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