aux recounted to whoever chose to listen that
Mademoiselle de Vermont had passed the whole of the last 'entr'acte' in
the greenroom corridor, in a friendly chat with Eugenie Gontier.

BOOK 2.

CHAPTER XIII. THE INDUSTRIAL ORPHAN ASYLUM

When the prefectoral axe of the Baron Haussmann hewed its way through
the Faubourg St. Germain in order to create the boulevard to which this
aristocratic centre has given its flame, the appropriation of private
property for public purposes caused to disappear numerous ancient
dwellings bearing armorial devices, torn down in the interest of the
public good, to the equalizing level of a line of tramways. In the
midst of this sacrilegious upheaval, the Hotel de Montgeron, one of
the largest in the Rue St. Dominique, had the good fortune to be hardly
touched by the surveyor's line; in exchange for a few yards sliced
obliquely from the garden, it received a generous addition of air and
light on that side of the mansion which formerly had been shut in.

The Duke lived there in considerable state. His electors, faithful
in all things, had made of their deputy a senator who sat in the
Luxembourg, in virtue of the Republican Constitution, as he would have
sat as a peer of France had the legitimate monarchy followed its course.
He was a great lord in the true meaning of the word: gracious to the
humble, affable among his equals, inclined, among the throng of new
families, to take the part of the disinherited against that of the
usurpers.

In Mademoiselle de Prerolles he had found a companion animated with the
same sentiments, and the charitable organization, meeting again at
the Duchess's residence, on the day following the revival of 'Adrienne
Lecouvreuer', to appoint officers for the Industrial Orphan Asylum,
could not have chosen a president more worthy or more devoted.

Besides such austere patronesses as Madame Desvanneaux and her daughter,
the organization included several persons belonging to the world
of fashion, such as Madame de Lisieux and Madame de Nointel, whose
influence was the more effective because their circle of acquaintance
was more extensive. The gay world often fraternizes willingly with those
who are interested in philanthropic works.

The founders of the Industrial Orphan Asylum intended that the
institution should harbor, bring up, and instruct as great a number as
possible of the children of infirm or deceased laborers.

The secretary, M. Andre Desva