as
Comtesse de Soulas."

Rosalie, as white as a lily, made no reply, so completely was she
stupefied by contending feelings. And yet in the presence of the man she
had this instant begun to hate vehemently, she forced the kind of smile
which a ballet-dancer puts on for the public. Nay, she could even laugh;
she had the strength to conceal her rage, which presently subsided,
for she was determined to make use of this fat simpleton to further her
designs.

"Monsieur Amedee," said she, at the moment when her mother was walking
ahead of them in the garden, affecting to leave the young people
together, "were you not aware that Monsieur Albert Savaron de Savarus is
a Legitimist?"

"A Legitimist?"

"Until 1830 he was Master of Appeals to the Council of State, attached
to the supreme Ministerial Council, and in favor with the Dauphin and
Dauphiness. It would be very good of you to say nothing against him,
but it would be better still if you would attend the election this
year, carry the day, and hinder that poor Monsieur de Chavoncourt from
representing the town of Besancon."

"What sudden interest have you in this Savaron?"

"Monsieur Albert Savaron de Savarus, the natural son of the Comte de
Savarus--pray keep the secret of my indiscretion--if he is returned
deputy, will be our advocate in the suit about les Rouxey. Les Rouxey,
my father tells me, will be my property; I intend to live there, it is
a lovely place! I should be broken-hearted at seeing that fine piece of
the great de Watteville's work destroyed."

"The devil!" thought Amedee, as he left the house. "The heiress is not
such a fool as her mother thinks her."

Monsieur de Chavoncourt is a Royalist, of the famous 221. Hence, from
the day after the revolution of July, he always preached the salutary
doctrine of taking the oaths and resisting the present order of things,
after the pattern of the Tories against the Whigs in England. This
doctrine was not acceptable to the Legitimists, who, in their defeat,
had the wit to divide in their opinions, and to trust to the force
of inertia and to Providence. Monsieur de Chavoncourt was not wholly
trusted by his own party, but seemed to the Moderates the best man to
choose; they preferred the triumph of his half-hearted opinions to
the acclamation of a Republican who should combine the votes of the
enthusiasts and the patriots. Monsieur de Chavoncourt, highly respected
in Besancon, was the representative of an old p