he background of
his brightest dreams. He imagined that he would be first in Paris, as
he had been in the town and the department where his father's name was
potent; but it was vanity, not pride, that filled his soul, and in his
dreams his pleasures were to be magnified by all the greatness of
Paris. The distance was soon crossed. The traveling coach, like his own
thoughts, left the narrow horizon of the province for the vast world of
the great city, without a break in the journey. He stayed in the Rue de
Richelieu, in a handsome hotel close to the boulevard, and hastened to
take possession of Paris as a famished horse rushes into a meadow.

He was not long in finding out the difference between country and
town, and was rather surprised than abashed by the change. His mental
quickness soon discovered how small an entity he was in the midst of
this all-comprehending Babylon; how insane it would be to attempt
to stem the torrent of new ideas and new ways. A single incident was
enough. He delivered his father's letter of introduction to the Duc de
Lenoncourt, a noble who stood high in favor with the King. He saw the
duke in his splendid mansion, among surroundings befitting his rank.
Next day he met him again. This time the Peer of France was lounging
on foot along the boulevard, just like any ordinary mortal, with an
umbrella in his hand; he did not even wear the Blue Ribbon, without
which no knight of the order could have appeared in public in other
times. And, duke and peer and first gentleman of the bedchamber though
he was, M. de Lenoncourt, in spite of his high courtesy, could not
repress a smile as he read his relative's letter; and that smile told
Victurnien that the Collection of Antiquities and the Tuileries were
separated by more than sixty leagues of road; the distance of several
centuries lay between them.

The names of the families grouped about the throne are quite different
in each successive reign, and the characters change with the names. It
would seem that, in the sphere of court, the same thing happens over and
over again in each generation; but each time there is a quite different
set of personages. If history did not prove that this is so, it would
seem incredible. The prominent men at the court of Louis XVIII.,
for instance, had scarcely any connection with the Rivieres, Blacas,
d'Avarays, Vitrolles, d'Autichamps, Pasquiers, Larochejaqueleins,
Decazes, Dambrays, Laines, de Villeles, La Bourdonnayes,