January, 1827, Philippe, who was now promoted to the Royal Guard
as lieutenant-colonel in a regiment then commanded by the Duc de
Maufrigneuse, solicited the honor of being ennobled. Under the
Restoration, nobility became a sort of perquisite to the "roturiers"
who served in the Guard. Colonel Bridau had lately bought the estate of
Brambourg, and he now asked to be allowed to entail it under the title
of count. This favor was accorded through the influence of his many
intimacies in the highest rank of society, where he now appeared in
all the luxury of horses, carriages, and liveries; in short, with the
surroundings of a great lord. As soon as he saw himself gazetted in the
Almanack under the title of Comte de Brambourg, he began to frequent the
house of a lieutenant-general of artillery, the Comte de Soulanges.

Insatiable in his wants, and backed by the mistresses of influential
men, Philippe now solicited the honor of being one of the Dauphin's
aides-de-camp. He had the audacity to say to the Dauphin that "an old
soldier, wounded on many a battle-field and who knew real warfare,
might, on occasion, be serviceable to Monseigneur." Philippe, who could
take the tone of all varieties of sycophancy, became in the regions of
the highest social life exactly what the position required him to be;
just as at Issoudun, he had copied the respectability of Mignonnet.
He had, moreover, a fine establishment and gave fetes and dinners;
admitting none of his old friends to his house if he thought their
position in life likely to compromise his future. He was pitiless to the
companions of his former debauches, and curtly refused Bixiou when
that lively satirist asked him to say a word in favor of Giroudeau, who
wanted to re-enter the army after the desertion of Florentine.

"The man has neither manners nor morals," said Philippe.

"Ha! did he say that of me?" cried Giroudeau, "of me, who helped him to
get rid of his uncle!"

"We'll pay him off yet," said Bixiou.

Philippe intended to marry Mademoiselle Amelie de Soulanges, and become
a general, in command of a regiment of the Royal Guard. He asked so many
favors that, to keep him quiet, they made him a Commander of the Legion
of honor, and also Commander of the order of Saint Louis. One rainy
evening, as Agathe and Joseph were returning home along the muddy
streets, they met Philippe in full uniform, bedizened with orders,
leaning back in a corner of a handsome coupe lined with ye