husband
happy, should be condemned to pass her life in a convent. When, on
reflection, he expressed a desire to know more of the young lady,
the hope was held out to him of obtaining the hand of Mademoiselle
Philiberte for his son, provided he would take her without dowry. He
went to Bayeux, had several interviews with the Champignelles's family,
and was completely won by the noble qualities of the young girl.

"At sixteen years of age, Mademoiselle de Champignelles gave promise
of what she would ultimately become. It was easy to see in her a living
piety, an unalterable good sense, an inflexible uprightness, and one of
those souls which never detach themselves from an affection under any
compulsion. The old father, enriched by his extortions in the army,
recognized in this charming girl a woman who could restrain his son by
the power of virtue, and by the ascendancy of a nature that was firm
without rigidity.

"You have seen her," said Monsieur Alain, pausing in his narrative, "and
you know that no one can be gentler than Madame de la Chanterie; and
also, I may tell you, that no one is more confiding. She has kept, even
to her declining years, the candor and simplicity of innocence; she has
never been willing to believe in evil, and the little mistrust you may
have noticed in her is due only to her terrible misfortunes.

"The old man," said Monsieur Alain, continuing, "agreed with the
Champignelles family to give a receipt for the legal dower of
Mademoiselle Philiberte (this was necessary in those days); but
in return, the Champignelles, who were allied to many of the great
families, promised to obtain the erection of the little fief of la
Chanterie into a barony; and they kept their word. The aunt of the
future husband, Madame de Boisfrelon, the widow of a parliamentary
councillor, promised to bequeath her whole fortune to her nephew.

"When these arrangements had been completed by the two families, the
father sent for the son. At this time the latter was Master of petitions
to the Grand Council. He was twenty-five years of age, and had already
lived a life of folly with all the young seigneurs of the period; in
fact, the old purveyor had been forced more than once to pay his debts.
The poor father, foreseeing further follies, was only too glad to make a
settlement on his daughter-in-law of a certain sum; and he entailed the
estate of la Chanterie on the heirs male of the marriage.

"But the Revolution," said Mon