e weight on his conscience.

The count and countess at first opposed this project; telling him that
having already five children he ought not to burden himself with any
more, but he petitioned so earnestly that he obtained what he wanted.
The countess wished to see it, and as she was about to start for Moulins
she ordered it to be put in her women's coach; when it was shown her,
she cried out, "What a lovely child!" The boy was fair, with large blue
eyes and very regular features. She gave him a hundred caresses, which
the child returned very prettily. She at once took a great fancy to him,
and said to Baulieu, "I shall not put him in my women's coach; I shall
put him in my own."

After they arrived at the chateau of Saint-Geran, her affection for
Henri, the name retained by the child, increased day by day. She often
contemplated him with sadness, then embraced him with tenderness, and
kept him long on her bosom. The count shared this affection for the
supposed nephew of Baulieu, who was adopted, so to speak, and brought up
like a child of quality.

The Marquis de Saint-Maixent and Madame de Bouille had not married,
although the old Marquis de Bouille had long been dead. It appeared that
they had given up this scheme. The marchioness no doubt felt scruples
about it, and the marquis was deterred from marriage by his profligate
habits. It is moreover supposed that other engagements and heavy bribes
compensated the loss he derived from the marchioness's breach of faith.

He was a man about town at that period, and was making love to the
demoiselle Jacqueline de la Garde; he had succeeded in gaining her
affections, and brought matters to such a point that she no longer
refused her favours except on the grounds of her pregnancy and the
danger of an indiscretion. The marquis then offered to introduce to her
a matron who could deliver women without the pangs of labour, and who
had a very successful practice. The same Jacqueline de la Garde further
gave evidence at the trial that M. de Saint-Maixent had often boasted,
as of a scientific intrigue, of having spirited away the son of a
governor of a province and grandson of a marshal of France; that he
spoke of the Marchioness de Bouille, said that he had made her rich, and
that it was to him she owed her great wealth; and further, that one day
having taken her to a pretty country seat which belonged to him, she
praised its beauty, saying "c'etait un beau lieu"; he replied by a