s ago since the Dowager Countess of Chevanche
died, leaving all her fortune to her niece, Mademoiselle Sabine de
Mussidan. She was a kind-hearted woman, rough and ready in her manner,
but very popular amongst the peasantry. Farther off, on the top of some
rising ground, appears an imposing structure, of an ancient style of
architecture; this is the ancient residence of the Dukes of Champdoce.
The left wing is a picturesque mass of ruins; the roof has fallen
in, and the mullions of the windows are dotted with a thick growth of
clustering ivy. Rain, storm, and sunshine have all done their work, and
painted the mouldering walls with a hundred varied tints. In 1840 the
inheritor of one of the noblest names of France resided here with
his only son. The name of the present proprietor was Caesar Guillaume
Duepair de Champdoce. He was looked upon both by the gentry and
peasantry of the country side as a most eccentric individual. He could
be seen any day wandering about, dressed in the most shabby manner, and
wearing a coat that was frequently in urgent need of repair, a leathern
cap on his head, wooden shoes, and a stout oaken cudgel in his hand. In
winter he supplemented to these an ancient sheepskin coat. He was sixty
years of age, very powerfully built, and possessing enormous strength.
The expression upon his face showed that his will was as strong as
his thews and sinews. Beneath his shaggy eyebrows twinkled a pair of
light-gray eyes, which darkened when a fit of passion overtook him, and
this was no unusual occurrence.

During his military career in the army of the Conde, he had received
a sabre cut across his cheek, and the cicatrice imparted a strange and
unpleasant expression to his face. He was not a bad-hearted man, but
headstrong, violent, and tyrannical to a degree. The peasants saluted
him with a mixture of respect and dread as he walked to the chapel, to
which he was a regular attendant on Sundays, with his son. During the
Mass he made the responses in an audible voice, and at its conclusion
invariably put a five-franc piece into the plate. This, his subscription
to the newspaper, and the sum he paid for being shaved twice each week,
constituted the whole of his outlay upon himself. He kept an excellent
table, however; plump fowls, vegetables of all kinds, and the most
delicious fruit were never absent from it. Everything, however, that
appeared upon his well-plenished board was the produce of his fields,
garden