e,
there is not a single modern play, with the exception of those
of Shakespeare, the genesis of which has been so much commented
upon. It is no exaggeration to say that most educated
playgoers, not to mention professional students of the drama,
have at some time or other expressed a wish to know something
more of the real Marguerite Gautier's parentage and antecedents
than is shown by Dumas, either in his play or in his novel, or
than what they could gather from the partly apocryphal details
given by her contemporaries. Dumas himself, in his preface to
the play, says that she was a farm servant. He probably knew no
more than that, nor did Alphonsine Plessis herself. In
after-years, the eminent dramatist had neither the time nor the
inclination to search musty parish registers; Count de Contades
has done so for him. Here are the results, as briefly as
possible, of his researches. Alphonsine Plessis' paternal
grandmother, "moitie mendiante et moitie prostituee,"
inhabited, a little less than a century ago, the small parish
of Longe-sur-Maire, which has since become simply Longe in the
canton of Briouze, arrondissement of Argentan (about thirty
miles from Alencon). She had been nicknamed "La Guenuchetonne,"
a rustic version of the archaic French word _guenippe_
(slattern). Louis Descours, a kind of country clod who had
entered the priesthood without the least vocation, and just
because his people wished him to do so, becomes enamoured of
"La Guenuchetonne," and early in January, 1790, the cure
Philippe christens a male child, which is registered as Marin
Plessis, mother Louis-Renee Plessis, father unknown. That the
father was known well enough is proved by the Christian name
bestowed upon the babe, Marin, which was that of Louis
Descours' father. This gallant adventure of the country priest
was an open secret for miles around.

Marin Plessis grew into a handsome fellow, and when about
twenty took to travelling in the adjacent provinces of lower
and upper Normandy with a pack of small wares. Handsome and
amiable besides, he was a welcome guest everywhere, and soon
became a great favourite with the female