fection was a virtual injustice to
the sovereign, who was decidedly more amiable than the spouse. The
former rarely did a spiteful thing from personal motives of revenge; I
only know of two. He never invited Lady Jersey to the Tuileries during
the Empire, because she had shown her dislike of him when he was in
London; he exiled David d'Angers because the sculptor had refused to
finish the monument of Queen Hortense after the Coup-d'Etat. David
d'Angers was one of the noblest creatures that ever lived, and I mean to
speak of him at greater length. On the other hand, Madame de Persigny
made her husband's life, notwithstanding his love for her, a burden by
her whimsical disposition, her vindictive temperament, and her
cheeseparing in everything except her own lavish expenditure on dress.
She was what the French call "une femme qui fait des scenes;" she almost
prided herself upon being superior in birth to her husband, though in
that respect there was really not a pin to choose between her
grandfather, Michel Ney, the stable-boy, who had risen to be a duke of
the First Empire, and her husband, the sergeant-quartermaster Fialin,
who became Duc de Persigny under the second. She was always advocating
retrenchment in the household. "True," said Persigny, "she cuts down her
dresses too, but the more she cuts, the more they cost." For in his
angry moments he would now and then tell a story against his wife. Here
is one. Persigny, as I have already said, was hospitable to a fault, but
he had always to do battle when projecting a grand entertainment. "There
was so much trouble with the servants, and as for the chef, his
extravagance knew no bounds." So said madame; and sick at last of always
hearing the same complaints, he decided to let Chevet provide. All went
well at first, because he himself went to the Palais-Royal to give his
orders, merely stating the number of guests, and leaving the rest to the
famous caterers, than whom there are no more obliging or conscientious
purveyors anywhere. After a little while he began to leave the
arrangements to madame; she herself sent out the invitations, so there
could be no mistake with regard to the number. He soon perceived,
however, that the dinners, if not inferior in quality to the former
ones, were decidedly inferior in quantity. At last, one evening, when
there were twenty-six people round the board, there was not enough for
twenty, and next day De Persigny took the road to the Palais