at the Cormons?"

The Abbe de Sponde, adroitly questioned when he left Saint-Leonard's
to take his daily walk with the Abbe Couturier, replied with his usual
kindliness that he expected the Vicomte de Troisville, a nobleman in the
service of Russia during the Emigration, who was returning to Alencon
to settle there. From two to five o'clock a species of labial telegraphy
went on throughout the town; and all the inhabitants learned that
Mademoiselle Cormon had at last found a husband by letter, and was about
to marry the Vicomte de Troisville. Some said, "Moreau has sold them a
bed." The bed was six feet wide in that quarter; it was four feet wide
at Madame Granson's, in the rue du Bercail; but it was reduced to a
simple couch at Monsieur du Ronceret's, where du Bousquier was dining.
The lesser bourgeoisie declared that the cost was eleven hundred francs.
But generally it was thought that, as to this, rumor was counting the
chickens before they were hatched. In other quarters it was said that
Mariette had made such a raid on the market that the price of carp had
risen. At the end of the rue Saint-Blaise, Penelope had dropped dead.
This decease was doubted in the house of the receiver-general; but at
the Prefecture it was authenticated that the poor beast had expired as
she turned into the courtyard of the hotel Cormon, with such velocity
had the old maid flown to meet her husband. The harness-maker, who lived
at the corner of the rue de Seez, was bold enough to call at the house
and ask if anything had happened to Mademoiselle Cormon's carriage, in
order to discover whether Penelope was really dead. From the end of
the rue Saint-Blaise to the end of the rue du Bercail, it was then made
known that, thanks to Jacquelin's devotion, Penelope, that silent victim
of her mistress's impetuosity, still lived, though she seemed to be
suffering.

Along the road to Brittany the Vicomte de Troisville was stated to be a
younger son without a penny, for the estates in Perche belonged to the
Marquis de Troisville, peer of France, who had children; the marriage
would be, therefore, an enormous piece of luck for a poor emigre. The
aristocracy along that road approved of the marriage; Mademoiselle
Cormon could not do better with her money. But among the Bourgeoisie,
the Vicomte de Troisville was a Russian general who had fought against
France, and was now returning with a great fortune made at the court of
Saint-Petersburg; he was a _fore