was
simply "Madame du Val-Noble"; in other days she would have rivalled
the Rhodopes, the Imperias, the Ninons of the past. One of the most
distinguished writers of the Restoration has taken her under his
protection; perhaps he may marry her. He is a journalist, and
consequently above public opinion, inasmuch as he manufactures it afresh
every year or two.

CHAPTER IV. MADEMOISELLE CORMON

In nearly all the second-class prefectures of France there exists
one salon which is the meeting-ground of those considerable and
well-considered persons of the community who are, nevertheless, _not_
the cream of the best society. The master and mistress of such an
establishment are counted among the leading persons of the town; they
are received wherever it may please them to visit; no fete is given, no
formal or diplomatic dinner takes place, to which they are not invited.
But the chateau people, heads of families possessing great estates,
in short, the highest personages in the department, do not go to their
houses; social intercourse between them is carried on by cards from one
to the other, and a dinner or soiree accepted and returned.

This salon, in which the lesser nobility, the clergy, and the magistracy
meet together, exerts a great influence. The judgment and mind of the
region reside in that solid, unostentatious society, where each man
knows the resources of his neighbor, where complete indifference is
shown to luxury and dress,--pleasures which are thought childish in
comparison to that of obtaining ten or twelve acres of pasture land,--a
purchase coveted for years, which has probably given rise to endless
diplomatic combinations. Immovable in its prejudices, good or evil,
this social circle follows a beaten track, looking neither before it nor
behind it. It accepts nothing from Paris without long examination and
trial; it rejects cashmeres as it does investments on the Grand-Livre;
it scoffs at fashions and novelties; reads nothing, prefers ignorance,
whether of science, literature, or industrial inventions. It insists on
the removal of a prefect when that official does not suit it; and if the
administration resists, it isolates him, after the manner of bees who
wall up a snail in wax when it gets into their hive.

In this society gossip is often turned into solemn verdicts. Young women
are seldom seen there; when they come it is to seek approbation of
their conduct,--a consecration of their self-importance.