"
He shrugged his shoulders and rejoined his wife, or to speak the
truth, his slave.
The confidence made to Madame du Tillet by Madame Felix de Vandenesse
is connected with so many points of the latter's history for the last
six years, that it would be unintelligible without a succinct account
of the principal events of her life.
CHAPTER III
THE HISTORY OF A FORTUNATE WOMAN
Among the remarkable men who owed their destiny to the Restoration,
but whom, unfortunately, the restored monarchy kept, with Martignac,
aloof from the concerns of government, was Felix de Vandenesse,
removed, with several others, to the Chamber of peers during the last
days of Charles X. This misfortune, though, as he supposed, temporary,
made him think of marriage, towards which he was also led, as so many
men are, by a sort of disgust for the emotions of gallantry, those
fairy flowers of the soul. There comes a vital moment to most of us
when social life appears in all its soberness.
Felix de Vandenesse had been in turn happy and unhappy, oftener
unhappy than happy, like men who, at their start in life, have met
with Love in its most perfect form. Such privileged beings can never
subsequently be satisfied; but, after fully experiencing life, and
comparing characters, they attain to a certain contentment, taking
refuge in a spirit of general indulgence.
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