the building of his ambitious house. The settlement of his estate,
sharply contested by collateral heirs, dragged slowly along until, in
1798, Soudry, who had then returned to Soulanges, was able to buy the
wine-merchant's palace for three thousand francs in specie. He then
let it, in the first instance, to the government for the headquarters
of the gendarmerie. In 1811 Mademoiselle Cochet, whom Soudry consulted
about all his affairs, strongly objected to the renewal of the lease,
making the house uninhabitable, she declared, with barracks. The town
of Soulanges, assisted by the department, then erected a building for
the gendarmerie in a street running at right angles from the town-hall.
Thereupon Soudry cleaned up his house and restored its primitive
lustre, not a little dimmed by the stabling of horses and the
occupancy of gendarmes.

The house, only one story high, with projecting windows in the roof,
has a view on three sides; one to the square, another to a lake, the
third to a garden. The fourth side looks on a courtyard which
separates the Soudrys from the adjoining house occupied by a grocer
named Wattebled, a man of the SECOND-CLASS society of Soulanges,
father of the beautiful Madame Plissoud, of whom we shall presently
have occasion to speak.

All little towns have a renowned beauty, just as they have a Socquard
and a Cafe de la Paix.

It will be apparent to every one that the frontage of the Soudry
mansion on the lake must have a terraced garden confined by a stone
balustrade which overlooks both the lake and the main road. A flight
of steps leads down from the terrace to the road, and on it an
orange-tree, a pomegranate, a myrtle, and other ornamental shrubs are