impoverished; grandson on the paternal side of one of the protectors
of Josephine-Sophie Laguerre; descended indirectly from the Comtesse
Albany--whence his given name of Charles-Edouard. He had in his veins
the mixed blood of the condottiere and the gentleman. Under Louis
Philippe, idle and fast going to ruin, with his Louis XIII. cast of
countenance, his evil-minded wit, his lofty independent manners,
insolent yet winning, he was a type of the brilliant Bohemian of the
Boulevard de Gand; so much so, that Madame de la Baudraye, basing her
information on points furnished her by Nathan, one day drew a picture
of him, writing a description in which artificiality and artlessness
were combined. In this were many interesting touches: La Palferine's
contempt shown at all times for the bourgeois class and forms of
government; the request for the return of his toothbrush, then in the
possession of a deserted mistress, Antonia Chocardelle; his relations
with Madame du Bruel, whom he laid siege to, won, and neglected--a
yielding puppet, of whom, strange to say, he broke the heart and made
the fortune. He lived at that time in the Roule addition, in a plain
garret, where he was in the habit of receiving Zephirin Marcas. The
wretchedness of his quarters did not keep La Palferine out of the
best society, and he was the guest of Josepha Mirah at the first
entertainment given in her house on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. By a
strange order of events, Comte Rusticoli became Beatrix de Rochefide's
lover, a few years after the events just narrated, at a time when
the Debats published a novel by him which was spoken of far and wide.
Nathan laid the foundation for this affair. Trailles,
Charles-Edouard's master, carried on the negotiations and brought the
intrigue to a consummation, being urged on by the Abbe Brossette's
assent and the Duchesse de Grandlieu's request. La Palferine's
liaison with Madame de Rochefide effected a reconciliation between
Calyste du Guenic and his wife. In the course of time, however,