The Duchesse de Nemours has a most inexpressive countenance and a monotonous tone of voice, which somewhat counteracts the effect of her brilliant youth. The Duc de Nemours remains as stupid as ever. The Duc d'Aumale is now regarded as a man. He seems lively and inclined to talk. Princesse Clémentine is growing faded, and takes less trouble to please. The Queen and the Duchesse d'Orléans are the two bright stars. M. Dupin, who was also dining at Saint-Cloud, was loudly groaning and haranguing about the weakness of the Government in their treatment of the rioters, saying that as long as they were addressed with the words "gentlemen and fellow toilers" incendiarism and plunder might be expected. The day before yesterday these workmen during the night disarmed two outposts in the Rue Mauconseil, though it must be said that the soldiers made no attempt to defend themselves. The result was a fresh panic at the Stock Exchange yesterday. The fear, the grief, and the ruin which have overtaken a number of people cannot be imagined.
The other day M. de Montrond was saying that M. de Flahaut was anxious to go to London as ambassador, but they are too glad to be rid of Guizot to recall him here, notwithstanding the dissatisfaction which he causes on the other side of the Channel.
Paris, September 11, 1840.—I have decided to start at the end of the morning for Jeurs to visit the Comtesse Mollien, where I shall sleep.
Yesterday evening on returning home I continued reading the accounts of the trial of Madame Lafarge, as I had fallen behind.[ [124] If she is innocent of the crime, so much the better for her relations, but the evidence of the two expert bodies, her enormous purchases of arsenic, and the sudden transition from complete repugnance to excessive tenderness for her husband would always make me suspect her so far as to desire another nurse if she had to mix my potions.
I am especially shocked by Madame Lafarge's behaviour at one point, and by the uproarious laughter with which she greeted the emphatic and really ridiculous evidence of one of the witnesses; such frivolity seems to me to be rather a proof of impudence than of innocence. The more innocent a person might be, the more she would suffer under such an accusation, and while preserving a clear conscience her mind would be filled with other ideas than any which could produce such bursts of laughter. Her behaviour there shows a terrible lack of refinement and a complete failure to realise her position, for when the accusation concerns husband-poisoning, whether one is accuser or accused, I can hardly conceive of any inclination to hilarity. On the whole, whether she is a poisoner or not, she is obviously an unpleasant adventuress.
Courtalin, September 14, 1840.—I left Jeurs very early yesterday, after being, as usual, kindly and hospitably entertained. The day before yesterday I took a stroll with Madame Mollien in the valley of the Juine, which extends from Etampes to Corbeil; it is well watered, well wooded, and populous; great rocks peep out among the trees, as in certain parts of the forest of Fontainebleau. The three chief residences in this valley are Gravelles, belonging to M. de Perregeaux, Chamarande, belonging to M. de Talaru, and Ménilvoisin, belonging to M. de Choiseul-Praslin. The first two of these I already knew, and Madame Mollien took me to see the third. It is a stately and spacious residence; the approaches and the park are handsome, but the general appearance is depressing. This is characteristic of all the residences in this district. They have no outlook, shut in as they are in this narrow valley. They lack space and air, but not water, of which there is such an abundance that dampness is unavoidable. The waters of the Juine turn a number of mills, some of which are so large as to look like castles.
I arrived here yesterday evening, and found all the Montmorency family assembled with a M. de Roothe, an old man of seventy-eight, son of the last wife of Marshal Richelieu.
The only subject of discussion yesterday evening in the drawing-room was the case of Madame Lafarge. Here, as everywhere, very opposite opinions prevail concerning her. Those who think her innocent say that her husband did not die of poisoning, but from taking cantharides as a tonic for nervous debility, and that the rapid change in his wife's behaviour is to be attributed to his recovery from this failing, and also the pleasure with which she saw him enter her room by the window when he did not come in by the door. Those who persist in thinking Madame Lafarge guilty say that the first experts should be believed, who performed their analysis after the first post-mortem, rather than the second, who went to work when putrefaction had set in. They also emphasise the evil tendencies, established by yesterday's evidence, of the accused: her habits of lying and playing a part; her evil reputation from her youth; the haste with which her family attempted to get rid of her by marriage, even going so far as to apply to a matrimonial agency. She is the granddaughter of a certain Madame Collard, who before her marriage bore the sole name of Hermine; she was brought up by Madame de Genlis, and was generally supposed to be her daughter and the daughter of the Duc d'Orléans, father of the present King of France. This ancestry of hers is supposed to account for the keen interest taken in her case at the Tuileries. The accusation concerning the diamonds is differently regarded in different circles. Mdmes. de Léautaud, de Montbreton, and the Nicolai, belonging to the Faubourg Saint-Germain and that clique, think her capable of theft and poisoning; the democracy, who are delighted to find a society lady guilty, regard the fable which Madame Lafarge invented about Madame Léautaud as true. Party spirit appears in everything and destroys all feelings of equity and justice.
I have just received a letter from the Duchesse d'Albuféra, of which the following is an extract: "I was at Auteuil with Madame Thiers the evening of the day before yesterday. Considerable uneasiness prevailed about current events; these are moving rapidly and becoming very complicated. The decision to fortify Paris had thrown the Stock Exchange into excitement; it is a measure which will be enormously expensive to carry out, and will rouse much apprehension. M. Thiers said that all his efforts were intended to gain time to finish his preparations; he added that if we could prolong the matter until April next we should be in a state of defence, and he said that no one could be more keenly interested in the question than the King and Queen. As regards Spain, he seems very uneasy and doubtful of the result; he receives telegrams every day. On the 7th the Queen-Regent was still at Valencia, but he thinks that she will perhaps have to fight a battle to return to her capital. The Town Council of Madrid appoint fresh Ministers every day, and anarchy there seems complete."
Courtalin, September 15, 1840.—At dinner-time two new arrivals appeared, the Duc de Rohan and his son the Prince of Léon. They brought certain information that M. Anatole Demidoff had married Princesse Mathilde de Montfort in return for the payment of the father's debts by M. Demidoff. He is moved only by considerations of vanity, and has so acted in order to become connected with the King of Würtemberg and the King of Russia, but the connection is said to be unfavourably regarded by the two Sovereigns, and not likely to bring him much satisfaction.