and collections of edicts. Camille had lately begun to study
rhetoric.
364 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
The day when Popinot arranged to go to question M.
d'Espard was a Thursday, a holiday. At about nine in
the morning, before their father was awake, the brothers
were playing in the garden. Clement was finding it hard to
refuse his brother, who was anxious to go to the shooting-
gallery for the first time, and who begged him to second his
request to the Marquis. The Viscount always rather took ad-
vantage of his weakness, and was very fond of wrestling with
his brother. So the couple were quarreling and fighting in
play like schoolboys. As they ran in the garden, chasing each
other, they made so much noise as to wake their father, who
came to the window without their perceiving him in the heat
of the fray. The Marquis amused himself with watching
his two children twisted together like snakes, their faces
flushed by the exertion of their strength; their complexion
was rose and white, their eyes flashed sparks, their limbs
writhed like cords in the fire ; they fell, sprang up again, and
caught each other like athletes in a circus, affording their
father one of those moments of happiness which would make
amends for the keenest anxieties of a busy life. Two other
persons, one on the second and one on the first floor, were
also looking into the garden, and saying that the old mad-
man was amusing himself by making his children fight.
Immediately a number of heads appeared at the windows;
the Marquis, noticing them, called a word to his sons, who at
once climbed up to the window and jumped into his room,
and Clement obtained the permission asked by Camille.
All through the house every one was talking of the Mar-
quis' new form of insanity. When Popinot arrived at about
twelve o'clock, accompanied by his clerk, the portress, when
asked for M. d'Espard, conducted him to the third floor,
telling his "as how M. d'Espard, no longer ago than that
very morning, had set on his two children to fight, and
laughed like the monster he was on seeing the younger biting
the elder till he bled, and as how no doubt he longed to see
them kill each other. Don't ask me the reason why," she
added ; "he doesn't know himself !"
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 36T>
Just as the woman spoke these decisive words, she had
brought the judge to the landing on the third floor, face to
face with a door covered with notices announcing the suc-
cessive numbers of the Picturesque History of China. The
muddy floor, the dirty banisters, the door where the printers
had left their marks, the dilapidated window, and the ceiling
on which the apprentices had amused themselves with draw-
ing monstrosities with the smoky flare of their tallow dips,
the piles of paper and litter heaped up in the corners, in-
tentionally or from sheer neglect in short, every detail of
the picture lying before his eyes, agreed so well with the
facts alleged by the Marquise that the judge, in spite of his
impartiality, could not help believing them.
"There you are, gentlemen," said the porter's wife ; "there
is the manifactor, where the Chinese swallow up enough to
feed the whole neighborhood."
The clerk looked at the judge with a smile, and Popinot
found it hard to keep his countenance. They went together
into the outer room, where sat an old man, who, no doubt,
performed the functions of office clerk, shopman, and
cashier. This old man was the Maitre Jacques of China.
Along the walls ran long shelves, on which the published
numbers lay in piles. A partition in wood, with a grating
lined with green curtains, cut off the end of the room, form-
ing a private office. A till with a slit to admit or disgorge
crown pieces indicated the cash-desk.
"M. d'Espard?" said Popinot, addressing the man, who
wore a gray blouse.
The shopman opened the door into the next room, where
the lawyer and his companion saw a venerable old man,
white-headed and simply dressed, wearing the Cross of Saint-
Louis, seated at a desk. He ceased comparing some sheets
of colored prints to look up at the two visitors. This room
was an unpretentious office, full of books and proof-sheets.
There was a black wood table at which some one, at the mo-
ment absent, no doubt was accustomed to work.
"The Marquis d'Espard?" said Popinot.
366 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
"No, monsieur," said the old man, rising; "what do you
want with him?" he added, coming forward, and showing
by his demeanor the dignified manners and habits due to a
gentlemanly education.
"We wish to speak to him on business exclusively personal
to himself," replied Popinot.
"D'Espard, here are some gentlemen who want to see you,"
then said the old man, going into the furthest room, where
the Marquis was sitting by the fire reading the newspaper.
This innermost room had a shabby carpet, the windows
were hung with gray holland curtains ; the furniture consisted
of a few mahogany chairs, two armchairs, a desk with a re-
volving front, an ordinary office table, and on the chimney-
shelf, a dingy clock and two old candlesticks. The old man
led the way for Popinot and his registrar, and pulled forward
two chairs, as though he were master of the place; M.
d'Espard left it to him. After the preliminary civilities,
during which the judge watched the supposed lunatic, the
Marquis naturally asked what was the object of this visit.
On this Popinot glanced significantly at the old gentleman
and the Marquis.
"I believe, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, "that the char-
acter of my functions, and the inquiry that has brought me
here, make it desirable that we should be alone, though it is
understood by law that in such cases the inquiries have a
sort of family publicity. I am judge on the Inferior Court
of Appeal for the Department of the Seine, and charged
by the President with the duty of examining you as to certain
facts set forth in a petition for a Commission in Lunacy on
the part of the Marquise d'Espard."
The old man withdrew. When the lawyer and the Mar-
quis were alone, the clerk shut the door, and seated himself
unceremoniously at the office table, where he laid out his
papers and prepared to take down his notes. Popinot had
still kept his eye on M. d'Espard; he was watching the ef-
fect on him of this crude statement, so painful for a man
in full possession of his reason. The Marquis d'Espard,
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 3ff7
whose face was usually pale, as are those of fair men, sud-
denly turned scarlet with anger; he trembled for an instant,
sat down, laid his paper on the chimney-piece, and looked
down. In a moment he had recovered his gentlemanly dig-
nity, and looked steadily at the judge, as if to read in his
countenance the indications of his character.
"How is it, monsieur," he asked, "that I have had no notice
of such a petition ?"
"Monsieur le Marquis, persons on whom such a commis-
sion is held, not being supposed to have the use of their rea-
son, any notice of the petition is unnecessary. The duty of
the Court chiefly consists in verifying the allegations of the
petitioner."
"Nothing can be fairer," replied the Marquis. "Well,
then, monsieur, be so good as to tell me what I ought to
do "
"You have only to answer my questions, omitting nothing.
However delicate the reasons may be which may have led
you to act in such a manner as to give Madame d'Espard
a pretext for her petition, speak without fear. It is un-
necessary to assure you that lawyers know their duties, and
that in such cases the profoundest secrecy "
"Monsieur," said the Marquis, whose face expressed the
sincerest pain, "if my explanations should lead to any blame
being attached to Madame d'Espard's conduct, what will be
the result?"
'The Court may add its censure to its reasons for its deci-
sion."
"Is such censure optional? If* I were to stipulate with
you, before replying, that nothing should be said that could
annoy Madame d'Espard in the event of your report being
in my favor, would the Court take my request into considera-
tion?"
The judge looked at the Marquis, and the two men ex-
changed sentiments of equal magnanimity.
""Woel," said Popinot to his registrar, "go into the other
room. If you can be of use, I will call you in. If, as I am
VOL. 7 46
368 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
inclined to think/' he went on, speaking to the Marquis when
the clerk had gone out, "I find that there is some misunder-
standing in this case, I can promise you, monsieur, that on
your application the Court will act with due courtesy."
"There is a leading fact put forward by Madame d'Espard,
the most serious of all, of which I must beg for an explana-
tion," said the judge after a pause. "It refers to the dissipa-
tion of your fortune to the advantage of a certain Madame
Jeanrenaud, the widow of a bargemaster or rather, to that
of her son, Colonel Jeanrenaud, for whom you are said to
have procured an appointment, to have exhausted your in-
fluence with the King, and at last to have extended such
protection as secures him a good marriage. The petition sug-
gests that such a friendship is more devoted than any feel-
ings, even those which morality must disapprove
A sudden flush crimsoned the Marquis' face and forehead,
tears even started to his eyes, for his eyelashes were wet, then
wholesome pride crushed the emotions, which in a man are ac-
counted a weakness.
"To tell you- the truth, monsieur," said the Marquis, in a
broken voice, "you place me in a strange dilemma. The mo-
tives of my conduct were to have died with me. To reveal
them I must disclose to you some secret wounds, must place
the honor of my family in your keeping, and must speak of
myself, a delicate matter, as you will fully understand. I
hope, monsieur, that it will all remain a secret between us.
You will, no doubt, be able to find in the formulas of the
law one which will allow of judgment being pronounced with-
out any betrayal of my confidences."
"So far as that goes, it is perfectly possible, Monsieur le
Marquis."
"Some time after my marriage," said M. d'Espard, "my
wife having run into considerable expenses, I was obliged to
have recourse to borrowing. You know what was the position
of noble families during the Eevolution ; I had not been able
to keep a steward or a man of business. Nowadays gentle-
men are for the most part obliged to manage their affairs
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 369
themselves. Most of my title-deeds had been brought to
Paris, from Languedoc, Provence, or le Comtat, by my father,
who dreaded, and not without reason, the inquisition which
family title-deeds, and what was then styled the 'parch-
ments' of the privileged class, brought down on the owners.
"Our name is Negrepelisse ; d'Espard is a title acquired in
the time of Henri IV. by a marriage which brought us the
estates and titles of the house of d'Espard, on condition of
our bearing an escutcheon of pretence on our coat-of-arms,
those of the house of d'Espard, an old family of Beam, con-
nected in the female line with that of Albret : quarterly, paly
of or and sable; and azure two griffins' claws armed, gules
in saltire, with the famous motto Des partem leonis. At the
time of this alliance we lost Negrepelisse, a little town which
was as famous during the religious struggles as was my
ancestor who then bore the name. Captain de Negrepelisse
was ruined by the burning of all his property, for the
Protestants did not spare a friend of Montluc's.
"The Crown was unjust to M. de Negrepelisse ; he received
neither a marshal's baton, nor a post as governor, nor any
indemnity; King Charles IX., who was fond of him, died
without being able to reward him; Henri IV. arranged his
marriage with Mademoiselle d'Espard, and secured him the
estates of that house, but all those of the Negrepelisses had
already passed into the hands of his creditors.
"My great-grandfather, the Marquis d'Espard, was, like
me, placed early in life at the head of his family by the death
of his father, who, after dissipating his wife's fortune, left his
son nothing but the entailed estates of the d'Espards, bur-
dened with a jointure. The young Marquis was all the more
straitened for money because he held a post at Court. Being
in great favor with Louis XIV., the King's goodwill brought
him a fortune. But here, monsieur, a blot stained our
escutcheon, an unconfessed and horrible stain of blood and
disgrace which I am making it my business to wipe out. I
discovered the secret among the deeds relating to the estate
of Negrepelisse and the packets of letters."
370 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
At this solemn moment the Marquis spoke without hesita-
tion or any of the repetition habitual with him; but it is a
matter of common observation that persons who, in ordinary
life, are afflicted with these two defects, are freed from them
as soon as any passionate emotion underlies their speech.
"The Eevocation of the Edict of Nantes was decreed," he
went on. "You are no doubt aware, monsieur, that this was
an opportunity for many favorites to make their fortunes.
Louis XIV. bestowed on the magnates about his Court the
confiscated lands of those Protestant families who did not
take the prescribed steps for the sale of their property. Some
persons in high favor went 'Protestant-hunting,' as the phrase
was. I have ascertained beyond a doubt that the fortune en-
joyed to this day by two ducal families is derived from lands
seized from hapless merchants.
"I will not attempt to explain to you, a man of law, all
the manoeuvres employed to entrap the refugees who had
large fortunes to carry away. It is enough to say that the
lands of Negrepelisse, comprising twenty-two churches and
rights over the town, and those of Gravenges which had for-
merly belonged to us, were at that time in the hands of a
Protestant family. My grandfather recovered them by gift
from Louis XIV. This gift was effected by documents hall-
marked by atrocious iniquity. The owner of these two
estates, thinking he would be able to return, had gone through
the form of a sale, and was going to Switzerland to join his
family, whom he had sent in advance. He wished, no doubt,
to take advantage of every delay granted by the law, so as to
settle the concerns of his business.
"This man was arrested by order of the governor, the
trustee confessed the truth, the poor merchant was hanged,
and my ancestor had the two estates. I would gladly have
been able to ignore the share he took in the plot; but the
governor was his uncle on the mother's side, and I have un-
fortunately read the letter in which he begged him to apply
to-Deodatus, the name agreed upon by the Court to designate
the King. In this letter there is a tone of jocosity with refer-
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 371
ence to the victim, which filled me with horror. In the end,
the sums of money sent by the refugee family to ransom the
poor man's life were kept by the governor, who despatched
the merchant all the same."
The Marquis paused, as though the memory of it were
still too heavy for him to bear.
"This unfortunate family were named Jeanrenaud," he
went on. "That name is enough to account for my conduct.
I could never think without keen pain of the secret disgrace
that weighed on my family. That fortune enabled my grand-
father to marry a demoiselle de Navarreins-Lansac, heiress
to the younger branch of that house, who were at that time
much richer than the elder branch of the Navarreins. My
father thus became one of the largest landowners in the
kingdom. He was able to marry my mother, a Graudlieu of
the younger branch. Though ill-gotten, this property has
been singularly profitable.
"For my part, being determined to remedy the mischief,
I wrote to Switzerland, and knew no peace till I was on the
traces of the Protestant victim's heirs. At last I discovered
that the Jeanrenauds, reduced to abject want, had left Fri-
bourg and returned to live in France. Finally, I found in
M. Jeanrenaud, lieutenant in a cavalry regiment under Na-
poleon, the sole heir of this unhappy family. In my eyes,
monsieur, the x rights of the Jeanrenauds were clear. To es-
tablish a prescriptive right is it not necessary that there
should have been some possibility of proceeding against those
who are in the enjoyment of it? To whom could these
refugees have appealed ? Their Court of Justice was on high,
or rather, monsieur, it was here," and the Marquis struck
his hand on his heart. "I did not choose that my children
should be able to think of me as I have thought of my father
and of my ancestors. I aim at -leaving them an unblemished
inheritance and escutcheon. I did not choose that nobility
should be a lie in my person. And, after all, politically speak-
ing, ought those emigres who are now appealing against revo-
lutionary confiscations, to keep the property derived from an-
tecedent confiscations by positive crimes?
S72 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
"I found in M. Jeanrenaud and his mother the most per-
verse honesty; to hear them you would suppose that they
were robbing me. In spite of all I could say, they will ac-
cept no more than the value of the lands at the time when
the King bestowed them on my family. The price was
settled between us at the sum of eleven hundred thousand
francs, which I was to pay at my convenience and without
interest. To achieve this I had to forego my income for a
long time. And then, monsieur, began the destruction of
some illusions I had allowed myself as to Madame d'Espard's
character. When I proposed to her that we should leave
Paris and go into the country, where we could live respected
on half of her income, and so more rapidly complete a resti-
tution of which I spoke to her without going into the more
serious details, Madame d'Espard treated me as a madman.
I then understood my wife's real character. She would have
approved of my grandfather's conduct without a scruple, and
have laughed at the Huguenots. Terrified by her coldness, and
her little affection for her children, whom she abandoned to
me without a regret, I determined to leave her the command
of her fortune, after paying our common debts. It was no
business of hers, as she told me, to pay for my follies. As
I then had not enough to live on and pay for my sons' educa-
tion, I determined to educate them myself, to make them
gentlemen and men of feeling. By investing my money in
the funds I have been enabled to pay off my obligation sooner
than I had dared to hope, for I took advantage of the op-
portunities afforded by the improvement in prices. If I
had kept four thousand francs a year for my boys and my-
self, I could only have paid off twenty thousand crowns
a year, and it would have taken almost eighteen years to
achieve my freedom. As it is, I have lately repaid the whole
of the eleven hundred thousand francs that were due. Thus
I enjoy the happiness of having made this restitution without
doing my children the smallest wrong.
"These, monsieur, are the reasons for the payments made
to Madame Jeanrenaud and her son."
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 878
"So Madame d'Espard knew the motives of your retire-
ment?" said the judge, controlling the emotion he felt at
this narrative.
"Yes, monsieur."
Popinot gave an expressive shrug; he rose and opened the
door into the next room.
"Noel, you can go/' said he to his clerk,
"Monsieur," he went on, "though what you have told me
is enough to enlighten me thoroughly, I should like to hear
what you have to say to the other facts put forward in the
petition. For instance, you are here carrying on a business
such as is not habitually undertaken by a man of rank."
"We cannot discuss that matter here," said the Marquis,
signing to the judge to quit the room. "Nouvion," said he
to the old man, "I am going down to my rooms; the chil-
dren will soon be in ; dine with us."
"Then, Monsieiir le Marquis," said Popinot on the stairs,
"that is not your apartment?"
"No, monsieur; I took those rooms for the office of this
undertaking. You see," and he pointed to an advertisement
sheet, "the History is being brought out by one of the most
respectable firms in Paris, and not by me."
The Marquis showed the lawyer into the ground-floor
rooms, saying, "This is my apartment."
Popinot was quite touched by the poetry, not aimed at but
pervading this dwelling. The weather was lovely, the win-
dows were open, the air from the garden brought in a whole-
some earthy smell, the sunshine brightened and gilded the
woodwork, of a rather gloomy brown. At the sight Popinot
made up his mind that a madman would hardly be capable
of inventing the tender harmony of which he was at that
moment conscious.
"I should like just such an apartment," thought he. "You
think of leaving this part of the town ?" he inquired.
"I hope so," replied the Marquis. "But I shall remain till
my younger son has finished his studies, and till the children's
character is thoroughly formed, before introducing them to
374 THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY
the world and to their mother's circle. Indeed, after giving
them the solid information they possess, I intend to com-
plete it by taking them to travel to the capitals of Europe,
that they may see men and things, and become accustomed to
speak the languages they have learned. And, monsieur," he
went on, giving the judge a chair in the drawing-room, "I
could not discuss the book on China with you, in the pres-
ence of an old friend of my family, the Comte de NOuvion,
who, having emigrated, has returned to France without any
fortune whatever, and who is my partner in this concern,
less for my profit than his. Without telling him what my
motives were, I explained to him that I was as poor as he,
but that I had enough money to start a speculation in which
he might be usefully employed. My tutor was the Abbe
Grozier, whom Charles X. on my recommendation appointed
Keeper of the Books at the Arsenal, which were returned
to that Prince when he was still Monsieur. The Abbe Grozier
was deeply learned with regard to China, its manners and
customs ; he made me heir to this knowledge at an age when
it is difficult not to become a fanatic for the things we learn.
At five-and-twenty 1 knew Chinese, and I confess I have
never been able to check myself in a^i exclusive admiration
for that nation,, who conquered their conquerors, whose an-
nals extend back indisputably to a period more remote than
mythological or Bible times, who by their immutable institu-
tions have preserved the integrity of their empire, whose
monuments are gigantic, whose administration is perfect,
among whom revolutions are impossible, who have regarded
ideal beauty as a barren element in art, who have carried
luxury and industry to such a pitch that we cannot outdo
them in anything, while they are our equals in things where
we believe ourselves superior.
"Still, monsieur, though I often make a jest of comparing
China with the present condition of European states, I am
not a Chinaman, I am a French gentleman. If you enter-
tain any doubts as to the financial side of this undertaking,
I can prove to you that at this moment we have two thousand
THE COMMISSION IN LUNACY 375
five hundred subscribers to this work, which is literary, icono-
graphical, statistical, and religious; its importance has been
generally appreciated; our subscribers belong to every na-
tion in Europe, we have but twelve hundred in France. Our
book will cost about three hundred francs, and the Comte de
Nouvion will derive from it from six to seven thousand
francs a year, for his comfort was the real motive of the un-
dertaking. For my part, I aimed only at the possibility of
affording my children some pleasures. The hundred thoi'-
sand francs I have made, quite in spite of myself, will pay
for their fencing lessons, horses, dress, and theatres, pay the
masters who teach them accomplishments, procure them can-
vases to spoil, the books they may wish to buy, in short, all the
little fancies which a father finds so much pleasure irr gratify-
ing. If I had been compelled to refuse these indulgences to
my poor boys, who are so good and work so hard, the sacri-
fice I made to the honor of my name would have been doubly
painful.
"In point of fact, the twelve years I have spent in retire-
ment from the world to educate my children have led to my
being completely forgotten at Court. I have given up the
career of politics; I have lost my historical fortune, and all
the distinctions which I might have acquired and bequeathed
to my children; but our house will have lost nothing; my
boys will be men of mark. Though I have missed the