By a curious turn of
fortune Clementine became, in spite of her father having squandered
his substance on Florine (one of the most charming actresses in
Paris), a great heiress. The Marquis de Ronquerolles, a clever
diplomatist under the new dynasty, his sister, Madame de Serizy, and
the Chevalier du Rouvre agreed, in order to save their fortunes from
the dissipations of the marquis, to settle them on their niece, to
whom, moreover, they each pledged themselves to pay ten thousand
francs a year from the day of her marriage.
It is quite unnecessary to say that the Polish count, though an exile,
was no expense to the French government. Comte Adam Laginski belonged
to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in Poland, which
was allied to many of the princely houses of Germany,--Sapieha,
Radziwill, Mniszech, Rzewuski, Czartoryski, Leczinski, Lubormirski,
and all the other great Sarmatian SKIS. But heraldic knowledge is not
the most distinguishing feature of the French nation under Louis-
Philippe, and Polish nobility was no great recommendation to the
bourgeoisie who were lording it in those days. Besides, when Adam
first made his appearance, in 1833, on the boulevard des Italiens, at
Frascati, and at the Jockey-Club, he was leading the life of a young
man who, having lost his political prospects, was taking his pleasure
in Parisian dissipation.
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