When the legitimate sovereign appeared to be firmly seated
on the throne again in 1818, the Marquis asked himself what
a man of seventy should do at court; and what duties, what
office he could discharge there ? The noble and high-minded
d'Esgrignon was fain to be content with the triumph of the
Monarchy and Eeligion, while he waited for the results of
that unhoped-for, indecisive victory, which proved to be sim-
ply an armistice. He continued as before, lord-paramount
of his salon, so felicitously named the Collection of
Antiquities.
But when the victors of 1793 became the vanquished in
their turn, the nickname given at first in jest began to be used
in bitter earnest. The town was no more free than other
country towns from the hatreds and jealousies bred of party
spirit. Du Croisier, contrary to all expectation, married the
rich old maid who had refused him at first; carrying her off
from his rival, the darling of the aristocratic quarter, a cer-
tain Chevalier whose illustrious name will be sufficiently hid-
den by suppressing it altogether, in accordance with the
usage formerly adopted in the place itself, where he was
known by his title only. He was "the Chevalier" in the
town, as the Comte d'Artois was "Monsieur" at court. ISTow,
not only had that marriage produced a war after the pro-
vincial manner, in which all weapons are fair ; it had hastened
the separation of the great and little noblesse, of the aristo-
cratic and bourgeois social elements, which had been united
for a little space by the heavy weight of Napoleonic rule.
After the pressure was removed, there followed that sudden
revival of class divisions which did so much harm to the
country.
