The Mysteries of Paris, vol 3

Mysteries of Paris, V3, by
Eugene Sue

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Title: Mysteries of Paris, V3
Author: Eugene Sue

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MYSTERIES OF PARIS
By EUGENE SUE
VOLUME THREE
[Illustration: THE RECITATION]


PART III.
NIGHT.
CHAPTER I.
IN THE NOTARY'S OFFICE.

Brain, or heart of the land, which you will, as large cities are, Paris may
claim to have nerves, muscles, and arteries centering in it, which but
few capitals, by right of size, passions, horrors, loves, charms,
mysteries, in a word, can reveal. To trace its emotions, impulses,
secrets, wounds, cankers, joys, the following pages are devoted.
We must begin by taking up the further ends of threads which will soon
lead us deep into its labyrinths, not without events on the way, only
surpassed by those we shall meet in the mazes themselves.
In the year 1819, a singular project, incited by the current stories of
left-handed marriages and loving episodes, as in the case of the Prince
of Capua and Miss Penelope Smith, was put into operation by one
Sarah Seyton, widow of the Earl of M'Gregor. Her brother, the
Honorable Tom Seyton, assisted her to the utmost, fully prepared to aid
his sister in matrimonially entangling any crown-wearer whomsoever;
he was perfectly willing to participate with her in all the schemes and
intrigues that might be useful toward the success of her endeavor to
become the wife of a sovereign, however humble in possessions and
power; but he would far rather have killed the sister whom he so
devotedly loved, than he would have seen her become the mistress of a
prince, even with the certainty of a subsequent marriage in reparation.
The matrimonial inventory drawn up by Tom, with the aid of the
Almanach de Gotha, had a very satisfactory aspect. The Germanic
Confederation, especially, furnished a numerous contingency of young
presumptive sovereigns, the first to whom the adventurers meant to pay
attention being thus designated in the diplomatic and infallible
Almanac of Gotha for the year of 1819:
Genealogy of the Sovereigns of Europe and their Families.
GEROLSTEIN.
Grand-Duke MAXIMILIAN RUDOLPH, born December 10th, 1764.
Succeeded his father, CHARLES FREDERIC RUDOLPH, April 21st
1785. Widower January, 1808, of Louisa, daughter of Prince JOHN
AUGUSTUS of Burglen.

SON,
GUSTAVUS RUDOLPH, born April 17th, 1803.
MOTHER,
Grand-Duchess JUDITH, dowager widow of the Grand-Duke
CHARLES FREDERIC RUDOLPH, April 21st, 1785.
Tom had sense enough to inscribe first on his list the youngest of the
princes whom he desired for his brother-in-law, thinking that extreme
youth was more easily seduced than riper age.
The Countes M'Gregor was not only favored with the introduction of
the Marquis d'Harville (a friend of the grand-duke, to whom he had
rendered great services in 1815, and a little of a suitor of the lady's
while she was in Paris) and of the British Ambassador in Paris, but with
that of her own personal appearance. To rare beauty and a singular
aptitude of acquiring various accomplishments, was added a
seductiveness all the more dangerous, because she possessed a mind
unbending and calculating, a disposition cunning and selfish, a deep
hypocrisy, a stubborn and despotic will--all hidden under the specious
gloss of a generous, warm, and impassioned nature. Physically her
organization was as deceptive as it was morally. Her large black
eyes--which, by turns languished and beamed with beauty beneath their
ebon lashes--could feign to admiration all the kindling fires of
voluptuousness. And yet, the burning impulses of love beat not in her
frozen bosom; never could a surprise