Most persons have encountered, in certain provinces in France, a numbe of Chevaliers de Valois. One lived in Normandy, another at Bourges a third (with whom we have here to do) flourished in Alencon, an doubtless the South possesses others. The number of the Valesia tribe is, however, of no consequence to the present tale. All thes chevaliers, among whom were doubtless some who were Valois as Louis XIV was Bourbon, knew so little of one another that it was not advisabl to speak to one about the others. They were all willing to leave th Bourbons in tranquil possession of the throne of France; for it was to plainly established that Henri IV. became king for want of a male hei in the first Orleans branch called the Valois. If there are any Valois they descend from Charles de Valois, Duc d'Angouleme, son of Charle IX. and Marie Touchet, the male line from whom ended, until proof t the contrary be produced, in the person of the Abbe de Rothelin. Th Valois-Saint-Remy, who descended from Henri II., also came to an en in the famous Lamothe-Valois implicated in the affair of the Diamon Necklace

Each of these many chevaliers, if we may believe reports, was, lik the Chevalier of Alencon, an old gentleman, tall, thin, withered, an moneyless. He of Bourges had emigrated; he of Touraine hid himself; h of Alencon fought in La Vendee and "chouanized" somewhat. The youth o the latter was spend in Paris, where the Revolution overtook him whe thirty years of age in the midst of his conquests and gallantries

The Chevalier de Valois of Alencon was accepted by the highes aristocracy of the province as a genuine Valois; and he distinguishe himself, like the rest of his homonyms, by excellent manners, whic proved him a man of society. He dined out every day, and played card every evening. He was thought witty, thanks to his foible for relatin a quantity of anecdotes on the reign of Louis XV. and the beginning of the Revolution. When these tales were heard for the first time, the were held to be well narrated. He had, moreover, the great merit o not repeating his personal bons mots and of never speaking o his love-affairs, though his smiles and his airs and graces wer delightfully indiscreet. The worthy gentleman used his privilege as Voltairean noble to stay away from mass; and great indulgence was show to his irreligion because of his devotion to the royal cause. One of hi particular graces was the air and manner (imitated, no doubt, from Mole with which he took snuff from a gold box adorned with the portrait o the Princess Goritza,--a charming Hungarian, celebrated for her beaut in the last years of the reign of Louis XV. Having been attached durin his youth to that illustrious stranger, he still mentioned her wit emotion. For her sake he had fought a duel with Monsieur de Lauzun

The chevalier, now fifty-eight years of age, owned to only fifty; and h might well allow himself that innocent deception, for, among the othe advantages granted to fair thin persons, he managed to preserv the still youthful figure which saves men as well as women from a appearance of old age. Yes, remember this: all of life, or rathe all the elegance that expresses life, is in the figure. Among th chevalier's other possessions must be counted an enormous nose wit which nature had endowed him. This nose vigorously divided a pale fac into two sections which seemed to have no knowledge of each other, fo one side would redden under the process of digestion, while th other continued white. This fact is worthy of remark at a period whe physiology is so busy with the human heart. The incandescence, so t call it, was on the left side. Though his long slim legs, supporting lank body, and his pallid skin, were not indicative of health, Monsieu de Valois ate like an ogre and declared he had a malady called in th provinces "hot liver," perhaps to excuse his monstrous appetite. Th circumstance of his singular flush confirmed this declaration; but in region where repasts are developed on the line of thirty or forty dishe and last four hours, the chevalier's stomach would seem to have been blessing bestowed by Providence on the good town of Alencon. Accordin to certain doctors, heat on the left side denotes a prodigal heart The chevalier's gallantries confirmed this scientific assertion, th responsibility for which does not rest, fortunately, on the historian

In spite of these symptoms, Monsieur de Valois' constitution wa vigorous, consequently long-lived. If his liver "heated," to use a old-fashioned word, his heart was not less inflammable. His face wa wrinkled and his hair silvered; but an intelligent observer would hav recognized at once the stigmata of passion and the furrows of pleasur which appeared in the crow's-feet and the marches-du-palais, so prize at the court of Cythera. Everything about this dainty chevalier bespok the "ladies' man." He was so minute in his ablutions that his cheek were a pleasure to look upon; they seemed to have been laved in som miraculous water. The part of his skull which his hair refused to cove shone like ivory. His eyebrows, like his hair, affected youth by th care and regularity with which they were combed. His skin, alread white, seemed to have been extra-whitened by some secret compound Without using perfumes, the chevalier exhaled a certain fragrance o youth, that refreshed the atmosphere. His hands, which were those o a gentleman, and were cared for like the hands of a pretty woman attracted the eye to their rosy, well-shaped nails. In short, had it no been for his magisterial and stupendous nose, the chevalier might hav been thought a trifle too dainty

We must here compel ourselves to spoil this portrait by the avowal of littleness. The chevalier put cotton in his ears, and wore, appended t them, two little ear-rings representing negroes' heads in diamonds, o admirable workmanship. He clung to these singular appendages, explainin that since his ears had been bored he had ceased to have headaches (h had had headaches). We do not present the chevalier as an accomplishe man; but surely we can pardon, in an old celibate whose heart send so much blood to his left cheek, these adorable qualities, founded perhaps, on some sublime secret history

Besides, the Chevalier de Valois redeemed those negroes' heads by s many other graces that society felt itself sufficiently compensated. H really took such immense trouble to conceal his age and give pleasure t his friends. In the first place, we must call attention to the extrem care he gave to his linen, the only distinction that well-bred me can nowadays exhibit in their clothes. The linen of the chevalier wa invariably of a fineness and whiteness that were truly aristocratic. A for his coat, though remarkable for its cleanliness, it was always hal worn-out, but without spots or creases. The preservation of that garmen was something marvellous to those who noticed the chevalier's high-bre indifference to its shabbiness. He did not go so far as to scrape th seams with glass,--a refinement invented by the Prince of Wales; bu he did practice the rudiments of English elegance with a persona satisfaction little understood by the people of Alencon. The world owe a great deal to persons who take such pains to please it. In this ther is certainly some accomplishment of that most difficult precept of th Gospel about rendering good for evil. This freshness of ablution an all the other little cares harmonized charmingly with the blue eyes, th ivory teeth, and the blond person of the old chevalier

The only blemish was that this retired Adonis had nothing manly abou him; he seemed to be employing this toilet varnish to hide the ruin occasioned by the military service of gallantry only. But we must haste to add that his voice produced what might be called an antithesis to hi blond delicacy. Unless you adopted the opinion of certain observers o the human heart, and thought that the chevalier had the voice o his nose, his organ of speech would have amazed you by its full an redundant sound. Without possessing the volume of classical bass voices the tone of it was pleasing from a slightly muffled quality like that o an English bugle, which is firm and sweet, strong but velvety

The chevalier had repudiated the ridiculous costume still preserved b certain monarchical old men; he had frankly modernized himself. H was always seen in a maroon-colored coat with gilt buttons, half-tigh breeches of poult-de-soie with gold buckles, a white waistcoat withou embroidery, and a tight cravat showing no shirt-collar,--a last vestig of the old French costume which he did not renounce, perhaps, becaus it enabled him to show a neck like that of the sleekest abbe. His shoe were noticeable for their square buckles, a style of which the presen generation has no knowledge; these buckles were fastened to a square o polished black leather. The chevalier allowed two watch-chains to han parallel to each other from each of his waistcoat pockets,--anothe vestige of the eighteenth century, which the Incroyables had no disdained to use under the Directory. This transition costume, unitin as it did two centuries, was worn by the chevalier with the high-bre grace of an old French marquis, the secret of which is lost to Franc since the day when Fleury, Mole's last pupil, vanished

The private life of this old bachelor was apparently open to all eyes though in fact it was quite mysterious. He lived in a lodging that wa modest, to say the best of it, in the rue du Cours, on the second floo of a house belonging to Madame Lardot, the best and busiest washerwoma in the town. This circumstance will explain the excessive nicety of hi linen. Ill-luck would have it that the day came when Alencon was guilt of believing that the chevalier had not always comported himself as gentleman should, and that in fact he was secretly married in his ol age to a certain Cesarine,--the mother of a child which had had th impertinence to come into the world without being called for

"He had given his hand," as a certain Monsieur du Bousquier remarked "to the person who had long had him under irons.

This horrible calumny embittered the last days of the dainty chevalie all the more because, as the present Scene will show, he had lost a hop long cherished to which he had made many sacrifices

Madame Lardot leased to the chevalier two rooms on the second floor o her house, for the modest sum of one hundred francs a year. The worth gentleman dined out every day, returning only in time to go to bed. Hi sole expense therefore was for breakfast, invariably composed of a cu of chocolate, with bread and butter and fruits in their season. He mad no fire except in the coldest winter, and then only enough to get u by. Between eleven and four o'clock he walked about, went to read th papers, and paid visits. From the time of his settling in Alencon he ha nobly admitted his poverty, saying that his whole fortune consisted i an annuity of six hundred francs a year, the sole remains of his forme opulence,--a property which obliged him to see his man of business (wh held the annuity papers) quarterly. In truth, one of the Alencon banker paid him every three months one hundred and fifty francs, sent dow by Monsieur Bordin of Paris, the last of the _procureurs du Chatelet_ Every one knew these details because the chevalier exacted the utmos secrecy from the persons to whom he first confided them

Monsieur de Valois gathered the fruit of his misfortunes. His place a table was laid in all the most distinguished houses in Alencon, and h was bidden to all soirees. His talents as a card-player, a narrator, a amiable man of the highest breeding, were so well known and appreciate that parties would have seemed a failure if the dainty connoisseur wa absent. Masters of houses and their wives felt the need of his approvin grimace. When a young woman heard the chevalier say at a ball, "You ar delightfully well-dressed!" she was more pleased at such praise than sh would have been at mortifying a rival. Monsieur de Valois was the onl man who could perfectly pronounce certain phrases of the olden time The words, "my heart," "my jewel," "my little pet," "my queen," and th amorous diminutives of 1770, had a grace that was quite irresistibl when they came from his lips. In short, the chevalier had the privileg of superlatives. His compliments, of which he was stingy, won the goo graces of all the old women; he made himself agreeable to every one even to the officials of the government, from whom he wanted nothing His behavior at cards had a lofty distinction which everybody noticed he never complained; he praised his adversaries when they lost; he di not rebuke or teach his partners by showing them how they ought to hav played. When, in the course of a deal, those sickening dissertation on the game would take place, the chevalier invariably drew out hi snuff-box with a gesture that was worthy of Mole, looked at the Princes Goritza, raised the cover with dignity, shook, sifted, massed the snuff and gathered his pinch, so that by the time the cards were dealt h had decorated both nostrils and replaced the princess in his waistcoa pocket,--always on his left side. A gentleman of the "good" century (i distinction from the "grand" century) could alone have invented tha compromise between contemptuous silence and a sarcasm which might no have been understood. He accepted poor players and knew how to mak the best of them. His delightful equability of temper made many person say,-

"I do admire the Chevalier de Valois!

His conversation, his manners, seemed bland, like his person. H endeavored to shock neither man nor woman. Indulgent to defects bot physical and mental, he listened patiently (by the help of the Princes Goritza) to the many dull people who related to him the petty miserie of provincial life,--an egg ill-boiled for breakfast, coffee wit feathered cream, burlesque details about health, disturbed sleep dreams, visits. The chevalier could call up a languishing look, he coul take on a classic attitude to feign compassion, which made him a mos valuable listener; he could put in an "Ah!" and a "Bah!" and a "Wha DID you do?" with charming appropriateness. He died without any on suspecting him of even an allusion to the tender passages of his romanc with the Princess Goritza. Has any one ever reflected on the service dead sentiment can do to society; how love may become both social an useful? This will serve to explain why, in spite of his constant winnin at play (he never left a salon without carrying off with him about si francs), the old chevalier remained the spoilt darling of the town. Hi losses--which, by the bye, he always proclaimed, were very rare

All who know him declare that they have never met, not even in th Egyptian museum at Turin, so agreeable a mummy. In no country i the world did parasitism ever take on so pleasant a form. Never di selfishness of a most concentrated kind appear less forth-putting, les offensive, than in this old gentleman; it stood him in place of devote friendship. If some one asked Monsieur de Valois to do him a littl service which might have discommoded him, that some one did not par from the worthy chevalier without being truly enchanted with him, an quite convinced that he either could not do the service demanded, o that he should injure the affair if he meddled in it

To explain the problematic existence of the chevalier, the historian whom Truth, that cruel wanton, grasps by the throat, is compelled to sa that after the "glorious" sad days of July, Alencon discovered that th chevalier's nightly winnings amounted to about one hundred and fift francs every three months; and that the clever old nobleman had had th pluck to send to himself his annuity in order not to appear in the eye of a community, which loves the main chance, to be entirely withou resources. Many of his friends (he was by that time dead, you wil please remark) have contested mordicus this curious fact, declaring i to be a fable, and upholding the Chevalier de Valois as a respectabl and worthy gentleman whom the liberals calumniated. Luckily for shrew players, there are people to be found among the spectators who wil always sustain them. Ashamed of having to defend a piece of wrong-doing they stoutly deny it. Do not accuse them of wilful infatuation; suc men have a sense of their dignity; governments set them the example of virtue which consists in burying their dead without chanting the Miser of their defeats. If the chevalier did allow himself this bit of shrew practice,--which, by the bye, would have won him the regard of th Chevalier de Gramont, a smile from the Baron de Foeneste, a shake o the hand from the Marquis de Moncade,--was he any the less that amiabl guest, that witty talker, that imperturbable card-player, that famou teller of anecdotes, in whom all Alencon took delight? Besides, in wha way was this action, which is certainly within the rights of a man's ow will,--in what way was it contrary to the ethics of a gentleman? Whe so many persons are forced to pay annuities to others, what more natura than to pay one to his own best friend? But Laius is dead-

To return to the period of which we are writing: after about fiftee years of this way of life the chevalier had amassed ten thousand an some odd hundred francs. On the return of the Bourbons, one of his ol friends, the Marquis de Pombreton, formerly lieutenant in the Blac mousquetaires, returned to him--so he said--twelve hundred pistole which he had lent to the marquis for the purpose of emigrating. Thi event made a sensation; it was used later to refute the sarcasms o the "Constitutionnel," on the method employed by some emigres in payin their debts. When this noble act of the Marquis de Pombreton was laude before the chevalier, the good man reddened even to his right cheek Every one rejoiced frankly at this windfall for Monsieur de Valois who went about consulting moneyed people as to the safest manner o investing this fragment of his past opulence. Confiding in the future o the Restoration, he finally placed his money on the Grand-Livre at th moment when the funds were at fifty-six francs and twenty-five centimes Messieurs de Lenoncourt, de Navarreins, de Verneuil, de Fontaine, and L Billardiere, to whom he was known, he said, obtained for him, from th king's privy purse, a pension of three hundred francs, and sent him moreover, the cross of Saint-Louis. Never was it known positively b what means the old chevalier obtained these two solemn consecrations o his title and merits. But one thing is certain; the cross of Saint-Loui authorized him to take the rank of retired colonel in view of hi service in the Catholic armies of the West

Besides his fiction of an annuity, about which no one at the presen time knew anything, the chevalier really had, therefore, a bona fid income of a thousand francs. But in spite of this bettering of hi circumstances, he made no change in his life, manners, or appearance except that the red ribbon made a fine effect on his maroon-colore coat, and completed, so to speak, the physiognomy of a gentleman After 1802, the chevalier sealed his letters with a very old seal ill-engraved to be sure, by which the Casterans, the d'Esgrignons, th Troisvilles were enabled to see that he bore: _Party of France, tw cottises gemelled gules, and gules, five mascles or, placed end to end on a chief sable, a cross argent_. For crest, a knight's helmet. Fo motto: "Valeo." Bearing such noble arms, the so-called bastard of th Valois had the right to get into all the royal carriages of the world

Many persons envied the quiet existence of this old bachelor, spen on whist, boston, backgammon, reversi, and piquet, all well played on dinners well digested, snuff gracefully inhaled, and tranquil walk about the town. Nearly all Alencon believed this life to be exempt fro ambitions and serious interests; but no man has a life as simple a envious neighbors attribute to him. You will find in the most out-of-th way villages human mollusks, creatures apparently dead, who hav passions for lepidoptera or for conchology, let us say,--beings who wil give themselves infinite pains about moths, butterflies, or the conch Veneris. Not only did the chevalier have his own particular shells but he cherished an ambitious desire which he pursued with a craf so profound as to be worthy of Sixtus the Fifth: he wanted to marry certain rich old maid, with the intention, no doubt, of making her stepping-stone by which to reach the more elevated regions of the court There, then, lay the secret of his royal bearing and of his residence i Alencon