MICHU, during the progress of and after the French Revolution he
played a part directly contrary to his regular political affiliations.
His lowly birth, his harsh appearance, and his marriage with the
daughter of a Troyes tanner of advanced opinion, all helped to make
his pronounced Republicanism seem in keeping, although beneath it he
hid his Royalist faith and an active devotion to the Simeuses, the
Hauteserres and the Cinq-Cygnes. Michu controlled the Gondreville
estate between 1789 and 1804, after it was snatched from its rightful
owners, and under the Terror he presided over the Jacobin club at
Arcis. As a result of the assassination of the Duc d'Enghien March 21,
1804, he lost his position at Gondreville. Michu then lived not far
from there, near Laurence de Cinq-Cygne, to whom he made known his
secret conduct, and, as a result, became overseer of all the estate
attached to the castle. Having publicly shown his opposition to Malin,
he was thought guilty of being leader in a plot to kidnap the new
Seigneur de Gondreville, and was consequently condemned to death, a
sentence which was executed, despite his innocence, October, 1806.
[The Gondreville Mystery.]
MICHU (Marthe), wife of the preceding, daughter of a Troyes tanner,
"the village apostle of the Revolution," who, as a follower of
Baboeuf, a believer in racial and social equality, was put to death. A
blonde with blue eyes, and of perfect build, in accordance with her
father's desire, despite her modest innocence, posed before a public
assembly as the Goddess of Liberty. Marthe Michu adored her husband,
by whom she had a son, Francois, but being ignorant for a long time of
his secret, she lived in a manner separated from him, under her
mother's wing. When she did learn of her husband's Royalist actions,
and that he was devoted to the Cinq-Cygnes, she assisted him, but
falling into a skilfuly contrived plot, she innocently brought about
her husband's execution. A forged letter having attracted her to
Malin's hiding-place, Madame Michu furnished all the necessary
evidence to make the charge of kidnapping seem plausible. She also was
cast into prison and was awaiting trial when death claimed her,
November, 1806. [The Gondreville Mystery.]
MICHU (Francois), son of the preceding couple, born in 1793. In 1803,
while in the service of the house of Cinq-Cygne, he ferreted out the
police-system that Giguet represented. The tragic death of his parents
(a picture of one of them hung on the wall at Cinq-Cygne) caused his
adoption in some way or other by the Marquise Laurence, whose efforts
afterwards paved the way for his career as a lawyer from 1817 to 1819,
an occupation which he left, only to become a magistrate. In 1824 he
was associate judge of the Alencon court. Then he was appointed
attorney of the king and received the cross of the Legion of Honor,
after the suit against Victurnien d'Esgrignon by M. du Bosquier and
the Liberals. Three years later he performed similar duties at the
Arcis court, over which he presided in 1839. Already wealthy, and
receiving an income of twelve thousand francs granted him in 1814 by
Madame de Cinq-Cygne, Francois Michu married a native of Champagne,
Mademoiselle Girel, a Troyes heiress. In Arcis he attended only the
social affairs given by the Cinq-Cygnes, then become allies of the
Cadignans, and in fact never visited any others. [The Gondreville
Mystery. Jealousies of a Country Town. The Member for Arcis.]
MICHU (Madame Francois), wife of the preceding, born Girel. Like her
husband, she rather looked with scorn upon Arcis society, in 1839, and
departed little from the circle made up of government officers'
families and the Cinq-Cygnes. [The Gondreville Mystery. The Member for
Arcis.]
MIGEON, in 1836, porter in the rue des Martyrs house in which Etienne
Lousteau lived for three years; he was commissioned for nine hundred
francs by Mme. de la Baudraye, who then lived with the writer, to
carry her jewelry to the pawn-broker. [The Muse of the Department.]
MIGEON (Pamela), daughter of the preceding, born in 1823; in 1837, the
intelligent little waiting-maid of Madame de la Baudraye, when the
baronne lived with Lousteau. [The Muse of the Department.]
MIGNON DE LA BASTIE (Charles), born in 1773 in the district of Var,
"last member of the family to which Paris is indebted for the street
and the house built by Cardinal Mignon"; went to war under the
Republic; was closely associated with Anne Dumay. At the beginning of
the Empire, as the result of mutual affection, his marriage with
Bettina Wallenrod only daughter of a Frankfort banker took place.
Shortly before the return of the Bourbons, he was appointed
lieutenant-colonel, and became commander of the Legion of Honor. Under
the Restoration Charles Mignon de la Bastie lived at Havre with his
wife, and acquired forthwith, by means of banking, a large fortune,
which he shortly lost. After absenting himself from the country, he
returned, during the last year of Charles X.'s reign, from the Orient,
having become a multi-millionaire. Of his four children, he lost
three, two having died in early childhood, while Bettina Caroline, the
third, died in 1827, after being misled and finally deserted by M.
d'Estourny. Marie-Modeste was the only child remaining, and she was
confided during her father's journeys to the care of the Dumays, who
were under obligations to the Mignons; she married Ernest de la
Bastie-La Briere (also called La Briere-la Bastie). The brilliant
career of Charles Mignon was the means of his reassuming the title,
Comte de la Bastie. [Modeste Mignon.]
MIGNON (Madame Charles), wife of the preceding, born Bettina
Wallenrod-Tustall-Bartenstild, indulged daughter of a banker in
Frankfort-on-the-Main. She became blind soon after her elder daughter,
Bettina-Caroline's troubles and early death, and had a presentiment of
the romance connected with her younger daughter, Marie-Modeste, who
became Madame Ernest de la Bastie-La Briere. Towards the close of the
Restoration, Madame Charles Mignon, as the result of an operation by
Desplein, recovered her sight and was a witness of Marie-Modeste's
happiness. [Modeste Mignon.]
MIGNON (Bettina-Caroline), elder daughter of the preceding couple;
born in 1805, the very image of her father; a typical Southern girl;
was favored by her mother over her younger sister, Marie-Modeste, a
kind of "Gretchen," who was similar in appearance to Madame Mignon.
Bettina-Caroline was seduced, taken away and finally deserted by a
"gentleman of fortune," named D'Estourny, and shortly sank at Havre
under the load of her sins and suffering, surrounded by nearly all of
her family. Since 1827 there has been inscribed on her tomb in the
little Ingouville cemetery the following inscription: "Bettina
Caroline Mignon, died when twenty-two years of age. Pray for her!"
[Modeste Mignon.]