Cooper’s Rage—Recourse to the Law—First Result of
Arbitration—M. Huré—My Letters to Mme. de Genlis—Visit of
Saint-Aubin—His Journey—Emissary from Mme. de Genlis—Letters
from Saint-Aubin—His Return—Realized Fears—Mr. Mills’s
Tricks—My Correspondence with the English Ambassador.
While I was lamenting over the unexpected departure of my husband and
son, Driver-Cooper, for his part, was loudly complaining, and wanting
to force me to go back to his house, which he still kept on calling his
_château at Bellevue_, his beautiful _château of Colonnes_.
Maintaining that, as I had been, and was still, his boarder, he said, the
usual meals were being served every day for me and my people.
He was eating them by himself—without much trouble, probably!—but still
protested, none the less, that I ought to pay him 25,000 francs a year
for dinners I refused to eat; and talked a lot of other nonsense.
I wanted to put an end to these impudent molestations, and, as a clause
in each of our two famous Ferney agreements submitted any difficulty
that might arise to arbitrators, amicably chosen by us, or, in default of
that, by the Tribunals of the Seine, I had recourse to the last means.
The arbitrators were appointed, and I explained to them the clever way
in which the perfidious Cooper had blinded me, as well as his iniquitous
fashion of fulfilling his obligations; I especially brought to their
notice that, by the terms of the contract, his lease was to last only for
the time taken up by my great affair; and that this had legally come to
an end since my revocation of the powers I had given him.
The first decision of the arbitrators, given on September 30, 1828,
was in my favour, and annulled the agreement as to the letting of the
_manoir_ of Bellevue at the rent of 25,000 francs; but, to my great
surprise, I found myself sentenced to pay 16,000 of it as a compensation
for the time I had spent in that wretched hole and for other expenses
I knew nothing about for the most part; an indispensable condition for
obtaining the restitution of my effects.
When I had done this, I fixed a day for them to be fetched, and the
holder undertook to give them up.
Fresh matter for astonishment.
My servant presents himself and is informed that the removal is opposed
at the request of M. Huré, furniture-dealer, in whose favour the honest
Cooper had backed my bills.
Luckily for me, the President suspected some intrigue and ordered a
severe examination of the books and registers of the opposer, who, less
disreputable than his corrupter and not daring to play his part to the
end, frankly owned to his odious rôle of catspaw.
The Court, having condemned him in costs, sent back my claim for the
return of my bills for the judgment of the same arbitrators who were
to pronounce as to the validity of the agreement in virtue of which I
had consented to them. But I had to endure such delays that my poor
belongings were not returned to me till after six months of waiting,[11]
and my old villain raised so many quibbles and difficulties that the
discussions relating to the second arbitration lasted a year.
From the very beginning of all these disputes I had been advised to write
to the celebrated Comtesse de Genlis, formerly _governess_ to the Orleans
children,[12] in order to induce her to reveal to me the secrets of this
horrible drama, which perhaps she herself had managed.[13]
In consequence, I composed a letter well suited to _her profound modesty
and her noble disinterestedness_.
Some days passed and no answer came; and, beginning to think that my
letter had not been given to her, I decided to write another, which I
sent by sure hands to our chaste Susannah.
[Illustration: MME. DE GENLIS]
The next day but one, M. de Saint-Aubin was announced, and there entered
a rather good-looking young man, refined and open in manner, who told
me he had seen what I had written to Mme. de Genlis, with whom he lived
and in whose confidence he was; adding that if I would give him mine, by
degrees he would persuade her to speak out.
“Has she not already confessed to me,” he went on, “that your affairs
formerly caused her much trouble, and that the evil genius who had
bewitched the late Duc de Chartres was an Italian and still living?
Anyhow, madame, the only motive I had for coming to see you was the
desire to be of use to one who is oppressed.”
He then showed me several letters from our _virtuous heroine_, in which
she lauded his talents, told him of her own doings, called him her best
friend, etc., etc.
In a word, the young rascal left no stone unturned to delude me; and
when he thought I was well prepared, he offered to go a journey which,
to judge by his hints and mysterious speeches, ought to be to my immense
advantage.
Dazzled by this display of verbosity and his gorgeous promises, I
sanctioned his plan, and offered him 1000 francs to carry it out. He
asked me for 3000, and we split the difference.
In acknowledgment of the sum I handed over to him, all he gave me was
this meaningless memorandum: “I have received from Madame la Comtesse
de Newborough 2000 francs, on an agreement between us. Given in Paris,
December 6th, 1828. S. D. de Saint-Aubin.”
A few days later he announced to me his arrival at Nancy, and said he had
already got important information.
I had just received this news, when an ill-dressed man holding a paper
made his appearance, calling out to me: “Didn’t you write this letter to
the Comtesse de Genlis?” And as I took it from his dirty and disgusting
hands, to see if it was really mine, he went on: “The Comtesse won’t
have anything to do with your affair, which can’t be anything but an
imposture. What! you claim to be the daughter of the Duc d’Orléans? For
shame! you deserve to be finely laughed at.”
I had him turned out at once, throwing my letter, which he wanted to get
back, into the fire; and not only this, but I begged a lady, a friend of
mine, to call for me upon my considerate confidante to express to her my
displeasure and to ask her for the papers I had been foolish enough to
send her.
My friend insisted on seeing her, and, after a long delay, she grew angry
in her turn, promised haughtily to return everything to me, shut her door
and disappeared.
Although my packet never arrived, I thought it would henceforth be
beneath me to have any intercourse with such a person, who, doubtless,
would have preferred remitting it to her dear adopted son, in the hope of
reaping golden harvest from this fresh proof of her boundless devotion.
Meantime, the cunning Saint-Aubin wrote again, assuring me that he was
greatly pleased with his mission, and had found out many things, about
which he would tell me on his return.
Shortly after he wrote that he had just discovered the dwelling of a very
aged Italian woman, the former nurse of Chiappini’s son, who possessed a
very precious medallion and alone could give me more valuable information
than any I had yet got. He promised to bring her to Paris, provided I
could enable him to give her a gratuity. To my shame I confess that again
I was so foolishly simple as to send him 500 francs, begging him to
manage to let me make her acquaintance as soon as possible.
Seven long weeks having passed with no word from him, I began to get
impatient, when he took it into his head to send me the well-worn excuse
of an unforeseen accident. This is his amusing note—
“Madam, I may truly say that I have come back from the other
world. Some days after receiving your second letter—that is
to say, in January last—I had set out for a place I wanted to
find. I had hired a carriage for the journey. As the roads were
very difficult on account of the ice and snow, the carriage
was upset; it was a terrible disaster; I was carried away
unconscious, and it was only after six weeks that I began to
recover. During the lucid moments of my illness I wished very
much to write to you, but I dared not confide in any one.
“For the last fortnight I have been much better. As this
misfortune happened to me near Strasburg, I write to you from
that town.
“My friends and relations must be very anxious about me, for
I have not been able to write to them; besides, it would have
alarmed them too much if they had known of my condition.
“I shall be in Paris in eight days.
“I am longing to see you and to relieve the terrible anxiety
you must have been in at the total want of news.
“I have done all I could, and have much to tell you.
“Your humble and devoted servant,
“SAINT-AUBIN.”
It may well be supposed that I was somewhat surprised that severe
suffering should have made him completely forget both the old nurse and
the interesting medallion.
Alas! my doubts turned to cruel certainties when I saw him come in plump
and blooming, and with a look of long-standing health.
After having at great length bewailed his _unlucky adventure_, he rose,
took leave, and contented himself with saying, as he left the room, that
he would come again and give me a full report.
Tired of waiting, after a few days I sent to the address he had given
me, only to be told that he was known there only as being sometimes seen
in the company of other young scapegraces who had left without paying,
and that Saint-Aubin was no better than his companions.
This was the end of the adventure.
I have since discovered that this _chevalier d’industrie_ was the
near relative of the _venerable_ Comtesse de Genlis, _née_ Ducrest de
Saint-Aubin!
While all this was going on, I had need of an English lawyer to manage my
London affairs.
A Mr. Mills was recommended to me as a model of integrity. I sent for
him; he came, showed me the greatest respect, condoled with me on my
troubles; took the liveliest interest in my concerns, and undertook not
only to manage everything in England, but to obtain for me, free of
interest, the sum necessary to meet the unjust claims of Cooper in Paris.
Delighted to have made his acquaintance, I put myself into his hands;
and in a little while he became my guide, my steward, my banker, and my
manager.
By his advice, and against my own judgment, I wrote to the British
Ambassador to ask his protection against my unworthy extortioner.
To this request his lordship _condescended_ to have an answer sent to me
in these terms—
“Lord Stuart de Rothesay presents his compliments to Lady
Newborough-Sternberg, and begs her to send him a detailed
account of the business. Without this it will not be in his
power to be of any service to her.
“The English Embassy, April 22, 1829.”