[Monsieur de Camors by Octave Feuillet]@TWC D-Link bookMonsieur de Camors CHAPTER III 3/13
This should not be beyond the strength of a man of good intentions; and Louis de Camors might have accomplished the task had he been aided by better instruction and guidance. It is the common misfortune of those just entering life to find in it less than their ideal.
But in this respect Camors was born under a particularly unfortunate star, for he found in his surroundings--in his own family even--only the worst side of human nature; and, in some respects, of those very opinions to which he was tempted to adhere. The Camors were originally from Brittany, where they had held, in the eighteenth century, large possessions, particularly some extensive forests, which still bear their name.
The grandfather of Louis, the Comte Herve de Camors, had, on his return from the emigration, bought back a small part of the hereditary demesne.
There he established himself in the old-fashioned style, and nourished until his death incurable prejudices against the French Revolution and against Louis XVIII. Count Herve had four children, two boys and two girls, and, feeling it his duty to protest against the levelling influences of the Civil Code, he established during his life, by a legal subterfuge, a sort of entail in favor of his eldest son, Charles-Henri, to the prejudice of Robert-Sosthene, Eleanore-Jeanne and Louise-Elizabeth, his other heirs. Eleanore-Jeanne and Louise-Elizabeth accepted with apparent willingness the act that benefited their brother at their expense--notwithstanding which they never forgave him.
But Robert-Sosthene, who, in his position as representative of the younger branch, affected Liberal leanings and was besides loaded with debt, rebelled against the paternal procedure. He burned his visiting-cards, ornamented with the family crest and his name "Chevalier Lange d'Ardennes"-- and had others printed, simply "Dardennes, junior (du Morbihan)." Of these he sent a specimen to his father, and from that hour became a declared Republican. There are people who attach themselves to a party by their virtues; others, again, by their vices.
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