All in this group indicated that this branch of the family had many points of resemblance with the more illustrious faces.

It was the period of idle kings.
A half dozen solemn personages with gold-braided hats and long red robes bordered with ermine, and wearing starched ruffles, occupied one corner of the parlor near the windows.

These worthy advisers of the Dukes of Lorraine explained the way in which the masters of the chateau had awakened from the torpor in which they had been plunged for several generations, in order to participate in the affairs of their country and enter a more active sphere.
Here the portraits assumed the proportions of history.

Did not this branch, descended from warlike stock, seem like a fragment taken from the European annals?
Was it not a symbolical image of the progress of civilization, of regular legislation struggling against barbaric customs?
Thanks to these respectable counsellors and judges, one might reverse the motto: 'Non solum toga', in favor of their race.

But it did not seem as if these bearded ancestors looked with much gratitude upon this parliamentary flower added to their feudal crest.