I do not blame the Duchesse de Tarascon for marrying the grandson of a butcher, but for marrying the son of a man made duke by a usurper.

She abandoned the faith of her house and the cause of her sovereign.

Therefore her marriage is a blot on our scutcheon." Frederic raised his eyebrows, but had the tact to pursue the subject no further.

He who interferes in the quarrels of relations must pass through life without a friend.
The young men now arrived at Lemercier's apartment, an entresol looking on the Boulevard des Italiens, consisting of more rooms than a bachelor generally requires; low-pitched, indeed, but of good dimensions, and decorated and furnished with a luxury which really astonished the provincial, though, with the high-bred pride of an oriental, he suppressed every sign of surprise.
Florentine cabinets, freshly retouched by the exquisite skill of Mombro; costly specimens of old Sevres and Limoges; pictures and bronzes and marble statuettes,--all well chosen and of great price, reflected from mirrors in Venetian frames,--made a 'coup d'oeil' very favourable to that respect which the human mind pays to the evidences of money.

Nor was comfort less studied than splendour.