M.Malicorne would be officer to Monsieur.
It is plain the plan was formed by a clear head; it is plain, also, that it had been bravely executed.

Malicorne had asked Manicamp to ask a _brevet_ of maid of honor of the Comte de Guiche; and the Comte de Guiche had asked this _brevet_ of Monsieur, who had signed it without hesitation.

The constructive plan of Malicorne--for we may well suppose that the combinations of a mind as active as his were not confined to the present, but extended to the future--the constructive plan of Malicorne, we say, was this:--To obtain entrance into the household of Madame Henrietta for a woman devoted to himself, who was intelligent, young, handsome, and intriguing; to learn, by means of this woman, all the feminine secrets of the young household; whilst he, Malicorne, and his friend Manicamp, should, between them, know all the male secrets of the young community.

It was by these means that a rapid and splendid fortune might be acquired at one and the same time.

Malicorne was a vile name; he who bore it had too much wit to conceal this truth from himself; but an estate might be purchased; and Malicorne of some place, or even De Malicorne itself, for short, would ring more nobly on the ear.
It was not improbable that a most aristocratic origin might be hunted up by the heralds for this name of Malicorne; might it not come from some estate where a bull with mortal horns had caused some great misfortune, and baptized the soil with the blood it had spilt?
Certes, this plan presented itself bristling with difficulties: but the greatest of all was Mademoiselle de Montalais herself.