This woman, it seems, was a beneficiary in the testament of Dujarrier, who died as a result of his duel, to the extent of eighteen shares in the Théâtre du Palais Royal, and in the trial which followed at Rouen, at which were present all shades and degrees of literary and professional people, Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, and others, she insisted upon appearing as a witness, for no reason whatever, apparently, than that of further notoriety. "Six months from this time," as one learns from Vandam, "her name was almost forgotten by all of us except Alexandre Dumas, who once and again alluded to her." "Though far from superstitious, Dumas, who had been as much smitten with her as most of her admirers, avowed that he was glad that she had disappeared. 'She has the evil eye,' said he, 'and is sure to bring bad luck to any one who closely links his destiny with hers.'" There is no question but that Dumas was right, for she afterward--to mention but two instances of her remarkably active career--brought disaster "most unkind" upon Louis I. of Bavaria; committed bigamy with an English officer who was drowned at Lisbon; and, whether in the guise of lovers or husbands, all, truly, who became connected with her met with almost immediate disaster. The mere mention of Lola Montez brings to mind another woman of the same category, though different in character, Alphonsine Plessis, more popularly known as La Dame aux Camélias. She died in 1847, and her name was not Marie or Marguérite Duplessis, but as above written. Dumas _fils_ in his play did not idealize Alphonsine Plessis' character; indeed, Dumas _père_ said that he did not even enlarge or exaggerate any incident--all of which was common property in the _demi-monde_--"save that he ascribed her death to any cause but the right one." "I know he made use of it," said the father, "but he showed the malady aggravated by Duval's desertion." We learn that the elder Dumas "wept like a baby" over the reading of his son's play. But his tears did not drown his critical faculty. "At the beginning of the third act," said Dumas _père_, "I was wondering how Alexandre would get his Marguérite back to town, ... but the way Alexandre got out of the difficulty proves that he is my son, every inch of him, and at the very outset of his career he is a better dramatist than I am ever likely to be." "Alphonsine Plessis was decidedly a real personage, but not an ordinary one in her walk of life," said Doctor Véron. "A woman of her refinement might not have been impossible in a former day, because the grisette--and subsequently the _femme entretenue_--was not then even surmised. She interests me much; she is the best dressed woman in Paris, she neither conceals nor hides her vices, and she does not continually hint about money; in short, she is wonderful."