My régime against the cholera--I am attacked by the epidemic --I invent etherisation--Harel comes to suggest to me _La Tour de Nesle_--Verteuil's manuscript--Janin and the tirade of the _grandes dames_--First idea of the _prison scene_--My terms with Harel--Advantages offered by me to M. Gaillardet--The spectator in the Odéon--Known and unknown authors--My first letter to M. Gaillardet CHAPTER III M. Gaillardet's answer and protest--Frédérick and Buridan's part--Transaction with M. Gaillardet--First performance of _La Tour de Nesle_--The play and its interpreters--The day following a success--M. * * *--A profitable trial in prospect--Georges' caprice--The manager, author and collaborator CHAPTER IV The use of friends--_Le Musée des Familles_--An article by M. Gaillardet--My reply to it--Challenge from M. Gaillardet --I accept it with effusion--My adversary demands a first respite of a week--I summon him before the Commission of Dramatic Authors--He declines that arbitration--I send him my seconds--He asks a delay of two months--Janin's letter to the newspapers CHAPTER V Sword and pistol--Whence arose my aversion to the latter weapon--Philippe's puppet--The statue of Corneille--An autograph _in extremis_--Le bois de Vincennes--A duelling toilet--Scientific question put by Bixio--The conditions of the duel--Official report of the seconds--How Bixio's problem found its solution BOOK IV CHAPTER I The masquerade of the budget at Grenoble--M. Maurice Duval--The serenaders--Escapade of the 35th of the line--The insurrection it excites--Arrest of General Saint-Clair--Taking of the préfecture and of the citadel by Bastide--Bastide at Lyons--Order reigns at Grenoble--Casimir Périer, Gamier-Pages and M. Dupin--Report of the municipality of Grenoble--Acquittal of the rioters--Restoration of the 35th--Protest of a smoker CHAPTER II General Dermoncourt's papers--Protest of Charles X. against the usurpation of the Duc d'Orléans--The stoutest of political men--Attempt at restoration planned by Madame la duchesse de Berry--The _Carlo-Alberto_--How I write authentic notes--Landing of Madame near La Ciotat--Legitimist affray at Marseilles--Madame set out for La Vendée--M. de Bonnechose--M. de Villeneuve--M. de Lorge CHAPTER III Madame's itinerary--Panic--M. de Puylaroque--_Domine salvum fac Philippum_--The château de Dampierre--Madame de la Myre--The pretended cousin and the curé--M. Guibourg--M. de Bourmont--Letter of Madame to M. de Coislin--The _noms de guerre_--Proclamation of Madame--New kind of _henna_--M. Charette--Madame is nearly drowned in the Maine--The sexton in charge of the provisions--A night in the stable--The Legitimists of Paris--They dispatch M. Berryer into la Vendée CHAPTER IV