Young Valentine considered the old hangings of the Hôtel de Mongarcin gloomy and repellent; she had them all changed or renewed, and the furniture as well. But nothing was disturbed in the apartment occupied by Madame de Ravenelle. Some of the servants having failed to carry out the girl's orders quickly enough, she dismissed them and engaged others; but her aunt's maid and her old male attendant were outside of her authority. The Hôtel de Mongarcin became more fashionable; it assumed a more youthful, a gayer aspect; frequent entertainments were given there by musicians, jugglers, and gypsies; it amused Valentine, and it was all a matter of indifference to Madame de Ravenelle. One day, however, the old lady said to her niece: "By the way, Valentine, have you ever heard of the young Comte Léodgard de Marvejols?" "The name is familiar to me, and I have an idea that my father often mentioned it.--Why do you ask me that question, aunt?" "Because my brother was very desirous that young Léodgard should some day become your husband." "Ah! my father desired it?" "Yes; he told me so again just before he died. He was very closely attached to young Léodgard's father, who had the same wish." "Well, aunt?" "Well, niece, you shall marry the young count, if that meets your views!" "Oh! there's time for that! for my father surely would not desire to force my inclination, if he were alive." "I cannot say what your father would have done if he had lived; but I know very well that I have no desire to torment you." "You are so good, aunt!" "Why, yes, I am tolerably good!" "And do you know this young Comte de Marvejols?" "I have seen him two or three times in company." "What is he like, aunt?" "A very good-looking young man; very well built, and with a decidedly rakish air. But young men sometimes assume those airs in society, in order to give themselves an appearance of aplomb and self-assurance; very often they mean nothing at all!" "Well, if this Monsieur Léodgard desires to become my husband, I suppose that he will come to pay court to me first." "Why, that is to be presumed. However, you will see his father, Monsieur le Marquis de Marvejols, at my receptions before long; he is a man very highly considered, in very good odor at court, but of a rather severe humor." "What does that matter to me? it is not the father who wishes to marry me!" "That is true." "And if this Monsieur Léodgard shared his father's wishes, it seems to me, aunt, that he would manifest more eagerness to see me; for it is nearly two months since I left the convent, and he has not called here as yet." "That is true, niece; but perhaps the young man is travelling." Madame de Ravenelle's invariably placid and equable temperament sometimes irritated Valentine, whose blood was ardent and boiling; but she dissembled her impatience, for she could not be angry with her aunt, who always agreed with her.