Le Blanc was scarcely restored to his office, before his vacant place in the Bastile was filled by one who had been among the most active of his enemies. Joseph Paris Duverney, a native of Dauphiné, of humble birth, was one of four brothers, all of whom were men of talent. A fortunate chance gave them the opportunity of exercising their talents in a wider field than, considering their primitive station in life, they could have hoped to find. They were the sons of a man who kept a small solitary inn at the foot of the Alps, and whom they assisted in his business. The Duke of Vendôme was then at the head of the French army in Italy, and all his plans were rendered abortive by the failure of supplies. This want of subsistence was caused by the scandalous conduct of Bouchu, the commissary general. Bouchu, who was old, had the folly to make love to a young girl, and she had the good sense to prefer his deputy, who had youth and personal appearance on his side. To revenge himself for this slight, Bouchu retarded the collecting of provisions, in order to throw the blame on his deputy, who was charged with the merely mechanical part of the operations. Knowing that further delay would be ruin to him, the deputy contrived to collect a portion of the supplies that were wanted; but he was yet far from being out of his difficulties, for the Alps were interposed between him and the French army, and he knew not where to find in the neighbourhood a practicable pass. While he was labouring under this embarrassment, he luckily fell in with the four brothers, and they engaged to extricate him from it. They were thoroughly acquainted with every path and goat track in that wild region, and they conducted the convoy with so much skill, through apparently impassable ways, that they reached the French camp without having suffered the slightest loss.