Combray family; France -- History -- Consulate and First Empire, 1799-1815
The liquidation of her debts, which followed on her decease and the
division of her property, brought Acquet de Ferolles' daughters to
Tournebut, all three of whom were well married. In making an inventory
of the furniture in the chateau, they found amongst things forgotten in
the attic the harp on which their mother had played when as a young girl
she had lived at Tournebut, and a saddle which the "dragoon" may have
used on her nocturnal rides towards the hill of Authevernes in pursuit
of coaches.
Mme. de Combray's sons kept Tournebut, and Bonnoeil continued to live
there. There are many people in Aubevoye who remember him. He was a tall
old man, with almost the figure of an athlete, though quite bowed and
bent. His eyebrows were grizzled and bushy, his eyes large and very
dark, his complexion sunburned. He was somewhat gloomy, and seemed to
care for nothing but to talk with a very faded and wrinkled old woman in
a tall goffered cap, who was an object of veneration to everybody. This
was Mlle. Querey. All were aware she had been Mme. de Combray's
confidante and knew all the Marquise's secrets: and she was often seen
talking at great length to Bonnoeil about the past.
Bonnoeil died at Tournebut in 1846, at the age of eighty-four, and the
manor of Marillac did not long outlast him. Put up for sale in 1856, it
was demolished in the following year and replaced by a large and
splendid villa. While the walls of the old chateau were being
demolished, the peasants of Aubevoye, who had so often listened to the
legends concerning it, displayed great curiosity as to the mysteries
which the demolition would disclose. Nothing was discovered but a partly
filled up subterranean passage, which seemed to run towards the small
chateau. The secret of the other hiding-places had long been known. A
careful examination of the old dwelling produced only one surprise. A
portmanteau containing 3,000 francs in crowns and double-louis was found
in a dark attic. Mme. de Combray's grandchildren knew so little of the
drama of their house, that no one thought of connecting this find with
the affairs of Quesnay, of which they had scarcely ever heard. It seems
probable that this portmanteau belonged to the lawyer Lefebre and was
hidden by him, unknown to the Marquise, in the hope of being able to
recover it later on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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