Novels - 10 Author:George Sand Volume: 10 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1902 Original Publisher: The Jefferson Press Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.c... more »om where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: " The marquisate of Bois-Dore," he said, "is a jest which the old man takes very seriously, and he persists in forcing upon everybody his absurd passion for the late king." "The late king had some good qualities," rejoined Conde, who considered that the rector went too far, " and this old creature of whom we are talking was not one of his worst creatures. He squandered all his property in absurd finery ; he cannot have anything left. He never goes to Paris now, he never appears at Bourges, he lives in a hole. He has an old chariot of the time of the League and a castle wherein I should be ashamed to quarter my dogs. He has laid out gardens where all the statues are of plaster; all this smells of mediocrity." "These are details with which I did not supply mon- seigneur," said the rector to himself. " He has been making inquiries, he has nibbled at the bait. -- It is true," he said aloud, " that our man is only a petty provincial nobleman. He is known to have about twenty-five thousand crowns of visible income, and people are justly surprised that he spends sixty thousand without running into debt and without leaving his estate." " Can it be that the Abbey of Fontgombaud still holds out ? " said the prince with a smile. " But how do you know, monsieur I'abbe, that this horn of plenty exists at the manor of Briantes ? " " I know it from a very devout young woman who has seen reliquaries and chapel ornaments of great value there. A certain child's bed, all of carved ivory, is a chef-d'oeuvre, surmounted by a canopy " " Bah ! bah ! " said the prince, "...« less