第174章 S(12)

SOUDRY (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Cochet in 1763. Lady's-maid to Sophie Laguerre, Montcornet's predecessor at Aigues, she had an understanding with Francois Gaubertin, the steward of the estate, to make a victim of the former opera singer. Twenty days after the burial of her mistress, La Cochet married the brigadier, Soudry, a superb specimen of manhood, though pitted with small-pox. During the reign of Louis XVIII., Madame Soudry, who tried awkwardly enough to imitate her late mistress, Sophie Laguerre, reigned supreme in the society of Soulanges, in her parlor which was the meeting ground of Montcornet's enemies. [The Peasantry.]

SOUDRY, natural son of Soudry, the brigadier of gendarmes; legitimized at the time of his father's marriage to Mademoiselle Cochet, in 1815.

On the day on which Soudry became legally possessed of a mother, he had just finished his course at Paris. There he knew Gaubertin's son, during a stay which he had at first intended to make long enough to entitle him to be registered as an advocate, and eventually to enter the legal profession; but he returned to Bourgogne to take charge of an attorney's practice for which his father paid thirty thousand francs. However, abandoning pettifoggery, Soudry soon found himself deputy king's attorney in a department of Bourgogne, and, in 1817, king's attorney under Attorney-General Bourlac, whom he replaced in 1821, thanks to the influence of Francois Gaubertin. He then married Mademoiselle Rigou. [The Peasantry.]

SOUDRY (Madame), wife of the preceding, born Arsene Rigou, the only daughter of wealthy parents, Gregoire Rigou and Arsene Pichard; resembled her father in cunningness of character, and her mother in beauty. [The Peasantry.]

SOULANGES (Comte Leon de), born in 1777, was colonel of the artillery guard in 1809. In the month of November of that year, he found himself the guest of the Malin de Gondrevilles, in their mansion in Paris, on the evening of a great party; he met there Montcornet, a friend of his in the regiment; Madame de Vaudremont, who had once been his mistress, accompanied by the Martial de la Roche-Hugon, her new lover; and finally his deserted wife, Madame de Soulanges, who had abandoned society, but who had come to the senator's house at the instigation of Madame de Lansac, with a view to a reconciliation, which was successfully carried out. [Domestic Peace.] Leon de Soulanges had several children as a result of his marriage; a son and some daughters; having refused one of his daughters in marriage to Montcornet, on the ground that she was too young, he made an enemy of that general. The count, remaining faithful to the Bourbons during the Hundred Days, was made a peer of France and a general in the artillery corps. Enjoying the favor of the Duc d'Angouleme, he was allowed a command during the Spanish war (1823), gained prominence at the seige of Cadiz and attained the highest degrees in the military hierarchy.

Monsieur de Soulanges, who was very rich, owned, in the territory of the commune of Blangy (Bourgogne), a forest and a chateau adjoining the Aigues estate, which had itself once belonged to the house of Soulanges. At the time of the Crusades, an ancestor of the count had created this domain. Soulanges's motto was: "Je soule agir." Like M. de Ronquerolles he got on badly enough with his neighbor Montcornet and seemed to favor Francois Gaubertin, Gregoire Rigou and Soudry, in their opposition to the future marshal. [The Peasantry.]

SOULANGES (Comtesse Hortense de), wife of the preceding, and niece of the Duchesses de Lansac and de Marigny. In November, 1809, at a ball given by Malin de Gondreville, acting on the advice of Madame de Lansac, the countess, then on bad terms with her husband, conquered her proud timidity, and demanded of Martial de la Roche-Hugon a ring that she had received originally from her husband; M. de Soulanges had afterwards passed it on to his mistress, Madame de Vaudremont, who had given it to her lover, M. de la Roche-Hugon; this restitution effected the reconciliation of the couple. [Domestic Peace.] Hortense de Soulanges inherited from Madame de Marigny (who died about 1820) the Guebriant estate, with its encumbrance of an annuity. [The Thirteen.]

Madame de Soulanges followed her husband to Spain at the time of the war of 1823. [The Peasantry.]

SOULANGES (Amelie de), youngest daughter of the preceding couple, would have married the Comte Philippe de Brambourg, in 1828, but for the condemning revelations made by Bixiou concerning Joseph Bridau's brother. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]

SOULANGES (Vicomte de), probably a brother of the preceding, was, in 1836, commander of a squad of hussars at Fountainebleau; then, in company with Maxime de Trailles, he was going to be second to Savinien de Portenduere in a duel with Desire Minoret, but the duel was prevented by the unforeseen death of the latter; the underlying cause was the disgraceful conduct of the Minoret-Levraults towards Ursule Mirouet, future Vicomtesse de Portenduere. [Ursule Mirouet.]

SOULAS (Amedee-Sylvain-Jacques de), born in 1809, a gentleman of Besancon, of Spanish origin (the name was written Souleyas, when Franche-Comte belonged to Spain), succeeded in shining brightly in the capital of Doubs on an income of four thousand francs, which allowed him to employ the services of "Babylas, the tiger." Such discrepancy between his means and his manner of living may well convey an idea of this fellow's character, seeing that he sought in vain the hand of Rosalie de Watteville, but married, in the month of August, 1837, Madame de Watteville, her widowed mother. [Albert Savarus.]