Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/516

 Chauvry, and to the Duc and Duchesse de Lenoncourt; god-mother of Cesar Birotteau. (Cesar Birotteau)

UXELLES (Duchesse d'), born about 1769, mother of Diane d'Uxelles; beloved by the Duc de Maufrigneuse, and about 1814 gave him her daughter in marriage; ten years later she withdrew to her Uxelles estate, where she lived a life of piety and selfishness. (The Secrets of a Princess)

VAILLANT (Madame), wife of a cabinet-maker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine; mother of three children. In 1819 and 1820, for forty sous per month, she kept house for a young author, who lived in a garret in rue Lesdiguieres. She utilized her remaining time in turning the crank for a mechanic, and received only ten sous a day for this hard work. This woman and her husband were perfectly upright. At the wedding of Madame Vaillant's sister, the young writer became acquainted with Pere Canet&mdash;Facino Cane&mdash;clarinetist at the Quinze-Vingts&mdash;who told him his strange story. (Facino Cane) In 1818, Madame Vaillant, already aged, kept house for Claude-Joseph Pillerault, the former Republican, on rue des Bourdonnais. The old merchant was good to his servant and did not let her shine his shoes. (Cesar Birotteau)

VALDES (Paquita), born in the West Indies about 1793, daughter of a slave bought in Georgia on account of her great beauty; lived in the early part of the Restoration and during the Hundred Days in Hotel San-Real, rue Saint-Lazare, Paris, with her mother and her foster-father, Christemio. In April, 1815, in the Jardin des Tuileries, she was met by Henri de Marsay, who loved her. She agreed to receive him secretly in her own home. She gave up everything for his sake, but in a transport of love, she cried out from force of habit: "O Mariquita!" This put her lover in such a fury that he tried to kill her. Not being able to do this, he returned, accompanied by some other members of "The Thirteen,"