Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/246

Rh V.

JACQUES LEBRUN.

[1689.]

ACQUES LEBRUN was a servant. At the age of sixteen years he entered, as a valet-de-chambre, the service of a lady named Mazel, a rich widow, living in a house in the Rue des Maçons-Sorbonne, in Paris. For twenty-nine years Lebrun faithfully served his mistress. Was he still a valet-de-chambre at forty-five years of age? That continued to be the modest name of his office; in reality, he had become the steward of the house and the confidant of Madame Mazel. He it was who bought and paid for all the supplies, and who gave all the orders relating to the house. He had charge of all the money and valuables, which he kept in a strong box in a secret place. No one doubted his honesty, attested by long years of service which had made the old domestic almost a member of the family. He was a servant and he was a friend. Madame Mazel had made a will by which he was to receive at her death six thousand livres and one half of the wearing apparel and linen used in the house.

Lebrun was married; he lived happily with his wife, and brought up his children in the fear of God.

Madame Mazel, strict and exacting, as ladies of her age generally are, did not permit him to have his family with him. He had therefore lodged them in the neighborhood, near the Collége d'Harcourt.

The family of Madame Mazel consisted of (besides Lebrun) two female servants, a cook, a coachman, and two lackeys.

A widow with a large fortune and three sons, she had handsomely provided for all of them. The oldest, René de Savonnières, was a member of Parliament; the second, George de Savonnières, held an office under the Government; and the youngest, Michel de Savonnières, was a major in a regiment at Piémont.

At the time of which we write it was common to find among the household of a rich family an abbé or priest. Madame Mazel harbored an old monk, the Abbé Poulard. It would be difficult to say what duties he was expected to perform. Was he the confessor of Madame? Had he been, was he, anything more? All we know is that the Abbé Poulard was installed in the house as though it were his own. He did as he pleased; he was hard to satisfy, and did not conceal his bad humor on occasions. He was particular as to his living, fastidious as to his sleeping, but not very strict in other matters, and he did not hesitate to ignore the rules of the Church regarding fast days and the eating of meat. At the table he asserted his authority; he found fault with the meats, discussed the merits of the same, and nearly drove the old cook to despair.

His sleeping-room resembled the boudoir of a pretty woman, so elegantly was it furnished, and so many beautiful things did it contain. He found himself so comfortable in his cell that it is said that in 1673 he preferred to be excommunicated by the head prior of Cluny rather than leave the house.

Still, in spite of all the satisfaction which his abode furnished him, the dear Abbé was not content. In order that he might be more independent, he hired in the vicinity a room where he often slept. On such occasions he returned to the house very early in the morning, and noiselessly entered by the means of a pass-key with which he opened the door.

Madame Mazel's house was a building of four stories. One entered, on the first floor, by means of the main stairway, a hall which was used as an office and in which was a chest of drawers in which the table service was kept. One of the chambermaids had