THREE:Just after the last recorded incidents Flicit experienced a great sorrow in the loss of her friend, the Comtesse de Custine, an angelic woman, who, in spite of her beauty and youth (she was only twenty-four), lived as far as she could apart from the world, fearing the corruption and vice around her, and devoting herself to her religious and domestic duties. Her husband, who adored her, was necessarily absent with his regiment for long periods. Her brother-in-law, the Vicomte de Custine, of a character as bad as that of his brother was admirable, professed openly the most violent passion for Mme. de Genlis, who did not care at all for him, gave him no encouragement, but was rather flattered by the excess of his devotion and despair.The enthusiasm of Flicit for the court of Louis XIV. found worthier objects of admiration than the Duc de Richelieu, in the excellent Marchal de Balincourt, and his friends, the Marchal de Biron and the Marquis de Carrillac. This last was ninety-one years old, Biron was eighty-six or seven, and Balincourt not more than seventy. He used to speak with envy of Biron, saying: He was thirty years old at the death of the late king. When hearing them talk together she felt herself transported into the days of that magnificent reign.
