He had the air of a man not twenty, his dress was a
trifle rustic; but his strong and handsome figure set off a face
that would have been pleasing but for a something fierce in the
aspect of his eyes. Assured that I did not know him, I broke the
seal of his letter and found that it was from my old flame Madame
de Bray, who, as Mademoiselle de St. Mesmin, had come so near to
being my wife; as will be remembered by those who have read the
early part of these memoirs.
The young man proved to be her brother, whom she commended to my
good offices, the impoverishment of the family being so great
that she could compass no more regular method of introducing him
to the world, though the house of St. Mesmin is truly respectable
and, like my own, allied to several of the first consequence.
Madame de Bray recalled our old TENDRESSE to my mind, and
conjured me so movingly by it--and by the regard which her family
had always entertained for me--that I could not dismiss the
application with the hundred others of like tenor that at that
time came to me with each year.
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