Page:Repertory of the Comedie Humaine.djvu/288

This page needs to be proofread.

He had relations in the German nobility and his mother was a Radziwill. Young, plain, yet with a certain distinguished bearing, with an income of eighty thousand francs, Laginski was a leading light in Paris, during the reign of Louis Philippe. After the Revolution of July, while still unsophisticated, he attended an entertainment at the home of Felicite des Touches in Chaussee-d'Antin on rue du Mont-Blanc, and had the opportunity of listening to the delightful chats between Henri de Marsay and Emile Blondet. Comte Adam Laginski, during the autumn of 1835, married the object of his affections, Mademoiselle Clementine du Rouvre, niece of the Ronquerolles. The friendship of his steward, Paz, saved him from the ruin into which his creole-like carelessness, his frivolity and his recklessness were dragging him. He lived in perfect contentment with his wife, ignorant of the domestic troubles which were kept from his notice. Thanks to the devotion of Paz and of Madame Laginska, he was cured of a malady which had been pronounced fatal by Doctor Horace Bianchon. Comte Adam Laginski lived on rue de la Pepiniere, now absorbed in part by rue de la Boetie. He occupied one of the most palatial and artistic houses of the period, so called, of Louis Philippe. He attended the celebration given in 1838 at the first opening of Josepha Mirah's residence on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. In this same year he attended the wedding of Wenceslas Steinbock. (Another Study of Woman, The Imaginary Mistress, Cousin Betty)

LAGINSKA (Comtesse Adam), born Clementine du Rouvre in 1816, wife of the preceding, niece, on her mother's side, of the Marquis de Ronquerolles and of Madame de Serizy. She was one of the charming group of young women, which included Mesdames de l'Estorade, de Portenduere, Marie de Vandenesse, du Guenic and de Maufrigneuse. Captain Paz was secretly in love with the countess, who, becoming aware of her steward's affection, ended by having very nearly the same kind of feeling for him. The unselfish virtue of Paz was all that saved her; not only at this juncture, but in another more dangerous one, when he rescued her from