It happened the cardinal's choice
settled upon one who had fallen in love with Hortensia, and who
had declared, with amorous enthusiasm, that if he had but the
happiness of being married to her, it would not grieve him to die
three months afterwards.
The young noble was Armand Charles de la Porte, Duke de
Meilleraye, who had the sole recommendation of being one of the
richest peers of France. On condition that he and his heirs
should assume the name of Mazarine and arms of that house, the
cardinal consented to his becoming the husband of his niece. And
the great minister's days rapidly approaching their end, the
ceremony was performed which made Hortensia, then at the age of
thirteen, Duchess of Mazarine. A few months later the great
cardinal expired, leaving her the sum of one million six hundred
and twenty-five thousand pounds sterling. Alas that she should
have died in poverty, and that her body should have been seized
for debt!
Scarce had the first weeks of her married life passed away, when
the young wife found herself mated to one wholly unsuited to her
character. She was beautiful, witty, and frivolous; he jealous,
dull, and morose. The incompatibility of their dispositions
became as discernible to him, as they had become intolerable to
her; and, as if to avenge the fate which had united them, he lost
no opportunity of thwarting her desires, by such means striving
to bend her lissom quality to the gnarled shape of his unhappy
nature.
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