FRANCE: The Aristocrats

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Last week police, accompanied by the Comtesse de La Rochefoucauld, raided the Paris apartment of the Comtesse de Marliave. In a bureau, nestling beside three golden wigs, they found the La Rochefoucauld sewing box and a gold necklace. At first the Comtesse de Marliave said the necklace belonged to her own family, but Yvonne produced a bill of sale to the La Rochefoucaulds; it was dated 1826. Then in a flood of tears, the balding 56-year-old Comtesse de Marliave admitted she had been given the jewels for safekeeping, had sold them to raise money during hard times. She accused her great & good friend, Sculptor Louis-Robert Sarlin, of arranging for their sale. "I gave him everything," she wailed. "He sold all the jewels and gave me back only 6,000 francs and one necklace." Sarlin was arrested.

Yvonne, Comtesse de la Rochefoucauld, returned home to write the Comte de Marliave, distinguished one-armed veteran of the first World War, "Yours is a very great name, and I still respect it." As for the still-missing jewels, she would wait and hope for their recovery by the police. The Comtesse de La Rochefoucauld allowed herself only one comment about the faithless Comtesse de Marliave: "To see her ride at the horse shows, who would have thought that she wore a wig?"

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