Source note

ESGRIGNON (Marie-Armande-Claire d'), born about 1775; sister of Marquis Carol d'Esgrignon and aunt of Victurnien d'Esgrignon to whom she had been as a mother, with an absolute tenderness. In his old age her father had married for a second time, and to the young daughter of a tax collector, ennobled by Louis XIV. She was born of this union which was looked upon as a horrible mesalliance, and although the marquis loved her dearly he regarded her as an alien. He made her weep for joy, one day, by saying solemnly: "You are an Esgrignon, my sister." Emile Blondet, reared at Alencon, had known and loved her in his childhood, and often later he praised her beauty and good qualities. On account of her devotion to her nephew she refused M. de la Roche-Guyon and the Chevalier de Valois, also M. du Bousquier. She gave the fullest proof of her genuinely maternal affection for Victurnien, when the latter committed the crime at Paris, which would have placed him on the prisoner's bench of the Court of Assizes, but for the clever work of Chesnel. She outlived her brother, given over "to her religion and her over-thrown beliefs." About the middle of Louis Philippe's reign Blondet, who had come to Alencon to obtain his marriage license, was again moved on the contemplation of that noble face. [Jealousies of a Country Town.]