Source note

ROCHEFIDE (Marquis Arthur de), one of the later nobility; married through his father's instrumentality, in 1828, Beatrix de Casteran, a descendant of the more ancient nobility. His father thought that by doing this his son would obtain an appointment to the peerage, an honor which he himself had vainly sought. The Comtesse de Montcornet was interested in this marriage. Arthur de Rochefide served in the Royal Guards. He was a handsome man, but not especially worthy. He spent much of his time at his toilet, and it was known that he wore a corset. He was everybody's friend, as he joined in with the opinions and extravagances of everybody. His favorite amusement was horse-racing, and he supported a journal devoted to the subject of horses. Having been deserted by his wife, he mourned without becoming the object of ridicule, and passed for a "jolly, good fellow." Made rich by the death of his father and of his elder sister, who was the wife of D'Ajuda-Pinto, he inherited, among other things, a splendid mansion on rue d'Anjou-Saint-Honore. He slept and ate there only occasionally and was very happy at not having the marital obligations and expense customary with married men. At heart he was so well satisfied at having been deserted by his wife, that he said to his friends, "I was born lucky." For a long time he supported Madame Schontz, and then they lived together maritally. She reared his legitimate son as carefully as though he were her own child. After 1840 she married Du Ronceret, and Arthur de Rochefide was rejoined by his wife. He soon communicated to her a peculiar disease, which Madame Schontz, angered at having been abandoned, had given to him, as well as to Baron Calyste du Guenic. [Beatrix.] In 1838, Rochefide was present at the house-warming given by Josepha in her mansion on rue de la Ville-l'Eveque. [Cousin Betty.]