DESCOINGS (Madame), born in 1744; widow of two husbands, Bixiou and Descoings, the latter succeeding the former in the grocer shop on rue Saint-Honore, Paris. Grandmother of Jean-Jacques Bixiou, the cartoonist. After the death of M. Bridau, chief of division in the Department of the Interior, Mme. Descoings, now a widow, came in 1819 to live with her niece, the widow Bridau, nee Agathe Rouget, bringing to the common fund an income of six thousand francs. An excellent woman, known in her day as "the pretty grocer." She ran the household, but had likewise a decided mania for lottery, and always for the same numbers; she "nursed a trey." She ended by ruining her niece who had blindly entrusted her interests to her, but Mme. Descoings repaid for her foolish doings by an absolute devotion,--all the while continuing to place her money on the evasive combinations. One day her hoardings were stolen from her mattress by Philippe Bridau. On this account she was unable to renew her lottery tickets. Then it was that the famous trey turned up. Madame Descoings died of grief, December 31, 1821. Had it not been for the theft she would have become a millionaire. [A Bachelor's Establishment.]
DESFONDRILLES, substitute judge at Provins during the Restoration; made president of the court of that town, time of Louis Philippe. An old fellow more archaeologist than judge, who found delight in the petty squabbles under his eyes. He forsook Tiphaine's party for the Liberals headed by lawyer Vinet. [Pierrette.]
DESLANDES, surgeon of Azay-le-Rideau in 1817. Called in to bleed Mme. de Mortsauf, whose life was saved by this operation. [The Lily of the Valley.]
DESMARETS (Jules), Parisian stock-broker under the Restoration.
Hardworking and upright, being reared in sternness and poverty. When only a clerk he fell in love with a charming young girl met at his patron's home, and he married her despite the irregularity connected with her birth. With the money he obtained by his wife's mother he was able to purchase the position of the stock-broker for whom he had clerked; and for several years he was very happy in a mutual love and a liberal competence--an income of two hundred and fifty thousand francs. In 1820 he and his wife lived in a large mansion on rue Menars. In the early years of his wedded life he killed in a duel--though unknown to his wife--a man who had vilified Mme. Desmarets. The flawless happiness which abode with this well-mated couple was cut short by the death of the wife, mortally wounded by a doubt, held for a moment only by her husband, concerning her faithfulness. Desmarets, bereaved, sold his place to Martin Falleix's brother and left Paris in despair. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme. Desmarets were invited to the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau in 1818. After the bankruptcy of the perfumer, the broker kindly gave him useful tips about placing funds laboriously scraped together towards the complete reimbursing of the creditors. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS (Madame Jules), wife of the preceding; natural daughter of Bourignard alias Ferragus, and of a married woman who passed for her godmother. She had no civil status, but when she married Jules Desmarets her name, Clemence, and her age were publicly announced.
Despite herself, Mme. Desmarets was loved by a young officer of the Royal Guard, Auguste de Maulincour. Mme. Desmaret's secret visits to her father, a man of mystery, unknown to her husband, caused the downfall of their absolute happiness. Desmarets thought himself deceived, and she died on account of his suspicions, in 1820 or 1821.
The remains of Clemence were placed at first in Pere Lachaise, but afterwards were disinterred, incinerated and sent to Jules Desmarets by Bourignard, assisted by twelve friends who thus thought to dull the edge of the keenest of conjugal sorrows. [The Thirteen.] M. and Mme.
Desmarets were often alluded to as M. and Mme. Jules. At the ball given by Cesar Birotteau, Mme. Desmarets shone as the most beautiful woman, according to the perfumer's wife herself. [Cesar Birotteau.]
DESMARETS, Parisian notary during the Restoration; elder brother of the broker, Jules Desmarets. The notary was set up in business by his younger brother and grew rich rapidly. He received his brother's will.
He accompanied him to Mme. Desmarets' funeral. [The Thirteen.]
DESPLEIN, famous surgeon of Paris, born about the middle of the eighteenth century. Sprung of a poor provincial family, he spent a youth full of suffering, being enabled to pass his examinations only through assistance rendered him by his neighbor in poverty, Bourgeat the water-carrier. For two years he lived with him on the sixth floor of a wretched house on rue des Quatre-Vents, where later was established the "Cenacle" with Daniel d'Arthez as host--on which account the house came to be spoken of as the "bowl for great men."
Desplein, evicted by his landlord whom he could not pay, lodged next with his friend the Auvergnat in the Court de Rohan, Passage du Commerce. Afterwards, when an "intern" at Hotel-Dieu, he remembered the good deeds of Bourgeat, nursed him as a devoted son, and, in the time of the Empire, established in honor of this simple man who professed religious sentiments a quarterly mass at Saint-Sulpice, at which he piously assisted, though himself an outspoken atheist. [The Atheist's Mass.] In 1806 Desplein had predicted speedy death for an old fellow then fifty-six years old, but who was still alive in 1846.
