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zibeline volume 1

by philippe massa

Comics & Graphic Novels » Graphic Novels

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ALEXANDRE-PHILIPPE-REGNIER DE MASSAMARQUIS DE MASSA, soldier, composer, and French dramatist, was born inParis, December 5, 1831. He selected the military career and received acommission in the cavalry after leaving the school of St. Cyr. He servedin the Imperial Guards, took part in the Italian and Franco-German Warsand was promoted Chief of Squadron, Fifth Regiment, Chasseurs a Cheval,September 10, 1871. Having tendered his resignation from active service,he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the territorial army February 3,1880. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor.The Marquis de Massa is known as a composer of music and as a dramaticauthor and novelist. At the Opera Comique there was represented in 1861Royal-Cravate, written by him. Fragments of two operas by him wereperformed at the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1865, and in 1868. Thelist of his principal plays follows: 'Le Service en campagne, comedy(1882); La Cicatrice, comedy (1885); Au Mont Ida, Fronsac a La Bastille,and La Coeur de Paris, all in 1887; La Czarine and Brouille depuisMagenta (1888), and La Bonne Aventure--all comedies--1889. Together withPetipa he also wrote a ballet Le Roi d'Yvetot (1866); music by CharlesLabarre. He further wrote Zibeline, a most brilliant romance (1892) withan Introduction by Jules Claretie; crowned by the Academie Francaise.This odd and dainty little story has a heroine of striking originality,in character and exploits. Her real name is Valentine de Vermont, andshe is the daughter of a fabulously wealthy French-American dealer infurs, and when, after his death, she goes to Paris to spend her colossalfortune, and to make restitution to the man from whom her father won atplay the large sum that became the foundation of his wealth, certainlively Parisian ladies, envying her her rich furs, gave her the name ofZibeline, that of a very rare, almost extinct, wild animal. Zibeline'sAmerican unconventionality, her audacity, her wealth, and generosity, setall Paris by the ears. There are fascinating glimpses into the drawing-rooms of the most exclusive Parisian society, and also into the historicgreenroom of the Comedie Francaise, on a brilliant "first night." The manto whom she makes graceful restitution of his fortune is a hero of theFranco-Mexican and Franco-Prussian wars, and when she gives him back hisproperty, she throws her heart in with the gift. The story is aninteresting study of a brilliant and unconventional American girl as seenby the eyes of a clever Frenchman.Later came 'La Revue quand meme, comedy, (1894); Souvenirs et Impressions(1897); La Revue retrospective, comedy (1899); and Sonnets' the sameyear.

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...Russianambassador. "As you please, " said Henri. This proposal decided every one to remain. The company returned to thelarge dining-room, which, in the mean time, had been again transformedinto a gaming-hall, with the usual accessories: a frame for the tally-sheet, a metal bowl to hold rejected playing-cards set in one end of thetable, and, placed at intervals around it, were tablets on which thepunter registered the amount of the stakes. On reentering this apartment, Henri de Prerolles approached a sort ofcounter, and, drawing from his pocket thirty thousand francs in bank-notes, he exchanged them for their value in mother-of-pearl "chips" ofdifferent sizes, representing sums from one to five, ten, twenty-five, ora hundred louis. Paul Landry took twenty-five thousand francs' worth;Constantin Unaieff, fifteen thousand; the others, less fortunate or moreprudent, took smaller sums; and about midnight the game began. CHAPTER IIITHE GAMEIt began quietly enough, the two principal players...