Except whoever might help to give his country a bicameral government, the young count considered that no one was worthy of his attention. He left Mathilde, the most fascinating woman at the ball, with pleasure, because he had seen a Peruvian general come in.

Despairing of Europe, poor Altamira had been reduced to the hope that when the nations of South America became strong and powerful, they might restore to Europe the liberty Mirabeau had sent them.