Laurette du Bois

Laure "Laurette" Josephine Marie-Sophie du Bois, the Comtesse de Ray, is the young orphaned niece of the Marquis de Vallois.

Childhood
Laurette was born on December 12th, 1770, the only child of Edmé du Bois, the Comte de Ray, and his wife, Françoise de Giverny de Vallois. Her parents' marriage was arranged when they were young, and they never loved each other. Laurette's father was a notorious philanderer and her mother often suffered from deep depression. As a child, Laurette was often lonely and emotionally neglected, and she later came to completely resent her parents, especially her father. In 1781, Laurette's father was challenged to a duel by the angry husband of one of his mistresses and he was killed in the duel by a stab wound to the abdomen. Three years later, Laurette's mother died from complications brought on by syphilis which she had contracted from her husband sometime (probably even years) before his death. Orphaned, Laurette was placed in the care of her maternal uncle, Charles de Giverny, the Marquis de Vallois. Together, they lived in Paris in the townhouse she had inherited from her family. At first, Laurette resented her uncle, like she did her parents and all other adults. However, she soon came to love her uncle like a father.

François de Saint-André
Early in her stay with her uncle, the Marquis hired young noble François de Saint-André as a mathematics tutor for Laurette. Laurette had always hated mathematics, but she and François became fast friends and he helped her to appreciate the subject more, and also take more interest in her other studies.

Life at Court
By the age of 15, Laurette was spending a lot of time socialising with other young nobles in Paris and in Versailles. Although she was adored by many and had a lot of friends, she also made a lot of enemies because of her incessant flirting with young men at court. She garnered a bad reputation for herself, even though all she ever did was harmless flirting.

Betrothal
At the age of 10, Laurette had been betrothed to James-Louis de Macey, the son of one of her father's friends, and she was set to marry him as soon as she turned 15.

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