stag. Ravel's heir sold the property one last time in 1838 to Anne-Elie-Marie de Montmorency-Luxembourg, a distant descendant of the . She occupied the properties of her ancestors under the Restoration, but only very briefly. Fearing death on the scaffold, she was bullied out of her ownership rights by her politically liberal neighbors, who were closely allied to Marly’s mayor. Upon her death, the property was retroceded by her heir to his relatives, Madame and Monsieur Béthune-Sully. They used the château as a private hospital for Madame Béthune-Sully, who suffered from dementia. In 1863, “a wanderer, mounted on a donkey that bore him through the woods at will, suddenly had his steed halt at the edge of a broad hollow covered with an abundance of tasty thistles. Our wanderer, enchanted by the spot’s cool air and solitude, urged his mount through the lofty trees that edged the far side of the ditch, eager to discover what their dense foliage would reveal.” This “wanderer” was none other than the dramatist Victorien Sardou. He was captivated by the place. Ardently longing to own it, he achieved his goal in August 1863. He altered the appearance of the property, filling it with his collections and the gifts bestowed on him by admirers. A celebrated playwright, he surrounded himself with a circle of performers and artists who flattered him and enthusiastically attended the lavish receptions he hosted in his residence in Marly. Victorien Sardou also became involved in the daily life of the commune of Marly, but he met his match when he attempted to organize a genuine “counter-revolution.” Despite this setback, he kept his beloved Château des Sphinx. When he died in 1908, the usufruct of the property was granted to his wife, while the bare ownership went to his four children. They recovered the right of usufruct when their mother died and sold the property to Bertrand-Louis-Eugène Mir. When Mir died in 1930, his nieces inherited. At the conclusion of the division of the estate, only the Marquise de Gonet received ownership of the property. In 1940, the marquise divided the property into two lots, which she gave to her two daughters. One of the parcels was designated the “Château des Sphinx” and the other the “Orangerie.” In 1970, the Château des Sphinx was sold to the insurance company AXA, which undertook the building's restoration in the 1970s. Other companies subsequently owned