have two nephews; one of whom carried the Emperor's orders at the
battle of Montereau and served in the Guard at Waterloo, and is
now in prison for his devotion to Napoleon; the other, from his
thirteenth year, has been impelled by natural gifts to enter a
difficult though glorious career.

I thank you for your letter, my dear brother, with heart-felt
warmth, for my own sake, and also for Joseph's, who will certainly
accept your invitation. Illness excuses everything, my dear
Jean-Jacques, and I shall therefore go to see you in your own house.
A sister is always at home with a brother, no matter what may be the
life he has adopted.

I embrace you tenderly.

Agathe Rouget


"There's the matter started. Now, when you see him," said Monsieur
Hochon to Agathe, "you must speak plainly to him about his nephews."

The letter was carried over by Gritte, who returned ten minutes later
to render an account to her masters of all that she had seen and
heard, according to a settled provincial custom.

"Since yesterday Madame has had the whole house cleaned up, which she
left--"

"Whom do you mean by Madame?" asked old Hochon.