without giving it as such, and admits no fancy in the slightest detail.
If he describes one of Mme. Acquet's toilettes, it is because it is
given in some interrogation. I have seen him so scrupulous on this
point, as to suppress all picturesqueness that could be put down to his
imagination. In no _cause celèbre_ has justice shown more exactitude in
exposing the facts. In short, here will be found all the qualities that
ensured the success of his "Conspiration de la Rouërie," the chivalrous
beginning of the Chouannerie that he now shows us in its decline,
reduced to highway robbery!

As for me, if I have lingered too long by this old tower, it is because
it suggested this book; and we owe some gratitude to these mute
witnesses of a past which they keep in our remembrance.

Victorien Sardou.




The House of the Combrays




CHAPTER I

THE TREACHERY OF JEAN-PIERRE QUERELLE


Late at night on January the 25th, 1804, the First Consul, who, as it