torches in their hands, running towards the Château d'Estresse, from
which all the men had emigrated and which was occupied only by women.
These were my mother's best friends, and so she was greatly upset by
this spectacle. Her anxiety was redoubled by the arrival of her own
aged mother, who had been driven out of her château, which was
declared national property because of the emigration of her three
sons...!

Up until then, my father's property had been respected; largely
because his patriotism was known, and because, to give further proof
of it, he had taken service in the army of the Pyrenees as captain in
the Chasseurs des Montagnes, at the end of his term in the
legislative assembly. But the revolutionary torrent swept over
everyone; the house at St. Céré, which my father had bought ten years
before, was confiscated and declared national property because the
deed of sale had been signed privately and the seller had emigrated
before ratifying the deal before a notary. My mother was given a few
days to remove her linen, then the house was put up for auction and
was bought by the president of the district who had himself arranged
for its confiscation!

At last, the peasants, stirred up by some agitators from Beaulieu,
came in a body to my father's château and insisted, though with some
politeness, that they had to burn the deeds of feudal rents which we
still had, and make sure that émigrés were not concealed in the
château.

My mother received them with fortitude, handed over the deeds and
pointed out to them that, knowing her brothers to be sensible people,
they should not suppose that they would emigrate only then to come