came from Limousin, Auvergne, the Basque country, Quercy, Gers and
Languedoc. Augereau trained them well, and in so doing he was
unaware that he was laying the foundations of his own future fame,
for these troops, which my father then commanded, formed later the
famous Augereau division which did such fine things in the Pyrenees
and in Italy.

Augereau came almost daily to my father's house, and seeing that
he was appreciated, he devoted to him a friendship which never
wavered and of which I felt the benefit after the death of my mother.

As for Lieutenant Lannes, he was a very lively young Gascon,
intelligent and cheerful, without education or training but anxious
to learn at a time when no one else was. He became a very good
instructor, and since he was very vain, he accepted with the greatest
delight the praises which my father lavished on him, and which he
deserved. By way of recompense, he spoiled, as much as he could, his
general's children.

One fine morning, my father received the order to strike his camp
at Miral and to lead his division to join the army corps of General
Dugommier, which was laying siege to Toulon, which the English had
captured in a surprise attack. My father then said to me that it was
not in a school for young ladies that I would learn what I needed to
know; that I needed more serious studies and in consequence he was
taking me, the next day, to the military college of Sorèze, where he
had already arranged a place for me and my brother. I was
thunderstruck! Never to go back to my friends with the Mesdames
Mongalvi? That seemed impossible!