they had not preceded their name by any title. To use a then current
expression, they lived nobly, that is to say on the income from their
estates, without engaging in any form of employment. They were allied
to and joined in the society of several of the important families of
the district.

I mention this because, at a time when the nobility were so
haughty and powerful, it shows that the family had a social position
of considerable standing.

My father was born in 1753. He had a rather fiery temperament,
but he was so good-hearted that, after a first outburst, he always
sought to make one forget any hasty words which he might have
uttered. He was a fine figure of a man, very tall and well built,
with handsome, manly features.

My grandfather had become a widower when my father was still at
school. His house was run by one of his elderly cousins, the oldest
of the demoiselles Oudinet of Beaulieu. She gave unstinting care to
my grandfather, who, having become almost blind as a result of a
flash of lightning, which had struck near him, no longer went out of
his manor. Thus my father, when he reached manhood, faced by an
infirm old man and an aunt devoted to his least wishes, could have
played fast and loose with the family fortune. He did not, however,
abuse his position, but as he had a great fancy for a military
career, he accepted a proposal which was made to him by colonel the
Marquis d'Estresse, a neighbour and close friend of the family, which
was to have him enrolled in the bodyguard of the king, Louis XV.

Being under the auspices of the Marquis d'Estresse, he was