but were merely going for a stroll. This precaution saved us, for we
learned the next day that if our intention to fly had been suspected we
should have been stopped.

"We walked at random, while behind us we heard musket shots from every
part of the town. We met a company of soldiers who were hurrying to the
relief of their comrades, but heard later that they had not been allowed
to pass the gate.

"We recollected an old officer of our acquaintance who had quitted the
service and withdrawn from the world some years before, and had taken a
place in the country near the village of Saint-Just; we directed our
course towards his house.

"'Captain,' said I to him, 'they are murdering each other in the town, we
are pursued and without asylum, so we come to you.' 'That's right, my
children,' said he; 'come in and welcome. I have never meddled with
political affairs, and no one can have anything against me. No one will
think of looking for you here.'

"The captain had friends in the town, who, one after another, reached his
house, and brought us news of all that went on during that dreadful day.
Many soldiers had been killed, and the Mamelukes had been annihilated. A
negress who had been in the service of these unfortunates had been taken
on the quay. 'Cry "Long live the king!' shouted the mob. 'No,' she
replied. 'To Napoleon I owe my daily bread; long live Napoleon!' A
bayonet-thrust in the abdomen was the answer. 'Villains!' said she,
covering the wound with her hand to keep back the protruding entrails.
'Long live Napoleon!' A push sent her into the water; she sank, but rose
again to the surface, and waving her hand, she cried for the last time,