existence. Where were the miscreants cowardly enough to murder a woman
of eighteen who belonged to no-party and had never injured anyone? As
for me, my opinions were well known. Moreover, my mother-in-law offered
to accompany her daughter, and both joined in persuading me that there
was no danger. At last I was forced to consent, but only on one
condition.

"'I cannot say,' I observed, 'whether there is any foundation for the
reassuring tidings we have heard, but of one thing you may be sure: it is
now seven o'clock in the morning, you can get to Marseilles in an hour,
pack your trunks in another hour, and return in a third; let us allow one
hour more for unforeseen delays. If you are not back by eleven o'clock, I
shall believe something has happened, and take steps accordingly.' 'Very
well,' said my wife; 'if I am not back by then, you may think me dead,
and do whatever you think best.' And so she and her mother left me.

"An hour later, quite different news came to hand. Fugitives, seeking
like ourselves safety in the country, told us that the rioting, far from
ceasing, had increased; the streets were encumbered with corpses, and two
people had been murdered with unheard-of cruelty.

"An old man named Bessieres, who had led a simple and blameless life, and
whose only crime was that he had served under the Usurper, anticipating
that under existing circumstances this would be regarded as a capital
crime, made his will, which was afterwards found among his papers. It
began with the following words:

"'As it is possible that during this revolution I may meet my death, as a
partisan of Napoleon, although I have never loved him, I give and
bequeath, etc., etc.