it was this which saved his life, as sparks and cinders slipped off his
coat and the decorations with which he was covered like a helmet; yet,
notwithstanding this, the prince was confined to his bed for several
months. In the confusion he fell on his back, was for some time,
trampled under foot and much injured, and owed his life only to the
presence of mind and strength of a musician, who raised him in his arms
and carried him out of the crowd.

General Durosnel, whose wife fainted in the ball-room, threw himself in
the midst of the flames, and reappeared immediately, bearing in his arms
his precious burden. He bore Madame Durosnel into a house on the
boulevard, where he placed her until he could find a carriage in which to
convey her to his hotel. The Countess Durosnel was painfully burned, and
was ill more than two years. In going from the ambassador's hotel to the
boulevard he saw by the light of the fire a robber steal the comb from
the head of his wife who had fainted in his arms. This comb was set with
diamonds, and very valuable.

Madame Durosnel's affection for her husband was equal to that he felt for
her; and when at the end of a bloody combat, in the second campaign of
Poland, General Durosnel was lost for several days, and news was sent to
France that he was thought to be dead, the countess in despair fell ill
of grief, and was at the point of death. A short time after it was
learned that the general was badly but not mortally wounded, and that he
had been found, and his wounds would quickly heal. When Madame Durosnel
received this happy news her joy amounted almost to delirium; and in the
court of her hotel she made a pile of her mourning clothes and those of
her people, set fire to them, and saw this gloomy pile turn to ashes amid
wild transports of joy and delight.