him to re-enter France when appointed ambassador. At any rate, the
poor Countess did take this route to the South, and I am inclined to
think the narrative must be correct, as all the side-lights I have been
able to gain perfectly agree with it, often in an unexpected manner.

The suite and the baggage were just as related in the story--the only
liberty I have taken being the bestowal of names. 'M. Arture' was
really of the party, but I have made him Scotch instead of Irish, and I
have no knowledge that the lackey was not French. The imbecility of
the Abbe is merely a deduction from his helplessness, but of course
this may have been caused by illness.

The meeting with M. de Varennes at Avignon, Berwick's offer of an
escort, and the Countess's dread of the Pyrenees, are all facts, as
well as her embarkation in the Genoese tartane bound for Barcelona, and
its capture by the Algerine corsair commanded by a Dutch renegade, who
treated her well, and to whom she gave her watch.

Algerine history confirms what is said of his treatment. Louis XIV.
had bombarded the pirate city, and compelled the Dey to receive a
consul and to liberate French prisoners and French property; but the
lady having been taken in an Italian ship, the Dutchman was afraid to
set her ashore without first taking her to Algiers, lest he should fall
under suspicion. He would not venture on taking so many women on board
his own vessel, being evidently afraid of his crew of more than two
hundred Turks and Moors, but sent seven men on board the prize and took
it in tow.

Curiously enough, history mentions the very tempest which drove the
tartane apart from her captor, for it also shattered the French