f falsehood;
although I had told him truth. By this means I was certain my manuscript
had been read; as I could not doubt the fidelity of Rey, the most
rational conjecture seemed to be, that my packets had been opened at the
post-house.

Another acquaintance I made much about the same time, but which was begun
by letters, was that with M. Laliand of Nimes, who wrote to me from
Paris, begging I would send him my profile; he said he was in want of it
for my bust in marble, which Le Moine was making for him to be placed in
his library. If this was a pretence invented to deceive me, it fully
succeeded. I imagined that a man who wished to have my bust in marble in
his library had his head full of my works, consequently of my principles,
and that he loved me because his mind was in unison with mine. It was
natural this idea should seduce me. I have since seen M. Laliand. I
found him very ready to render me many trifling services, and to concern
himself in my little affairs, but I have my doubts of his having, in the
few books he ever read, fallen upon any one of those I have written. I
do not know that he has a library, or that such a thing is of any use to
him; and for the bust he has a bad figure in plaster, by Le Moine, from
which has been engraved a hideous portrait that bears my name, as if it
bore to me some resemblance.

The only Frenchman who seemed to come to see me, on account of my
sentiments, and his taste for my works, was a young officer of the
regiment of Limousin, named Seguier de St. Brisson. He made a figure in
Paris, where he still perhaps distinguishes himself by his pleasing
talents and wit. He came once to Montmorency, the winter which preceded
my catastrophe. I was pleased with his vivacity. He afterwards wrote to
me at Motiers, and whether he wished to flatter me, or that his head was
turned with Emilius, he informed me he was about to quit the service to
live independently, and had begun to learn the trade of a carpenter. He
had an elder brother, a captain in the same regiment, the favorite of the
mother, who, a devotee to excess, and directed by I know not what
hypocrite, did not treat the youngest son well, accusing him of
irreligion, and what was still worse, of the unpardonable crime of being
connected with me. These were the grievances, on account of which he was
determined to break with his mother, and adopt the manner of life of
which I have just spoken, all to play the part of th