return to Versailles where his regiment was still
stationed; but his father's entreaties induced him to abandon this
project. The Marquis assured him that he could not live abandoned by
both Dolores and his son, so Philip remained. This was one advantage
gained for the Marquis. The causes previously referred to and
Antoinette's charms accomplished the rest. Philip began to regard their
marriage without aversion; but he would not consent to abruptly cast off
one love for another. Time was needed for the transition. Even as he
would have mourned for Dolores dead, he wished to mourn the Dolores he
had lost, and to wait until his wounded heart was healed. He gave his
father and also Mademoiselle de Mirandol to understand that, while he
did not reject the idea of this union which seemed so pleasing to them,
he must be allowed to fix the date of it. His will was law with both;
the Marquis wisely concealed his impatience; Antoinette displayed great
discretion, and matters were moving along smoothly when political events
which had become more and more grave in character suddenly complicated
the situation.

CHAPTER V.

IN WHICH HISTORY IS MINGLED WITH ROMANCE.

The real awaking of the country, the real beginning of the Revolution
dates from the year 1789. What France had endured for half a century
every one knows. Every one also knows that, becoming weary of poverty,
of the tyranny of the powerful, of the weakness of the king, of the
squandering of her treasure and of the intrigues of those in authority,
and compelled to find a remedy within herself, the country demanded the
convocation of the Etats Generaux. The government at last decided to
accede to the entreaties that were heard on every side; and it was
during the early part of the year 1789 that France was called upon to
elect her representatives; while, from one end of the kingdom to the
other, there was a general desire for a great and much needed reform.

The south did not take a less active part in this movement than the rest
of the country. Provence and Languedoc were shaken to their centres. In
all the region round about the Gardon--at Nimes, in Beaucaire in Arles,
in Remoulins--political clubs were formed. The condition of the
peasantry, who had previously been condemned to a sort of slavery,
suddenly changed. The weak became the strong; the timid became the
audacious; the humble became the proud; and from the mouth of an
oppressed people issued a voice