"In cha Allah!" they exclaimed with one voice. And it was then that the
scene took place which I have just described.

We arrived in sight of Algiers the 25th December, 1808. We took leave of
the Arab owners of our mules, who walked on foot by the side of us, and
we spurred them on, in order to reach the town before the closing of the
gates. On our arrival, we learnt that the Dey, to whom we owed our first
deliverance, had been beheaded. The guard of the palace before which we
passed, stopped us and questioned us as to whence we came. We replied
that we came from Bougie by land. "It is not possible!" exclaimed all
the janissaries at once; "the Dey himself would not venture to undertake
such a journey!" "We acknowledge that we have committed a great
imprudence; that we would not undertake to recommence the journey for
millions; but the fact that we have just declared is the strict truth."

Arrived at the consular house, we were, as on the first occasion, very
cordially welcomed. We received a visit from a dragoman sent by the Dey,
who asked whether we persisted in maintaining that Bougie had been our
point of departure, and not Cape Matifou, or some neighbouring port. We
again affirmed the truth of our recital; it was confirmed, the next day,
on the arrival of the proprietors of our mules.

At Palamos, during the various interviews which I had with the dowager
Duchess of Orleans, one circumstance had particularly affected me. The
Princess spoke to me unceasingly of the wish she had to go and rejoin
one of her sons, whom she believed to be alive, but of whose death I had
been informed by a person belonging to her household. Hence I was
anxious to do all that lay in my power to mitigate a sorrow which she
must experience before long.

At the moment when I quitted Spain for Marseilles, the Duchess confided
to me two letters which I was to forward in safety to their addresses.
One was destined for the Empress-mother of Russia, the other for the
Empress of Austria.

Scarcely had I arrived at Algiers, when I mentioned these two letters to
M. Dubois Thainville, and begged him to send them to France by the first
opportunity. "I shall do nothing of the sort," he at once answered me.
"Do you know that you have behaved in this affair like a young
inexperienced man, or, to speak out, like a blunderer? I am surprised
that you did not comprehend that the Emperor, with his pettish spirit,
might take this much amiss, and conside