brother Auguste, who was
dressed in his hussar uniform, came in and hastened to my assistance,
interposing himself between us. My mother's rage was beyond all bounds.

"Wretch," cried she, "would you strike your mother?"

"No," replied he, "but I will protect my sister. You barbarous woman,
why do you not kill her at once, it would be a kindness?"

It was after this scene that I resolved that I would again return to
Luneville. I did not confide my intentions to anyone, not even to
Auguste. There was a great difficulty in getting out of the front door
without being perceived, and my bundle would have created suspicion; by
the back of the house the only exit was through a barred window. I was
then fourteen years old but very slight in figure. I tried if my head
would pass through the bars, and succeeding, I soon forced my body
through, and seizing my bundle, made all haste to the diligence office.
I found that it was about to start for Luneville, which was more than
half a day's journey distant. I got in very quickly, and the conducteur
knowing me, thought that all was right, and the diligence drove off.

There were two people in the coupe with me, an officer and his wife;
before we had proceeded far they asked me where I was going, I replied
to my grandmother's at Luneville. Thinking it, however, strange that I
should be unaccompanied, they questioned, until they extracted the whole
history from me. The lady wished me to come to her on a visit, but the
husband, more prudent, said that I was better under the care of my
grandmother.

About mid-day we stopped to change horses at an auberge called the Louis
d'Or, about a quarter of a mile from Luneville. Here I alighted without
offering any explanation to the conducteur; but as he knew me and my
grandmother well, that was of no consequence. My reason for alighting
was, that the diligence would have put me down at the front of the
palace, where I was certain to meet my grandfather, who passed the major
portion of the day there, basking on one of the seats, and I was afraid
to see him until I had communicated with my grandmother. I had an uncle
in the town, and I had been very intimate with my cousin Marie, who was
a pretty, kind-hearted girl, and I resolved that I would go there, and
beg her to go to my grandmother. The difficulty was, how to get to the
house without passing the front of the palace, or even the bridge across
the river. At last I decided that