reatly reproach myself for having
neglected to make inquiries after the worthy seaman, who was only known
on board by the name of James. I should have felt a sincere satisfaction
in rendering him some service, since it was afterwards in my power to do
so."

Josephine had spent three years in Martinique. Consequently, upon her
return to France, Hortense was six years of age. Soon after her arrival
the Reign of Terror commenced. The guillotine was erected, and its knife
was busy beheading those who were suspected of not being in full
sympathy with the reformers whom revolution had brought into power.
Though Viscount Beauharnais had earnestly espoused the popular cause;
though he had been president of the National Assembly, and afterwards
general of the Army of the Rhine, still he was of noble birth, and his
older brother was an aristocrat, and an emigrant. He was consequently
suspected, and arrested. Having conducted him to prison, a committee of
the Convention called at the residence of Josephine to examine the
children, hoping to extort from them some evidence against their father.
Josephine, in a letter to her aunt, thus describes this singular scene:

"You would hardly believe, dear aunt, that my children have just
undergone a long and minute examination. That wicked old man, the
member of the committee whom I have already mentioned to you, called
upon me, and, affecting to feel uneasy in regard to my husband, and to
converse with me respecting him, opened a conversation with my children.
I acknowledge that I at first fell into the snare. What surprised me,
however, was the sudden affability of the man. But he soon betrayed
himself by the malignity and even bitterness which he displayed when the
children replied in such a manner as to give him no advantage over
their unhappy parents. I soon penetrated his artful intentions.

"When he found me on my guard, he threw off the mask, and admitted that
he was desired to procure information from my children, which, he said,
might be more relied on, as it would bear the stamp of candor. He then
entered into a formal examination. At that moment I felt an
indescribable emotion; and the conflicting effects of fear, anger, and
indignation alternately agitated me. I was even upon the point of openly
giving vent to my feelings against the hoary revolutionist, when I
reflected that I might, by so doing, materially injure M. de
Beauharnais, against whom that atrocious villain appear