her household, two
female friends of her infancy, and that living monument of conjugal
devotion, Count Lavallette.[I] The conversation soon became general.
They questioned me about the Ukraine, where I long had resided, and
Greece and Turkey, through which I had lately travelled.

[Footnote I: Count Lavallette was one of the devoted friends of
Napoleon, who had long served in the armies of the Empire. For the
welcome he gave Napoleon on his return from Elba he was doomed, by the
Bourbons, to death. While preparations were being made for his
execution, his wife and daughter, with her governess, were permitted to
visit him. Very adroitly he escaped in his wife's clothes, she remaining
in his place. Irritated by this escape, the Government held his wife a
prisoner until she became a confirmed lunatic.]

"In return, they spoke of Bavaria, St. Leu, the Lake of Constance, and,
by degrees, of events deriving their chief interest from the important
parts played by the narrators themselves. We dined at five. I afterwards
accompanied the duchess into the garden, and, in the few moments then
enjoyed of intimate conversation, I saw that no past praises had ever
been exaggerated. How admirable were her feelings when she recalled the
death of her mother, and in her tragic recital of the death of Madame
Broc.

"But when she spoke of her children, her friends, and the fine arts, her
whole figure seemed to glow with the ardor of her imagination. Goodness
of heart was displayed in every feature, and gave additional value to
her other estimable qualities. In describing her present situation it
was impossible to avoid mentioning her beloved France.

"'You are returning,' said she, 'to your native country;' and the last
word was pronounced with a heartfelt sigh. I had been an exile from my
cradle, yet my own eager anxiety to revisit a birth-place scarcely
remembered, enabled me to estimate her grief at the thoughts of an
eternal separation. She spoke of the measures adopted for her banishment
with that true resignation which mourns but never murmurs. After two
hours of similar conversation, it was impossible to decide which was the
most admirable, her heart, her good sense, or her imagination.

"We returned to the drawing-room at eight, where tea was served. The
duchess observed that this was a habit learned in Holland, 'though you
are not to suppose,' she added, with a slight blush, 'that it is
preserved as a remembrance of days so b