ge with her. Finding
a former domestic of the family, she kindly led them to their aunt,
where the desolate children were tenderly received.

Beauharnais was now in the Conciergerie, doomed to die, and awaiting his
execution. Josephine was in the prison of the Carmelites, expecting
hourly to be led to the tribunal to receive also her doom of death.

Hortense, an affectionate child, ardent and unreflecting in her
impatience to see her mother, one morning left her aunt's house at
Fontainebleau, to which place her aunt had removed, and in a market-cart
travelled thirty miles to Paris. Here the energetic child, impelled by
grief and love, succeeded in finding her mother's maid, Victorine. It
was however impossible for them to obtain access to the prison, and
Hortense the next day returned to Fontainebleau. Josephine, upon being
informed of this imprudent act, to which affection had impelled her
child, wrote to her the following letter:

"I should be entirely satisfied with the good heart of my Hortense, were
I not displeased with her bad head. How is it, my daughter, that,
without permission from your aunt, you have come to Paris? 'But it was
to see me, you will say.' You ought to be aware that no one can see me
without an order, to obtain which requires both means and precautions.
And besides, you got upon M. Dorset's cart, at the risk of incommoding
him, and retarding the conveyance of his merchandise. In all this you
have been very inconsiderate. My child, observe: it is not sufficient to
do good, you must also do good properly. At your age, the first of all
virtues is confidence and docility towards your relations. I am
therefore obliged to tell you that I prefer your tranquil attachment to
your misplaced warmth. This, however, does not prevent me from embracing
you, but less tenderly than I shall do when I learn that you have
returned to your aunt."

On the evening of the 24th of July M. de Beauharnais received the
announcement in his cell, that with the dawn of the next morning he was
to be led to the guillotine. Under these circumstances he wrote the
following farewell letter to his wife:

"I have yet a few minutes to devote to affection, tears, and regret, and
then I must wholly give myself up to the glory of my fate and to
thoughts of immortality. When you receive this letter, my dear
Josephine, your husband will have ceased to live, and will be tasting
true existence in the bosom of his Creator. Do not weep f