e Verneuil.

M. Decazes was very ill. A week before he had undergone an operation.
Mme. Decazes bore it all with cheerfulness and courage. This is a trait
of character that women often display in trying situations brought about
through the stupidity of men.

The ministers escaped, but not without difficulty. M. Duchatel, in
particular, had a great fright.

M. Guizot, three days previously, had quitted the Hotel des Capucines
and installed himself at the Ministry of the Interior. He lived there
_en famille_ with M. Duchatel.

On February 24, MM. Duchatel and Guizot were about to sit down to
luncheon when an usher rushed in with a frightened air. The head of
the column of rioters was debouching from the Rue de Bourgogne. The two
ministers left the table and managed to escape just in time by way of
the garden. Their families followed them: M. Duchatel's young wife, M.
Guizot's aged mother, and the children.

A notable thing about this flight was that the luncheon of M. Guizot
became the supper of M. Ledru-Rollin. It was not the first time that the
Republic had eaten what had been served to the Monarchy.

Meanwhile the fugitives had taken the Rue Bellechasse. M. Guizot walked
first, giving his arm to Mme. Duchatel. His fur-lined overcoat was
buttoned up and his hat as usual was stuck on the back of his head.
He was easily recognisable. In the Rue Hillerin-Bertin, Mme. Duchatel
noticed that some men in blouses were gazing at M. Guizot in a singular
manner, She led him into a doorway. It chanced that she knew the
doorkeeper. They hid M. Guizot in an empty room on the fifth floor.

Here M. Guizot passed the day, but he could not stay there. One of his
friends remembered a bookseller, a great admirer of M. Guizot, who in
better days had often declared that he would devote himself to and give
his life for him whom he called "a great man," and that he only hoped
the opportunity for doing so might present itself. This friend called
upon him, reminded him of what he had said, and told him that the hour
had come. The brave bookseller did not fail in what was expected of him.
He placed his house at M. Guizot's disposal and hid him there for ten
whole days. At the end of that time the eight places in a compartment of
a carriage on the Northern Railway were hired. M. Guizot made his way
to the station at nightfall. The seven persons who were aiding in
his escape entered the compartment with him. They reached Lille, then
Ost