r whom he met, asking him for alms, and stating at the same
time that he was a little "De Vezin." The farmer's curiosity was
excited, for the Baron de Vezin was a well-known nobleman, who had
suffered sorely in the civil war of 1795, whose chateau had been
burnt, and whose estates had been devastated by the republican
soldiery; and that his son should be compelled to beg was more than
the honest agriculturist could bear. So he took the little waif home
with him, and kept him until the Viscountess de Turpin de Crisse heard
of his whereabouts, and carried him off to her own chateau at Angrie.

In her mansion Maturin Bruneau was treated as an adopted son, and
lived in great splendour until, in 1796, a letter arrived from Charles
de Vezin, the brother of the baron, who had just returned to France,
and who informed the viscountess that she had been imposed upon, for
the only nephew he ever possessed was at that time an emigrant refugee
in England. The result was that Bruneau was thrust out of doors, and,
sent back to his native village and the manufacture of wooden shoes.
The jibes of his fellow-villagers, however, rendered his life so
miserable that the viscountess consented to receive him as a servant,
and he remained with her for a year; but his conduct was so unbearable
that she was at last compelled to dismiss him.

After a brief sojourn with his relatives he announced his intention of
making the tour of France, and left his home for that purpose at the
age of fifteen. He seems, in the course of his wanderings, to have
fought in the Chouan insurrection in 1799 and 1800, and having been
press-ganged, deserted from his ship in an American port, and roamed
up and down in the United States for some years. When the news of
Napoleon's downfall reached that country in 1815, he returned to
France, arriving with a passport which bore the name of Charles de
Navarre. He reached the village of Vallebasseir in great destitution,
and there, having been mistaken for a young soldier named Phillipeaux,
who was supposed to have perished in the war in Spain, he picked up
all available intelligence respecting the family, and forthwith
presented himself at the house of the Widow Phillipeaux as her son. He
was received with every demonstration of affection, and made the worst
possible use of his advantages. After spending all the ready money
which the poor woman had, he proceeded to Vezin, where he was
recognised by his family, although he