in his boyhood and his earliest
youth, full of fair promises, of hopeful futurity, the darling of his
mother's eye, the pride of his father, spite of his faults; and now what
was he? a mangled corpse, cut off without warning or preparation in his
early youth. But, oh, worse, far worse than all, with the words of
hatred, of defiance on his lips. I sought in vain for life; there was no
sign, no hope. To attempt to rescue the body was vain, the tumult was
increasing fearfully around me; many gendarmes were falling
indiscriminately with the populace, and the countenance of Cecil was so
fearfully disfigured, that to attempt to recognise it when all might
again be quiet would, I knew, be useless. One effort I made, I inquired
for and sought Lord Alphingham's hotel, intending to obtain his
assistance in the proper interment of this unfortunate young man, but in
this was equally frustrated; the hotel was closely shut up. Lord and
Lady Alphingham had, at the earliest threatening of disturbances,
retreated to their chateau in the province of Champagne. I forwarded the
melancholy intelligence to them, and returned to my own hotel sick at
heart with the sight I had witnessed. The fearful tone of his last
words, the agonized shriek, rung in my ears, as the shattered form and
face floated before my eyes, with a tenacity no effort of my own or even
of my Louisa's could dispel. Oh, my mother, what do I not owe you for
guarding me from the temptations that have assailed this wretched young
man, or rather for imprinting on my infant mind those principles which,
with the blessing of our heavenly Father, have thus preserved me.
Naturally, my temper, my passions were like his, in nothing was I his
superior; but it was your hand, your prayers, my mother, planted the
seeds of virtue, your gentle firmness eradicated those faults which, had
they been fostered by indulgence, might have rendered my life like Cecil
Grahame's, and exposed me in the end to a death like his. What would
have availed my father's judicious guidance, my brother's mild example,
had not the soil been prepared by a mother's hand and watered by a
mother's prayers? blessings, a thousand blessings on your head, my
mother! Oh, may my children learn to bless theirs even as I do mine;
they cannot know a purer joy on earth.

* * * * *

"We have arrived at Rouen in safety. I am truly thankful to feel my
beloved wife is far from the scene of confusion