he Comte de Genlis had served in the navy from the age of fourteen;
he had covered himself with glory in the famous action of M. d'Ache;
he was then a lieutenant, and scarcely twenty. Out of twenty-two
officers, he was the only one who survived: all the others were
killed. M. de Genlis was covered with wounds, of which one remained
open for eight years and a half. This combat gained him the rank of
captain, and the cross of St. Louis. M. d'Ache took off his own to
give it to him, on board of the vessel, the very day of the action,
saying that he was sure the court would not disavow what he had done.
The Comte de Genlis conducted himself with equal valor at Pondicherry.
As soon as he returned to France, his uncle, M. de Puisieux, made him
quit the navy, and enter into the land service, with the rank of
colonel of grenadiers.

"While he was at Lanceston, he became very intimate with my father,
who always carried a box, on which was my portrait in the act of
playing the harp: this picture struck M. de Genlis, who made many
inquiries about me, and believed all that was said by my father, who
thought me faultless.

"The English had left my father my portrait, my letters, and those of
my mother, which spoke of nothing but my successes and my talents. The
count read these, and they made a profound impression upon him. His
uncle, who was then minister for foreign affairs, soon obtained his
liberty, and he promised to do all in his power to obtain that of my
father. As soon as he arrived in Paris, he waited on my mother, to
deliver some letters from my father; at the same time, he earnestly
solicited his exchange, and in three weeks my father arrived in Paris.
Not long after, being seized with a malignant fever, he died in the
flower of his age. I experienced at his loss the most profound grief I
had ever felt.

"I will now speak of an old friend of my father's--the Baron d'Andlau.
He came often to visit us; he was more than sixty, generous and kind.
He discovered the greatest friendship for me, and I was so much the
more touched with these marks of his affection, that I attributed them
to the remembrance he had preserved of my father. But, at last, he
made me understand his real sentiments by the most singular
declaration of love that was ever made. He sent me, by his valet, a
huge packet, containing his genealogy at full length, which he
entreated me to examine with attention; but all my application in this
way rendered me