g of the number. The situation of
the poorer class of prisoners exciting her pity, she restricted
herself to the most abstemious diet, and distributed the money which
she thus saved among them.

At the end of about three weeks, a most cruel deception was practised
upon her. She was told that she was free, and left the prison; but, on
reaching home, she was again arrested, and carried to a new prison, in
which the lowest and most infamous criminals of both sexes were
confined. A few hours' reflection restored the equanimity which this
outrage had disturbed. "Had I not my books?" she says; "was I no
longer myself? I was almost angry at having felt disturbed, and
thought only of making use of my life, and employing my faculties with
that independence which a strong mind preserves even in chains, and
which disappoints one's most cruel enemies."

At first, she was confined in the midst of the most abandoned of her
sex; but, after a time, the wife of the jailer took compassion on her,
and removed her to a more retired apartment. Nor did this humane woman
stop here; she sought in every way to soften the rigors of
imprisonment. Jasmine was twined round the bars of her window; a
piano-forte was provided, with every comfort which her narrow quarters
would allow. A few friends were allowed to visit her: she learned that
her husband and child were in safety; she became almost happy. But her
quiet was soon disturbed. The visitor of the prison was angry at the
comforts which she enjoyed; equality must be preserved, and he ordered
her to be removed to a common cell.

At one period she meditated suicide. There was no accusation against
her, and she saw herself left behind in the daily drafts for the
guillotine. "Two months ago," she writes, "I aspired to the honor of
ascending the scaffold. Victims were still allowed to speak, and the
energy of great courage might have been of service to truth. Now all
is lost; to live is basely to submit to a ferocious rule." But her
purpose was changed when she found herself included in the act of
accusation against the chief Girondists. She expected to be examined
before the Revolutionary Tribunal, and hoped to do some good by
courageously speaking the truth.

On the 31st of October, 1792, she was transferred to the prison of the
Conciergerie, a yet more squalid place of confinement. Her examination
commenced the next day, and was continued for several days. The charge
against her was holding i