ges was, not Gaston Dussoubs, but
his brother Denis.

In fine, Gaston Dussoubs inspired fear. He was witty, courageous, and
gentle.

In the summer of 1851 I went to dine every day at the Conciergerie with
my two sons and my two imprisoned friends. These great hearts and great
minds, Vacquerie, Meurice, Charles, and Francois Victor, attracted men of
like quality. The livid half-light that crept in through latticed and
barred windows disclosed a family circle at which there often assembled
eloquent orators, among others Cremieux, and powerful and charming
writers, including Peyrat.

One day Michel de Bourges brought to us Gaston Dussoubs.

Gaston Dussoubs lived in the Faubourg St. Germain, near the Assembly.

On the 2d of December we did not see him at our meetings. He was ill,
"nailed down" as he wrote me, by rheumatism of the joints, and compelled
to keep his bed.

He had a brother younger than himself, whom we have just mentioned, Denis
Dussoubs. On the morning of the 4th his brother went to see him.

Gaston Dussoubs knew of the _coup d'etat_, and was exasperated at being
obliged to remain in bed. He exclaimed, "I am dishonored. There will be
barricades, and my sash will not be there!"

"Yes," said his brother. "It will be there!"

"How?"

"Lend it to me."

"Take it."

Denis took Gaston's sash, and went away.

We shall see Denis Dussoubs later on.

CHAPTER VII.

ITEMS AND INTERVIEWS

Lamoriciere on the same morning found means to convey to me by Madame de
Courbonne[15] the following information.

"---- Fortress of Ham.--The Commandant's name is Baudot. His appointment,
made by Cavaignac in 1848, was countersigned by Charras. Both are to-day
his prisoners. The Commissary of Police, sent by Morny to the village of
Ham to watch the movements of the jailer and the prisoners, is Dufaure de
Pouillac."[16]

I thought when I received this communication that the Commandant Baudot,
"the jailer," had connived at its rapid transmission.

A sign of the instability of the central power.

Lamoriciere, by the same means, put me in possession of some details
concerning his arrest and that of his fellow-generals.

These details complete those which I have already given.

The arrests of the Generals were affected at the same time at their
respective homes under nearly similar circumstances. Everywhere houses
surrounded, doors opened by artifice or burst open by force, porters
deceived, sometimes garo