duchess, and acquitted. There was no evidence whatever
against her. But popular feeling concerning her as the inciting
cause of the poor duchess's death was so strong that by the advice
of her pastor--the Protestant M. Coquerel--she changed her name and
came to America. She brought letters of introduction to a family
in Boston, who procured her a situation as governess in Connecticut.
There she soon after married a Congregational minister.

It seems hard to imagine how such a tragedy could have borne its
part among the causes of Louis Philippe's downfall; but those who
look into Alison or Lamartine will see it set down as one of the
events which greatly assisted in bringing about the revolution of
February. Mobs, like women, are often swayed by persons rather
than by principles.

It was believed by the populace that court favor had prevented
the duke from going to prison like any common criminal, and that
the same influence had procured him the poison by which he escaped
a public execution.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DOWNFALL OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.

As I said in the last chapter, everything in the year 1847 and during
the opening weeks of 1848 seemed unfavorable to Louis Philippe.
Besides the causes of dissatisfaction I have mentioned, there was
a scarcity of grain, there were drains on the finances, there was
disaffection among the National Guard, and hostility among the
peers to the measures of the Ministry. Then came the conviction
of M. Teste, a member of the Cabinet, for misappropriating public
funds. Even private affairs seemed turned against the royal family.
Madame Lafarge murdered her husband, and it was said that the court
had attempted to procure her acquittal because she was connected
with the house of Orleans by a bar-sinister. A quarrel about an
actress led to a duel. The man wounded was a journalist who was
actively opposed to the king's Government. It was hinted that the
duel was a device of the court to get him put out of the way. But
the greatest of the king's misfortunes was the death of his admirable
sister, Madame Adelaide, in January, 1848. She had been all his life
his bosom friend and his chief counsellor. She died of a severe
attack of influenza.

In a letter from the Prince de Joinville to the Duc de Nemours,
found in the garden of the Tuileries in February, 1848, among many
valuable documents that had been flung from the windows of the
palace by the mob, the situation of things at the close