nything more for the Emperor, nor even for his son, the general,
banished from France, set out for Warsaw. Your mother had lost her
parents, and was now free; they were married--and I am one of the
witnesses to the marriage."

"You are right, Dagobert; that was great happiness in the midst of great
misfortunes!"

"Yes, they were very happy; but, as it happened with all good hearts,
the happier they were themselves, the more they felt for the sorrows
of others--and there was quite enough to grieve them at Warsaw. The
Russians had again begun to treat the Poles as their slaves; your brave
mother, though of French origin, was a Pole in heart and soul; she spoke
out boldly what others did not dare speak in a whisper, and all the
unfortunate called her their protecting angel. That was enough to
excite the suspicions of the Russian governor. One day, a friend of the
general's, formerly a colonel in the lancers, a brave and worthy man,
was condemned to be exiled to Siberia for a military plot against the
Russians. He took refuge in your father's house, and lay hid there; but
his retreat was discovered. During the next night, a party of Cossacks,
commanded by an officer, and followed by a travelling-carriage, arrive
at our door; they rouse the general from his sleep and take him away
with them."

"Oh, heaven! what did they mean to do with him?"

"Conduct him out of the Russian dominions, with a charge never to
return, on pain of perpetual imprisonment. His last words were:
'Dagobert, I entrust to thee my wife and child!'--for it wanted yet some
months of the time when you were to be born. Well, notwithstanding that,
they exiled your mother to Siberia; it was an opportunity to get rid of
her; she did too much good at Warsaw, and they feared her accordingly.
Not content with banishing her, they confiscated all her property; the
only favor she could obtain was, that I should accompany her, and, had
it not been for Jovial, whom the general had given to me, she would have
had to make the journey on foot. It was thus, with her on horseback,
and I leading her as I lead you, my children, that we arrived at the
poverty-stricken village, where, three months after, you poor little
things were born!"

"And our father?"

"It was impossible for him to return to Russia; impossible for your
mother to think of flight, with two children; impossible for the general
to write to her, as he knew not where she was."

"So, since that time, yo