on the former grandeur of
her house, and to sigh, in common with so many others, for le bon vieux
temps. At the Restoration, there was some difficulty in establishing
the right of the de la Rocheaimards to their share of the indemnity; a
difficulty I never heard explained, but which was probably owing to the
circumstance that there was no one in particular to interest themselves
in the matter, but an old woman of sixty-five and a little girl of
four. Such appellants, unsupported by money, interest, or power, seldom
make out a very strong case for reparation of any sort, in this
righteous world of ours, and had it not been for the goodness of the
dauphine it is probable that the vicomtesse and her grand-daughter
would have been reduced to downright beggary. But the daughter of the
late King got intelligence of the necessities of the two descendants of
Crusaders, and a pension of two thousand francs a year was granted, en
attendant.

{Rocheaimard = both the Chateau and the family are fictitious; marechal
du camp = general commanding a brigade; le bon vieux temps = the good
old days; late King = Louis XVI, guillotined in 1793; en attendant =
for the time being}

Four hundred dollars a year does not appear a large sum, even to the
nouveaux riches of America, but it sufficed to give Adrienne and her
grandmother a comfortable, and even a respectable subsistence in the
provinces. It was impossible for them to inhabit the chateau, now
converted into a workshop and filled with machinery, but lodgings were
procured in its immediate vicinity. Here Madame de la Rocheaimard
whiled away the close of a varied and troubled life; if not in absolute
peace, still not in absolute misery, while her grand-daughter grew into
young womanhood, a miracle of goodness and pious devotion to her sole
surviving parent. The strength of the family tie in France, and its
comparative weakness in America, has been the subject of frequent
comment among travelers. I do not know that all which has been said is
rigidly just, but I am inclined to think that much of it is, and, as I
am now writing to Americans, and of French people, I see no particular
reason why the fact should be concealed. Respect for years, deference
to the authors of their being, and submission to parental authority are
inculcated equally by the morals and the laws of France. The conseilles
de famille is a beautiful and wise provision of the national code, and
aids greatly in maintainin