, and was mounted behind a faithful but humble adherent,
pursuing her route to a distant quarter, when her guide was accosted by
a peasant with whom he conversed some time in the patois of the country.
On quitting the peasant, he observed to the Duchess, that the man was
charged with a secret mission to a place at some distance, and was so
fatigued that he feared he could not reach it. She instantly sprang from
her seat, called after the peasant, and insisted on his taking the
horse, declaring that she could reach her destination on foot. After
walking for many hours, she arrived at a mountain stream that was
swollen by the recent rain, and having learned that her enemies were in
pursuit of her, she determined to cross it. Her guide, assisted by her,
fastened a large branch of a tree to his person, and, being an expert
swimmer, told her to hold by it, and that he hoped to get her over. They
had advanced to the deepest part of the stream when the bough broke, and
her guide gave her up for lost, when, to his surprise and joy, he saw
her boldly clearing the water by his side, and they soon reached the
bank in safety. During her visits to Dieppe, the Duchess had acquired a
proficiency in swimming, and it has since frequently saved her in the
hour of need. Overpowered by fatigue and hunger, and chilled by the cold
of her dripping garments, this courageous woman felt that her physical
powers were no longer capable of obeying her wishes, and that further
exertion was impossible. Seeing a house at a distance, she declared her
intention of throwing herself on the generosity of its owner, when her
guide warned her of the danger of such a proceeding, as the owner of the
house was a Liberal, and violently opposed to her party. All his
representations were made in vain. She boldly entered the house, and,
addressing the master of it, exclaimed--"You see before you the unhappy
mother of your king; proscribed and pursued, half dead with fatigue,
cold, wet, and hungry, you will not refuse her a morsel of your bread, a
corner at your fire, and a bed to rest her weary limbs on." The master
of the house threw himself at her feet, and, with tears streaming from
his eyes, declared that his house, and all that was his, were at her
service; and for some days, while the pursuit after her was the hottest,
she remained unsuspected in this asylum, the politics of the master
placing him out of suspicion; and when she left it, she was followed by
the