as a liberal-minded man, of
high intellectual culture, and a philosophical scepticism that fitted
ill with the Marquise's authoritative temper; although a devoted and
respectful man, it was to get away from his mother's tutelage that he
expatriated himself. "Our diversity of opinion," he said later on, "has
kept me from spending two consecutive months with her in seventeen
years." From Morocco he went to Algiers and thence to Tunis and Egypt.
He was about to penetrate to Tartary when he heard of the outbreak of
the Revolution; and immediately started for France where he arrived at
the beginning of 1791.

Of Mme. de Combray's two daughters the eldest had married, in 1787, at
the age of twenty-two, Jacques-Philippe-Henri d'Houel; the youngest
Caroline-Madeleine-Louise-Genevieve, was born in 1773, and consequently
was only eleven years old when her father died. This child is the
heroine of the drama we are about to relate.

In August, 1791, Mme. de Combray inscribed herself and her two sons on
the list of the hostages of Louis XVI which the journalist Durosay had
conceived. It was a courageous act, for it was easy to foresee that the
six hundred and eleven names on "this golden book of fidelity," would
soon all be suspected. While hope remained for the monarchy the two
brothers struggled bravely. Timoleon stayed near the King till August
10, and only went to England after he had taken part in the defence of
the Tuileries; Bonnoeil had emigrated the preceding year, and served
in the army of the Princes. Mme. de Combray, left alone with her two
daughters--the husband of the elder had also emigrated,--left Tournebut
in 1793, and settled in Rouen, where, although she owned much real
estate in the town, she rented in the Rue de Valasse, Faubourg
Bouvreuil, "an isolated, unnumbered house, with an entrance towards the
country." She gave her desire to finish the education of her younger
daughter who was entering her twentieth year as a reason for her
retreat.

Caroline de Combray was very small,--"as large as a dog sitting," they
said,--but charming; her complexion was delicately pure, her black hair
of extraordinary length and abundance. She was loving and sensible, very
romantic, full of frankness and vivacity; the great attraction of her
small person was the result of a piquant combination of energy and
gentleness. She had been brought up in the convent of the Nouvelles
Catholiques de Caen, where she stayed six years, receiv