had just left Mandeville and gone to
England "after having announced his speedy return with the prince, with
munitions, money, etc.," he left for Paris, having certain arrangements,
he said, to make with the "Comite secret." Before quitting La Bijude, he
enjoined his mistress, in case the coup should be made in his absence,
to remit the money seized to Dusaussay, who would bring it to him in
Paris where the committee awaited it. She gave him a curl of her fine
black hair to have a medallion made of it, and made him promise "that he
would not forget to bring her some good eau-de-cologne." They then
embraced each other, and he left. It was May 17, 1807, and this was the
last time she saw him.

She did not remain idle, but herself prepared the food of the seven men
lodged in the chateau. Bundles of hay and straw served them for beds;
they were advised not to go out, even for the most pressing needs and
they stayed there ten days. Every evening Mme. Acquet appeared in this
malodorous den, holding her parasol in her gloved hands, dressed in a
light muslin, and a straw hat. She was usually accompanied by her
servant Rosalie Dupont, a big strong girl, and Joseph Buquet a shoemaker
at Donnay both carrying large earthen plates containing baked veal and
potatoes. It was the hour of kindliness and good cheer; the chatelaine
did not disdain to preside at the repast, coming and going among the
unkempt men, asking if these "good fellows" needed anything and were
satisfied with their fare. She was the most impatient of all; whether
she took the political illusions of those who had drawn her into the
affair seriously, and was anxious to expose herself for "the good
cause"; whether her fatal passion for La Chevalier had completely
blinded her, she took her share in the attack that was being prepared,
which it seemed to her, would put an end to all her misfortunes. She had
already committed an act of foolish boldness in receiving and keeping
Allain's recruits in a house occupied by her husband, and in daring to
visit them there herself; she was thus compromising herself, as if she
enjoyed it, under the eyes of her most implacable enemy, and no doubt
Acquet, informed by his well-trained spies, of all that happened,
refrained from intervention for fear of interrupting an adventure in
which his wife must lose herself irremediably.

Mme. Acquet also behaved as if she was certain of the complicity of the
whole country; she arranged the slig