ficial circles to interest
themselves. But the Emperor was then living in a state of continual
agitation; Laeken, Mayence and Cassel were as familiar stopping-places
as Saint-Cloud and Fontainebleau, and even if a few minutes' audience
could be obtained, what hope was there of fixing his attention on the
life of an insignificant woman? Chauveau-Lagarde advised the
intervention of Mme. Acquet's three girls, the eldest now twelve, and
the youngest not eight years old. Mourning garments were hastily bought
for them, and they were sent to Paris on January 24th, with a Mlle.
Bodinot. Every day they pursued the Emperor's carriage through the town,
as he went to visit the manufactories. Timoleon, Mme. de Saint-Leonard,
and Mlle. de Seran took turns with the children; they went to Malmaison,
to Versailles, to Meudon. At last, on March 2d, at Sevres, one of the
children succeeded in getting to the door of the imperial carriage, and
put a petition into the hands of an officer, but it probably never
reached the Emperor, for this step that had cost so much money and
trouble remained ineffectual.

There are among Mme. de Combray's papers more than ten drafts of
petitions addressed to the Emperor's brothers, to Josephine, and even to
foreign princes. But each of them had much to ask for himself, and all
were afraid to importune the master. The latter was now in Germany,
cutting his way to Vienna, and poor Mme. Acquet would have had slight
place in his thoughts in spite of the illusions of her friends, had he
ever even heard her name. In April the little Acquets returned to Mme.
Dusaussay in Rouen. She wrote to Timoleon:

"I am not surprised that you were not satisfied with the children; until
now they have only been restrained by fear, and the circumstances of the
journey to Paris brought them petting and kindness of which they have
taken too much advantage. If worse trouble comes to Mme. Acquet, we will
do our best to keep them in ignorance of it, and it is to be hoped the
same can be done for your mother."

And so all hope of grace seemed lost for the poor woman, and it would
have been very easy to forget her in prison, for who could be specially
interested in her death? Neither Fouche, Real, the prefect nor even
Licquet, who, once the verdict was given, seemed to have lost all
animosity towards his victims. Only the imperial procurer,
Chapais-Marivaux, seemed determined on the execution of the sentence. He
had already caused tw