oes with it. Almost unaided, he made a position
for himself near the fountain of power. The revolution brought a reverse
of fortune, but he had managed to marry an heiress of good family, and,
in the time of the Empire, appeared to be on the point of restoring to
our house its ancient splendor.

"The Restoration, while it brought back considerable property to my
mother, was my father's ruin. He had formerly purchased several estates
abroad, conferred by the Emperor on his generals; and now for ten years
he struggled with liquidators, diplomatists, and Prussian and Bavarian
courts of law, over the disputed possession of these unfortunate
endowments. My father plunged me into the intricate labyrinths of law
proceedings on which our future depended. We might be compelled to
return the rents, as well as the proceeds arising from sales of timber
made during the years 1814 to 1817; in that case my mother's property
would have barely saved our credit. So it fell out that the day on which
my father in a fashion emancipated me, brought me under a most galling
yoke. I entered on a conflict like a battlefield; I must work day and
night; seek interviews with statesmen, surprise their convictions, try
to interest them in our affairs, and gain them over, with their wives
and servants, and their very dogs; and all this abominable business had
to take the form of pretty speeches and polite attentions. Then I knew
the mortifications that had left their blighting traces on my father's
face. For about a year I led outwardly the life of a man of the world,
but enormous labors lay beneath the surface of gadding about, and eager
efforts to attach myself to influential kinsmen, or to people likely
to be useful to us. My relaxations were lawsuits, and memorials still
furnished the staple of my conversation. Hitherto my life had been
blameless, from the sheer impossibility of indulging the desires of
youth; but now I became my own master, and in dread of involving us both
in ruin by some piece of negligence, I did not dare to allow myself any
pleasure or expenditure.

"While we are young, and before the world has rubbed off the delicate
bloom from our sentiments, the freshness of our impressions, the noble
purity of conscience which will never allow us to palter with evil,
the sense of duty is very strong within us, the voice of honor clamors
within us, and we are open and straightforward. At that time I was all
these things. I wished to justi