ry way this marriage was to make her happy. Her head was so far
turned that she would take nothing from my affection and experience.
On the other hand, people who had determined to get my consent
employed all possible means to wring it from me. I was told that M.
Nigris would carry off my daughter and that they would marry at some
country inn. I had little faith in this elopement and secret marriage,
because M. Nigris had no fortune, and the family that befriended him
was not blessed with superfluous money. I was threatened with the
Emperor, and I answered, "Then I will tell him that mothers have truer
and older rights than all the emperors in the world!" It will scarcely
be credited that the persons intriguing against me were so sure of
making me yield under persecution that they were already throwing out
allusions to a marriage portion. As I was supposed to be very rich,
the ambassador from Naples came to see me and asked a sum which far
exceeded my possessions. I had left France with eighty louis in my
pocket, and a portion of my savings I had since lost through the Bank
of Venice.

I could have endured the malignant and stupid slanders which the cabal
spread, and which were repeated to me from all sides; it pained me
much more to see my daughter becoming alienated and withdrawing all
her confidence from me. Her old governess, Mme. Charrot, who had
already made the great mistake of allowing her to read novels without
my knowledge, had totally dominated her mind and embittered her
against me to such a degree that all a mother's love was impotent to
fight against her sinister influence. At last my daughter, who had
become thin and changed, fell ill altogether. I was then, of course,
obliged to surrender, and wrote to M. Lebrun, so that he might send
his approval. M. Lebrun had in recent letters spoken of his wish to
marry our daughter to Guerin, whose successes in painting had been
bruited loud enough to reach my ears. But this plan, which had such
attractions for me, now could not be carried out. I informed M.
Lebrun, making him feel that, having but this one dear child, we must
sacrifice everything to her desires and her happiness.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF MME. LEBRUN'S DAUGHTER

In the Bologna Gallery.]

The letter gone, I had the satisfaction of seeing my daughter recover;
but alas! that satisfaction was the only one she gave me. Owing to the
distance, her father's answer was long delayed, and some one convi