Alas! what disappointment! He found no wife, no child, nor any
relation ready to welcome him. His wife, however, was living at
Geneva, with their only son; for the youngest had died at Montauban
during De Pechels' exile. His daughters were still at Montauban--the
eldest in a convent. His mother and youngest sister were both in
prison--the one at Moissac, the other at Auvillard. A message was,
however, sent to Madame de Pechels, that her husband was now in
England, and longing to meet her.

It was long before the message reached Madame de Pechels; and still
longer before she could join her husband in London. While at Geneva,
she had maintained herself and her son by the work of her hands. On
receiving the message she immediately set out, but her voyage could
not fail to be one of hardship to a person in her reduced
circumstances. We are not informed how she and her son contrived to
travel the long distance of eight hundred miles (by way of the Rhine
and Holland) from Geneva to London; but at length she reached the
English capital, when she had the mortification to find that her
husband was not there, but had left London for Ireland only four days
before. During the absence of her husband, Madame de Pechels, whose
courage never abandoned her, chose rather to stoop to the most
toilsome labours than to have recourse to the charity of the
government, of which many, less self-helping, or perhaps more
necessitous, did not scruple to take advantage.

We must now revert to the circumstances under which De Pechels left
London for Ireland. At the time when he arrived in England, the
country was in the throes of a Revolution. Only a month before,
William of Orange had landed at Torbay, with a large body of troops,
a considerable proportion of which consisted of Huguenot officers and
soldiers. There were three strong regiments of Huguenot infantry, and
a complete squadron of Huguenot cavalry. Marshal Schomberg, next in
command to William of Orange, was a banished Huguenot; and many of his
principal officers were French.

James II. had so distinctly shown his disposition to carry back the
nation to the Roman Catholic religion, that the Prince of Orange, on
his landing at Torbay, was hailed as the deliverer of England. His
troops advanced direct upon London. He was daily joined by fresh
adherents; by the gentry, officers, and soldiers. There was scarcely a
show of resistance; and when he entered London, James was getting on
board