ntly for our massacre,
levelled by word of command, and fired deliberately into the midst of
us. Several were killed on the spot, and many wounded. Some rushed
forward, and some retreated into the house. I was among those who forced
their way through the crowd, and before I had struggled to the end of
the long street, the cry of 'fire' made me look round--the hotel was in
a blaze. The rabble had set it on flame. It was this, probably that
saved me, by distracting their attention. I made my way to the chateau
of the Count de Travancour, whose son had been on my staff at the
Invalides. But the family were in Paris, and the only inhabitants were
servants. I had received a musket-ball in my arm, and was faint with
loss of blood. Still, I was determined to remain at my post, and not
quit my district as long as any thing could be done. But I had scarcely
thrown myself, in weariness and vexation, on a sofa, when a servant
rushed into the room with the intelligence, that a band of men with
torches were approaching the chateau. To defend it with a garrison of
screaming women was hopeless; and while I stood considering what to do
next, we heard the crash of the gates. The whole circle instantly fell
on their knees before me, and implored that I should save their lives
and my own, by making my escape. A courageous Breton girl undertook to
be my guide to the stables, and we set out under a shower of prayers for
our safety. But, as we wound our way along the last corridor, I saw the
crowd of soldiers and populace rushing up the staircase at the opposite
side of the court, and calling out my name joined to a hundred atrocious
epithets. My situation now obviously became difficult; for our advance
would be met at the next minute by the assassins. The girl's presence of
mind saved me; she flew back to the end of the gallery, threw open a
small door which led to the roof; and I was in the open air, with the
stars bright above me, and a prodigious extent of the country, including
Nantz, beneath.

"Yet you may believe that the landscape was not among my principal
contemplations at the moment, though my eyes involuntarily turned on the
town; where, from the blazes springing up in various quarters, I
concluded that a general pillage had begun. That pillage was the order
of the day much nearer to me, I could fully conceive, from the opening
and shutting of doors, and the general tumult immediately under the
leads where I stood. "Situation, ge