In such circumstances one must see
without regarding these insults of meanness, and, by a contrivance of
distraction, escape from vile affronts. The object of my expedition
being explained, the Governor found on his register that poor Hathelin,
aged thirty-two to thirty-four years, was an engraver by profession. The
lieutenant-general of police had arrested him long ago for a comic or
satirical engraving on the subject of M. le Marquis de Montespan and the
King.

I desired to see Hathelin, quite determined to ask his pardon for all his
sufferings, with which I was going to occupy myself exclusively until I
was successful. The Governor, a man all formality and pride, told me
that he had not the necessary authority for this communication; I was
obliged to return to my carriage without having tranquillised my poor
captive.

The same evening I called upon the lieutenant-general of police, and,
after having eloquently pleaded the cause of this forgotten young man, I
discovered that there was no 'lettre de cachet' to his prejudice, and
procured his liberation.

He came to pay his respects and thanks to me, in my parlour at Saint
Joseph, on the very day of his liberation. He seemed to me much younger
than his age, which astonished me greatly after his misfortunes. I gave
him six thousand francs, in order to indemnify him slightly for that
horrible Bastille. At first he hesitated to take them.

"Let your captivity be a lesson to you," I said to him; "the affairs of
kings do not concern us. When such actors occupy the scene, it is
permissible neither to applaud nor to hiss."

Hathelin promised me to be good, and for the future to concern himself
only with his graver and his private business. He wished me a thousand
good wishes, with an expansion of heart which caused his tears and mine
to flow. But artists are not made like other men; he, for all his good
heart, was gifted with one of those ardent imaginations which make
themselves critics and judges of notable personages, and, above all, of
favourites of fortune. Barely five or six months had elapsed when
Hathelin published a new satirical plate, in which Madame de Maintenon
was represented as weeping, or pretending to weep, over the sick-bed of
M. Scarron. The dying man was holding an open will in his hand, in which
one could read these words: "I leave you my permission to marry again--a
rich and serious man--more so than I am."

The print had already been wid