“There is cause enough for it—­the Emperor suffered so much!  He bled cruelly at the heart believe me.  Unfortunately, the general was not with him at St. Helena; he would have been one more to console him; but they would not allow him to go.  Then, exasperated, like so many others, against the Bourbons, the general engaged in a conspiracy to recall the son of the Emperor.  He relied especially on one regiment, nearly all composed of his old soldiers, and he went down to a place in Picardy, where they were then in garrison; but the conspiracy had already been divulged.  Arrested the moment of his arrival, the general was taken before the colonel of the regiment.  And this colonel,” said the soldier, after a brief pause, “who do you think it was again?  Bah! it would be too long to tell you all, and would only make you more sad; but it was a man whom your father had many reasons to hate.  When he found himself face to face with him, he said:  ’if you are not a coward, you will give me one hour’s liberty, and we will fight to the death; I hate you for this, I despise you for that’—­and so on.  The colonel accepted the challenge, and gave your father his liberty till the morrow.  The duel was a desperate one; the colonel was left for dead on the spot.”

“Merciful heaven!”

“The general was yet wiping his sword, when a faithful friend came to him, and told him he had only just time to save himself.  In fact, he happily succeeded in leaving France—­yes, happily—­for a fortnight after, he was condemned to death as a conspirator.”

“What misfortunes, good heaven!”

“There was some luck, however, in the midst of his troubles.  Your mother had kept her promise bravely, and was still waiting for him.  She had written to him:  ‘The Emperor first, and me next!’ both unable to do anything more for the Emperor, nor even for his son, the general, banished from France, set out for Warsaw.  Your mother had lost her parents, and was now free; they were married—­and I am one of the witnesses to the marriage.”

“You are right, Dagobert; that was great happiness in the midst of great misfortunes!”

“Yes, they were very happy; but, as it happened with all good hearts, the happier they were themselves, the more they felt for the sorrows of others—­and there was quite enough to grieve them at Warsaw.  The Russians had again begun to treat the Poles as their slaves; your brave mother, though of French origin, was a Pole in heart and soul; she spoke out boldly what others did not dare speak in a whisper, and all the unfortunate called her their protecting angel.  That was enough to excite the suspicions of the Russian governor.  One day, a friend of the general’s, formerly a colonel in the lancers, a brave and worthy man, was condemned to be exiled to Siberia for a military plot against the Russians.  He took refuge in your father’s house, and lay hid there; but his retreat was discovered.  During the next night, a party of Cossacks, commanded by an officer, and followed by a travelling-carriage, arrive at our door; they rouse the general from his sleep and take him away with them.”