Section 11 Summary

"The Isle"

The quotes at the beginning of this section both describe the island of Corsica, on which the Bonaparte family makes its home and where Mireille comes face to face with some deeply troubling truths about her situation.

September, 1792. Mireille's attempt to flee Paris in the disguise of a young servant boy is stopped by a crowd of fellow refugees at the gate leading to the road to Versailles. Mireille's destination is the Convent of St. Cyr, which lies on this road and where Mireille hopes to learn news of the Abbess from the Convent's prioress, an old friend of the Abbess. As she struggles in the seething, anxious crowd, the gates are opened for the arrival of a string of carriages from the Versailles road, one of which bears a handsome young soldier and his beautiful, timid sister. Their conversation with...