PART III. 1815. Laborious military duties of M. d'Arblay-He urges Madame d'Arblay to quit Paris without delay-Her terror at seeing him leaving home to join his regiment-Her arrangements for quitting France-A hurried visit to the Marquis de La Tour Maubourg-News of M. d'Arblay-Louis XVIII. quits Paris with his body-guard-Conduct of the Princesse d'Henin and M. le Comte de Lally Tolendal at this crisis-La Comtesse d'Auch-Madame d'Arblay on the road to Brussels with the Princesse d'Henin--Desolate appearance of the country— Arrival of the fugitives at Amiens-The Prefect, M. Lameth -The journey resumed at night-Arrival at Arras-Reception of the party by M. the Prefect-A friend of M. d'Arblay's-Disturbed state of the country-An accident— Hospitality and kindness of a stranger-Polish lancers scouring the country for Bonaparte-Madame d'Arblay and her party remain at Tournay-News of Louis XVIII. PART III. 1815. NARRATIVE-continued. I COME now to the detail of one of the most dreadful days of my existence, the 19th of March, 1815, the last which preceded the triumphant return of Bonaparte to the capital of France. Little, on its opening, did I imagine that return so near, or believe it would be brought about without even any attempted resistance. General d'Arblay, more in the way of immediate intelligence, and more able to judge of its result, was deeply affected by the most gloomy prognostics. He came home at about six in the morning, harassed, worn, almost wasted with fatigue, and yet more with a baleful view of all around him, and with a sense of wounded military honour in the inertia which seemed to paralyze all effort to save the King and his cause. He had spent two nights following armed on guard, one at the Tuileries, in his duty of Garde du Corps to the King; the other on duty as artillery captain at the barracks. He went to bed for a few hours; and then, after a wretched breakfast, in which he briefly narrated the state of things he had witnessed and his apprehensions, he conjured me, in the most solemn and earnest manner, to yield to the necessity of the times, and consent to quit Paris with Madame d'Henin, should she ultimately decide to depart. I could not, when I saw his sufferings, endure to augment them by any further opposition; but never was acquiescence so painful! To lose even the knowledge whither he went, or the means of acquainting him whither I might go myself—to be deprived of the power to join him, should he be made prisoner-or to attend him, should he be wounded. . . . I could not pronounce my consent; but he accepted it so decidedly in my silence, that he treated it as arranged, and hastened its confirmation by assuring me I had relieved his mind from a weight of care and distress nearly intolerable. As the wife of an officer in the King's Body-Guard, in actual service, I might be seized, he thought, as a kind of hostage, and might probably fare all the worse for being also an Englishwoman. He then wrote a most touching note to the Princesse d'Henin, supplicating her generous friendship to take the charge not only of my safety, but of supporting and consoling me. After this, he hurried back to the Tuileries for orders, apparently more composed; and that alone enabled me to sustain my so nearly compulsory and so repugnant agreement. His return was speedy: he came, as he had departed, tolerably composed, for he had secured me a refuge, and he had received orders to prepare to march To Melun, he concluded, to encounter Bonaparte, and to battle; for certain news had arrived of the. invader's rapid approach. All attempt to conceal this from me must now be vain;-he acted more nobly by himself, and by his wife; for in openly, and cheerfully, and with rising hope, acknowledging it was for the field that he now left me, he called upon me to exert my utmost courage lest I should enervate his own. To such a plea had I been deaf, I had indeed been unworthy his honoured choice, and I should have forfeited for ever the high opinion it was my first pride to see him cherish of his grateful partner. The event, therefore, seeming inevitable, I suddenly called myself to order, and curbing every feeling that sought vent in tenderness or in sorrow, I resolved that, since I must no longer hang upon him for protection or for happiness, I would, at least, take care not to injure him in his honour or his spirits. At halfpast two at noon it was expected that the body-guard would be put in motion. Having told me his history, he could not spare me another moment till that which preceded his leaving home to join the Duc de Luxembourg's company. He then came to me, with an air of assumed serenity, and again, in the most kindly, soothing terms, called upon me to give him an example of courage. I obeyed his injunction with my best ability-yet how dreadful was our parting! We knelt together, in short but fervent prayer to heaven for each other's preservation, and then separated. At the door he turned back, and with a smile which, though forced, had inexpressible sweetness, he halfgaily exclaimed, "Vive le Roi!" I instantly caught his wise wish that we should part with apparent cheerfulness, and re-echoed his words-and then he darted from my sight. This had passed in an ante-room; but I then retired to my bedchamber, where, all effort over, I remained for some minutes abandoned to an affliction nearly allied to despair, though rescued from it by fervent devotion. But an idea then started into my mind that yet again I might behold him. I ran to a window which looked upon the inward court-yard. There, indeed, behold him I did, but oh, with what anguish! just mounting his war-horse, a noble animal, of which he was singularly fond, but which at this moment I viewed with acutest terror, for it seemed loaded with pistols, and equipped completely for immediate service on the field of battle; while Deprez, the groom, prepared to mount another, and our cabriolet was filled with baggage and implements of war. I could not be surprised, since I knew the destination of the General; but so carefully had he spared me the progress of his preparations, which he thought would be killing me by inches, that I had not the most distant idea he was thus armed and encircled with instruments of death-bayonets, lances, pistols, guns, sabres, daggers!-what horror assailed me at the sight! I had only so much sense and self-control left as to crawl softly and silently away, that I might not inflict upon him the suffering of beholding my distress; but when he had passed the windows, I opened them to look after him. The street was empty; the gay, VOL. VII. G |