Never repeat those words! I am not bloodthirsty, but if I had a brother and he were capable of offering such advice I would sacrifice him in twenty-four hours to the duration of the monarchy and the tranquillity of the kingdom. [90]
And why?The two families therefore moved to Richmond, where they found themselves surrounded by old friends.
ONE:The Duc dOrlans, leaving the room when she came to see them, returned, bringing his young wife, who said graciously, Madame, I have always longed to know you, for there are two things I love passionately, your pupils and your books.
The young Comtesse de Genlis was very happy at Origny, and amused herself like a child amongst the nuns. She ran about the corridors at night [374] dressed like the devil, with horns; she put rouge and patches on the nuns while they were asleep, and they got up and went down to the services in the church in the night without seeing themselves thus decorated; she gave suppers and dances amongst the nuns and pupils to which no men were, of course, admitted; she played many tricks, and wrote constantly to her husband and mother, the latter of whom came to spend six weeks with her. When her husband came back they went to Genlis, where her brother, who had just gone into the Engineers, paid them a long visit, to her great joy.This, however, was not done, owing to some palace intrigue, and greatly to the relief of Mme. Le Brun, who much preferred to live by herself in her own way.You stay here and rest, Montbel, he continued. I will come back in a few minutes.Society was much larger here than at St. Petersburg, where it seemed almost to form one family, every one being related to each other.Pauline was almost in despair. Her child died, as all the others had done; letters from home had stopped, she did not know what had become of her mother, sisters, and grandmother; they were in the middle of winter and had only enough money for another month; more and more emigrs were crowding into Brussels, flying from the Terror, which had begun.
