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It
was perhaps fortunate for me that I was kept in a state of
ignorance, for had I known what she suffered, I should have lost
my senses, probably my life.

"My unhappy mistress was dragged then from my presence, and
taken to a place the very name of which fills me with horror to
remember. This to be the lot of a creature the most perfect, who
must have shared the most splendid throne on earth, if other men
had only seen and felt as I did! She was not treated harshly
there, but was shut up in a narrow prison, and obliged, in
solitary confinement, to perform a certain quantity of work each
day, as a necessary condition for obtaining the most unpalatable
food. I did not learn this till a long time after, when I had
myself endured some months of rough and cruel treatment.

"My guards not having told me where it was that they had been
ordered to conduct me, it was only on my arrival at St. Lazare
that I learned my destination. I would have preferred death, at
that moment, to the state into which I believed myself about to
be thrown. I had the utmost terror of this place. My misery was
increased by the guards on my entrance, examining once more my
pockets, to ascertain whether I had about me any arms or weapons
of defence.

"The governor appeared. He had been informed of my
apprehension. He saluted me with great mildness. `Do not, my
good sir,' said I to him, `allow me to be treated with indignity.
I would suffer a hundred deaths rather than quietly submit to
degrading treatment.' `No, no,' he replied, `you will act
quietly and prudently, and we shall be mutually content with each
other.' He begged of me to ascend to one of the highest rooms; I
followed him without a murmur. The archers accompanied us to the
door, and the governor, entering the room, made a sign for them
to depart. `I am your prisoner, I suppose?' said I; `well, what
do you intend to do with me?' He said, he was delighted to see
me adopt so reasonable a tone; that it would be his duty to
endeavour to inspire me with a taste for virtue and religion, and
mine to profit by his exhortations and advice: that lightly as I
might be disposed to rate his attentions to me, I should find
nothing but enjoyment in my solitude. `Ah, enjoyment, indeed!'
replied I; `you do not know, my good sir, the only thing on
earth that could afford me enjoyment.' `I know it,' said he,
`but I trust your inclinations will change.' His answer showed
that he had heard of my adventures, and perhaps of my name. I
begged to know if such were the fact. He told me candidly that
they had informed him of every particular.

"This blow was the severest of any I had yet experienced. I
literally shed a torrent of tears, in all the bitterness of
unmixed despair; I could not reconcile myself to the humiliation
which would make me a proverb to all my acquaintances, and the
disgrace of my family. I passed a week in the most profound
dejection, without being capable of gaining any information, or

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