The days were as happy as the evenings, for they were spent in her fathers studio, where he allowed her to paint heads in pastel and to draw all day long with his crayons.
But as the Noailles were known to have possessed the estate and castle bearing their name in the twelfth century, and that in 1593 the Seigneur de Noailles was also Comte dAyen, and of much more consequence than the Montmorin, this spiteful fabrication fell to the ground.It was on the 27th of July, 1794, that she started on a journey to see her father, who was living in the Canton de Vaud, near the French frontier. For two nights she had not slept from the terrible presentiments which overwhelmed her. Young de Mun went with her, and having slept at Moudon, they set off again at daybreak for Lausanne. As they approached the end of their journey they were suddenly aware of a char--banc coming towards [243] them in a cloud of dust, driven by a man with a green umbrella, who stopped, got down and came up to them. It was the Duc dAyen, now Duc de Noailles, but so changed that his daughter scarcely recognised him. At once he asked if she had heard the news, and on seeing her agitation, said hastily with forced calmness that he knew nothing, and told M. de Mun to turn back towards Moudon.
ONE:The Marquis de Montagu rejoins his regimentLife of Pauline at the h?tel de MontaguAffection of her father-in-lawBrilliant societyStory of M. de ContingesDeath of Paulines childMarriage of Rosalie to Marquis de GrammontBirth of Paulines daughtersThe court of Louis XVI.The Royal FamilyDissensions at courtMadame Sophie and the StormExtravagance of the Queen and Comte dArtoisThe Comte dArtois and Mlle. DuthScene with the KingLe petit TrianonThe Palace of MarlyA sinister guest.
ONE:The Chateau de PlauzatVarennesIncreasing dangerDecided to emigrateTriumphal progress of La FayetteThe farewell of the Duchesse dAyenParisRosalieA last massEscape to England.He gave orders that every one, women as well as men, should get out of their sledges or carriages when he passed. It was dreadfully cold, with deep snow, and he was always driving about, often almost without escort, so that he was not at once recognised; but it was dangerous to disobey.
TWO:They all boarded at the La Fayette, but as they were very poor there was very little to eat. They would dine upon ?ufs la neige, and spend the evening without a fire, wrapped in fur cloaks to keep out the cold of the early spring. M. de Montagu always had declared he had only had one good dinner in Holland, and that was one night when he dined with General Van Ryssel.
TWO:I am watching over you; every evening at nine you will go down to the courtyard. I shall be near you.
THREE:For some years Mme. de Genlis had been dame pour accompagner la Duchesse de Chartres, though it was suggested that it was more the Duke than the Duchess whom she accompanied; but she now exchanged this designation for that of governess to the Princesses of Orlans. The Duchess, who had always longed for a daughter, was delighted with these two and Mme. de Genlis, who wished to have charge of them from the first.
THREE:Among the Palais Royal set, it was the fashion to find fault with everything done by the royalists, to go as seldom as possible to Versailles and to pretend to find it a great bore when it was necessary to do so.In Mme. de Genlis we have a fourth and more complex type, a character in which good and evil were so mingled that it was often hard to say which predominated. With less beauty than the other three but singularly attractive, with extraordinary gifts and talents, with noble blood and scarcely any fortune, she spent a childhood of comparative poverty at her fathers chateau, where she was only half educated, and at seventeen married the young Comte de Genlis, who had no money but was related to most of the great families of the kingdom.
