Both the Baron and myself assured Marguerite, that we would spare no pains to obtain her pardon: and that even should her father be inflexible, she need be under no apprehensions respecting the fate of her children. I engaged myself to provide for Theodore, and the Baron promised to take the youngest under his protection.

The grateful mother thanked us with tears for what she called generosity, but which in fact was no more than a proper sense of our obligations to her. She then left the room to put her little boy to bed, whom fatigue and sleep had completely overpowered.