cordials, and whatever could be of service, and after his first
outburst my young brother-in-law helped me in a way I can never
forget. No doubt the pestiferous air caused by the horrible carnage
of Freiburg had poisoned the wound. As soon as possible my husband
was removed; but the mischief had been already done; the wound was in
a bad state, fever had set in, and though he struggled on stage after
stage, declaring that he should be well when he saw me, the agony had
been such on the last day that they barely got him to Brisach, and he
there became delirious, so that M. de Solivet decided on remaining
with him, while the Count came on to fetch me. He had ridden ever
since four o'clock in the morning, and yet was ready to set out again
as soon as my preparations were complete. Oh, I can never overlook
what he was to me on that journey!

Hope kept us up through that dismal country--the path of war, where
instead of harvest on the August day we saw down-trodden, half-burned
wheat fields, where a few wretched creatures were trying to glean a
few ears of wheat. Each village we passed showed only blackened
walls, save where at intervals a farmhouse had been repaired to serve
as an estafette for couriers from the French army. The desolation of
the scene seemed to impress itself on my soul, and destroy the hopes
with which I had set forth; but on and on we went, till the walls of
Brisach rose before us.

He was in the governor's quarters, and only at the door, I perceived
the M. d'Aubepine had much doubted whether we should find him alive.
However, that one consolation was mine. He knew me; he smiled again
on me; he called me by all his fondest names; he said that now he
could rest. For twenty-four hours we really thought that joy was
working a cure. Alas! then he grew worse again, and when the pain