She had written to him: 'The Emperor first, and me next!' both unable to do anything more for the Emperor, nor even for his son, the general, banished from France, set out for Warsaw.

Your mother had lost her parents, and was now free; they were married--and I am one of the witnesses to the marriage." "You are right, Dagobert; that was great happiness in the midst of great misfortunes!" "Yes, they were very happy; but, as it happened with all good hearts, the happier they were themselves, the more they felt for the sorrows of others--and there was quite enough to grieve them at Warsaw.

The Russians had again begun to treat the Poles as their slaves; your brave mother, though of French origin, was a Pole in heart and soul; she spoke out boldly what others did not dare speak in a whisper, and all the unfortunate called her their protecting angel.

That was enough to excite the suspicions of the Russian governor.

One day, a friend of the general's, formerly a colonel in the lancers, a brave and worthy man, was condemned to be exiled to Siberia for a military plot against the Russians.