She--' I paused.

'Enough that she arranged with a friend, Madame de Chasserades, that she should take charge of me, and by the favour of our jailers I was suffered to remain in the shelter of the _Abbaye_.

That was my only refuge; there was no corner of France that I could rest the sole of my foot upon except the prison.

Monsieur le Comte, you are as well aware as I can be what kind of a life that was, and how swiftly death smote in that society.

I did not wait long before the name of Madame de Chasserades succeeded to that of my mother on the list.