I have but just returned from the Rue d'Anjou, and now that I find myself once more within the sanctuary of my home, I am surprised at my own courage in having ventured to pass through the streets, and _alone_, too, at such a moment.

I do not think I should have risked it, had I not known how much my excellent friend Madame C---- stood in need of consolation, after having seen her grandchildren and great grandchildren driven from their late peaceful and happy dwelling, uncertain when she may behold them again, as they have determined on not forsaking the royal family.
I had ascended nearly to the top of the barricade at the entrance to the Rue Verte when a head and shoulders rose from the opposite side so suddenly as to alarm me not a little.

My trepidation was infinitely increased when I discovered that the individual to whom the said head and shoulders appertained, was in a state of extreme intoxication, and when with rolling eyes, flushed checks, and thick articulation he addressed me with a familiarity, yet good nature, that I would most willingly have dispensed with.
"Give me your hand, _ma belle_, fear nothing, I am one of the _bons enfans_ of the revolution, take my arm and no one will molest you.

We, _les braves des braves_, wage no war against women; _au contraire_, we love the pretty creatures.

Here take my hand, and I will assist you over the barricades." Suiting his action to the word, he extended his hand towards me, and reaching forward lost his equilibrium and rolled over; at which moment, the proprietor of a wine shop at the corner of the Rue Verte came to my assistance, and leading me through his house, opened a door on the other side of the barricade, through which I hastily passed, he civilly offering to open the same door when I returned if I would knock at it.
And here, _en passant_, let me render justice to the politeness I have invariably experienced from all classes of men, and on all occasions, in France--a politeness so general that I should be ungrateful if I did not record it.
When I passed the barrack in the Rue Verte, it was in the possession of the people, who had seized it by the right of conquest an hour or two previously.