As we returned to the Puybonne mansion I did not attempt to conceal from Monsieur Mille the profound impression the beauty of this charming creature had made on me. “In that case,” replied Monsieur Mille, “I shall have to add a strophe to my ode.” And after reflecting for a few seconds, he added, “There now, I have managed it. If some maiden, fair and fond, To your wooing yields consent, Only wedlock’s sacred bond Must your mutual vows cement. But the altar where you hie Must a patriot altar be, Or the Heaven you dare defy Will avenge your treachery.”[11] Footnote 11: Si d’une belle honnête et sage Tu sais un jour te faire aimer, Le n[oe]ud sacré du mariage Est le seul que tu dois former; Mais à l’autel de la Patrie Courez tous deux pour vous unir, Que jamais votre foi trahie N’ordonne au ciel de vous punir. Alas! Monsieur Mille did not possess that gift of foretelling future events which was in former ages ascribed to poets. Our days of happiness were already numbered, and all our dazzling illusions were doomed to extinction. The day following the Federation fête the nation awakened to a sense of harrowing dissension. Weak and narrow-minded, the king ill fulfilled the limitless trust the people had placed in him. The criminal emigration of princes and nobility was impoverishing the country, antagonizing the people, and conducing to war. The political clubs overawed the National Assembly. The acrimony of the populace became more and more menacing. And whilst the nation was a prey to agitators, neither did I possess my heart in peace. I had met Amélie again. I had become the constant guest of her family, and never a week passed that did not find me two or three times a visitor at the house they lived in, in the Rue Neuve St. Eustache. Their fortunes, at one time flourishing, had flagged considerably owing to the Revolution, and I may venture to say that ill-luck ripened our friendship. As Amélie became poorer I found myself more sympathetic, and I loved her. I loved without hope. Who was I, poor little peasant lad, that I should be pleasing to so charming a townswoman?