THESE memoirs were written by my respected grandmother when she was quite an old lady. I well remember as a child seeing her writing upon them, my grandfather sitting near, and she now and then suspending her pen to talk over some incident with him. Matters have not improved in France since her time, but 'tis said that the young dauphin is quite a different man from his father, and if he ever comes to the throne, an effort will be made in behalf of toleration for the persecuted Protestants. I hope so, I am sure. But to return to the memoir. After my grandparents' deaths, which took place within a week of each other, the papers were mislaid, and I only found them by accident in an inner cupboard of a curious old carved cabinet (I suspect the very one described in these pages), which my younger brother took a fancy to repair. I have amused the leisure afforded me by a tedious sprained ankle in arranging and transcribing these papers, which seem to me both interesting and profitable. ROSAMOND GENEVIEVE CORBET. _Tre Madoc Court, May 1st, 1740._ [Illustration] CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Early Recollections II. The Tour d'Antin III. Youthful Days IV. Trust and Distrust V. Guests at the Tour VI. The Lonely Grange VII. A Sudden Summons VIII. Flight IX. In Jersey X. To England XI. Tre Madoc XII. Mischief XIII. The Book XIV. A Wedding XV. Stanton Court XVI. London XVII. My New Friends XVIII. A Great Step XIX. Another Change XX. "You shall have no Choice" XXI. The Convent XXII. The Voyage XXIII. Conclusion [Illustration] THE CHEVALIER'S DAUGHTER CHAPTER I. EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. I WAS born in the year of grace 1660, at the Tour d'Antin, a château not very far from the little village of Sartilly in Normandy. My father was the Chevalier d'Antin, a younger son of the Provençal family of De Fayrolles.