“In the course of January [1794] we found out that it was not impossible to bribe the jailer and to gain admission into the prison. M. Frestel (my brother’s tutor) undertook the negotiation, which was not without danger. He succeeded. It was settled that he would take one of us every fortnight to Brioude. My sister was the first to go. She started on horseback in the night, remained the whole of the following day with the good _aubergiste_, who was devoted to us, and spent the night with my mother. But when daylight came, they were obliged to tear themselves from each other. My sister brought back joy in the midst of us with the details of this happy meeting. We had, each in our turn, the same satisfaction. “My mother’s health bore up as well as her fortitude. She was the comfort of those who surrounded her, ever seeking to be of service to her companions. Thinking she might be useful to some infirm women, she proposed to them to have their meals with her. She contrived to persuade them that they were contributing to the common expense, when nearly all the cost fell upon herself. She also cooked for them. The prison life was most wearisome. The room in which she slept with five or six people was only separated by a screen from the public passage. “My mother soon became plunged in the deepest affliction. She learned that my grandmother, my aunt, and the Maréchale de Noailles, my grandfather’s mother, had been transferred to the Luxembourg. “Towards the end of May the order to convey my mother to the prison of La Force, in Paris, reached Brioude. You may fancy our despair when we received our mother’s letter. The messenger had been delayed, and it was to be feared that she was no longer at Brioude. M. Frestel set off immediately. He was bearer of all the small jewelry possessed by the members of the household, who had given them to be sold in order to avoid my mother being conveyed in a cart from brigade to brigade. “On arriving at Brioude, M. Frestel obtained a delay of twenty-four hours. We soon joined him at the prison. We found my mother in a room by herself, but fetters were placed near the pallet upon which she had thrown herself to seek a little repose. The violence of my sister’s despair was fearful to witness. Owing to M. Frestel’s entreaties, she obtained leave from my mother to follow her, and to accompany him in order to implore the aid of the American minister. She remained only a short time at the prison, and left us to go to Le Puy for the purpose of obtaining a permit to travel out of the department. She was to join my mother on the way.