* We accepted his invitation,
which was doing us a real service, and we found ourselves all of a
sudden in the midst of the luxury of Asia, and the elegance of
France. The masters of the house had spent a considerable time in
India, and their chateau was adorned with every thing they had
brought back from their travels. This residence excited my
curiosity, and I found myself extremely comfortable in it. Next day
M. de Montmorency gave me a note from my son which pressed me to
return home, as my work had met with fresh difficulties from the
censorship. My friends who were with me in the chateau conjured me
to go; I had not the least suspicion of what they were concealing
from me, and thinking there was nothing but what Augustus's letter
mentioned,* whiled away the time in examining the Indian curiosities
without any idea of what was in store for me. At last I got into the
carriage, and my brave and intelligent Vendean whom his own dangers
had never moved, squeezed my hand, with tears in his eyes: I guessed
immediately that they were making a mystery to me of some new
persecution, and M. de Montmorency, in reply to my interrogations,
at last acquainted me that the minister of the police had sent his
myrmidons to destroy the ten thousand copies which had been printed
of my book, and that I had received an order to quit France within
three days. My children and friends had wished me not to hear this
news while I was among strangers; but they had taken every possible
precaution to prevent the seizure of my manuscript, and they
succeeded in saving it, some hours before I was required to deliver
it up.
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