THREE:WHILE Mme. de Genlis was safe and enjoying herself in England terrible events were happening in France. The Duke of Orlans, already infamous in the eyes of all decent people, was beginning to lose his popularity with the revolutionists. He [125] could not doubt the discredit into which he had fallen, the flight of his son [126] exposed him to dangerous suspicions; it was decided to get rid of him. He had demanded that his explanations should be admitted, but he was advised to ask rather, in the interest of your own safety, for a decree of banishment for yourself and your family.
THREE:Why prevent his coming back? his affair will be settled all the sooner, was the answer. [132]
THREE:It was dearly bought, however. For some time, for prudence sake, the Marquis kept up his pretence of madness, but after the fall of Robespierre and the Terror he resumed the apparent use of his reason. But the next heir had taken possession of the estates of the family in consequence of the declared madness of its head. The Marquis appealed to the law, but his own notoriety and the last will and letter of the Chevalier decided the case against him. He was shut up in the asylum of Charenton, where [320] he lived for many years, resigning himself after a time to his fate, and dying in extreme old age.
TWO: