Nothing could be kinder than the reception of the fugitives by Madame Flambard.

She had heard so much of Patsey, she said, from her husband, to whom she had been married six months before, that she had quite shared his anxiety about the fate of Jean Martin, who had more than once been mentioned as being one of the leaders of the Vendeans.

She soon went off with Patsey to put the child to bed and, while they were away, Monsieur Flambard took Leigh into his smoking room.
"Before," he said, "I ask you anything about your adventures, I must explain to you the state of things here.

Until November last Bordeaux, and indeed the whole of the Gironde, was moderate.

All our deputies--who have now, as perhaps you know, either fallen on the scaffold or been hunted down like wild beasts--belonged to that party.