Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/145

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129
The Estimate of an Official
129

not yet taken place. Few days, however, went by without some victims, but the number of those behind the bars was so great, that to each one of them all danger seemed somewhat distant; and lastly, no sooner were many of them in gaol than they ended in believing that they were safer there than out of doors. One could no longer (so at least they imagined) accuse them of conspiring; and, were the foreign armies to make great progress, as there were good grounds for supposing, they would while in prison be more out of the reach of popular frenzy than elsewhere. So powerful a hold did these impressions take on the mind of my father, that having a few days later found the means of reaching me by letter, he urged me to reflect upon my situation, to well consider if the life that I was leading, and which he knew from experience, was not a hundred times worse than his own. Then, assuming that I would determine to get myself arrested, he informed me of an agreement that he had entered into with the porter of the prison to reserve for him alone, for a few days longer, the room which he occupied, so that we could dwell together."

XI.

ANOTHER NARROW ESCAPE.

But young Pasquier did not take this advice, and kept himself in hiding. However, he was