THE MOTHER OF VICTOR HUGO. 235 lodging, and provisions enough to last until the next stage of the journey. The amount provided depended upon the rank of the recipient. Madame Hugo was over- come the first time to find herself, as representative of her husband, presented with a quarter of an ox, a whole sheep, eighty pounds of bread, and a barrel of brandy. Four rations were due to *him: one as General, one as Governor, one as Inspector, and one as Major-Domo of the palace. What was she to do with all this ? She soon found out. The soldiers, blessed with hearty appetites, had often eaten all their rations while still a day's march from the next stage, and she bestowed her superfluous provisions upon them. Her generosity was well rewarded. Not long after, while descending from the castle of Mondragon, which is perched upon a steep rock, her carriage was upset, and the whole family narrowly missed losing their lives. The descent was so steep that those in the vehicle lost sight of the mules that were drawing them, and expected every moment to roll over the precipice beside the road. Soon the mules began to slip ; two of them slid over, drawing the rest, and the carriage, suspended by one wheel to a milestone, hung above the abyss. The milestone, too, began to yield under the strain. Just in time the sol- diers came to the rescue, and, scrambling down the cliff at the risk of their lives, braced back the carriage with their shoulders, while others hauled up the mules, and afterwards the heavy equipage itself. This incident did not tend to increase Madame Hugo's love of travel. Next to the roads, her worst grievances were the food, the fleas — more plentiful even than in Italy — and the universal distrust and dislike which she encountered wherever she went. Her mere presence was resented as that of an enemy, a Frenchwoman, and an invader. Arriving in a city at night, she would be directed to the
