Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/146

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Napoleon.

not always to remain concealed, for if he did so he would have been denounced as an èmigre, and his father, as the parent of an émigre, would have been more certain than ever of condemnation; and so, says Pasquier, "I was compelled to send to my mother, every three months, certificates of residence, which she might produce in case of need." Let me pause for a moment in my extracts to point out how the beauty, devotion, self-sacrifice of French family life shine out in all the darkness of those hideous times. It is well to note the fact amid so much that is corrupt, unwholesome, and perilous in French society, that this beautiful ideal of a united and affectionate home has been preserved. Unhappy and hopeless, indeed, would France be if that pillar and groundwork of her national safety were imperilled or weakened.

Young Pasquier found several friends who were willing to conceal him during this period, and to run considerable risks in doing so. These friends also managed to get him the precious certificates, which protected both himself and his father. Several witnesses were required, and a Madame Tavaux, a mercer, who lived close to the house of the Pasquier family, and had been befriended by them, was the chief agent in getting these witnesses. Here is what happened one day:

"The greater number of those whom she thus brought together had no acquaintance with