Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/285

Rh lery ready to open fire, if any resistance were shown. The notorious Duc d'Otrante, shut up like a wolf in a sheep-fold, was in the greatest trouble.

I was present when he came and begged my brother to save him and his children. Joseph la Brosse was quite a refuge of the wicked, and even Fouché did not have to appeal in vain. He soothed and comforted his visitor, and promised not only to save him but to send after him all his property which he was ready to abandon. The former priest of the Oratory was transformed into a soldier, mounted on a horse amongst fifty gendarmes, and boldly passed through the Austrian lines without being noticed.

Thus was the Due d'Otrante taken out of danger by Joseph la Brosse, and got away safe and unhurt, and the Dauphin granted a safeguard to one of the worst scoundrels known to history.

During this political crisis, my brother went from Trieste, which was still occu-