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 XVII. THE MOTHER OF VICTOR HUGO. WHAT poet was ever more fortunate in his educa- tion than Yictor Hugo, whether Ave consider his parents or his environment ? His father was General Hugo, a soldier first of the Republic, then of the Empire, a man of much military capacity, of intelligence, and of humanity. His mother, a less brilliant figure, was an excellent woman, earnestly devoted to the welfare of her three sons, the care of whom devolved chiefly upon her. It was during the war of La Vendee in 1793 that Major Leopold Hugo, then an ardent defender of the Republic, made the acquaintance, at Nantes, of an armorer named Tr^buchet, an adherent of royalty and the church. It is not likely that the relations between them were at any time very warm ; nevertheless, the young Major spent much of his time at the house of the obstinate royalist, and exercised his ingenuity to the utmost in finding excuses for going to it, and, when there, further excuses for remaining. Sophie Tre'buchet, the youngest child of her father (who was a widower), soon divined thaf it was herself that was the object of these visits, which she by no means discouraged. It is true that she too was a royalist, quite decided, and much more enthusi- astic than her father ; but she was also a woman. Hence, in an officer as brave, as handsome, as well mannered and above all as attentive as Major Hugo, she found that an error in politics was not inexcusable. They soon came to an understanding, and when at the termination (225)