Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/37

Rh On one occasion, my mother went to St. Saurin, a distance of four leagues from our house, to visit this dearly beloved son, and she was so much fatigued and exhausted with her ride, that she went to lie down as soon as she alighted from her horse, and begged to have a little herb soup. Her own maid, whom she had taken to wait upon her, was busy preparing it for her, when her daughter-in-law went into the kitchen, in a very bad humor, vexed at her mother-in-law being there, and still more that her husband should have received his mother with evident marks of kindness and affection, and, in this mood, she took a fire-brand out of the fire, and began to stir the broth with it. The servant cried out, "Madam! what are you about? here is a spoon for you." She answered contemptuously, "It is good enough for her."

This was very inconsiderately repeated to my poor mother, who was so much wounded by it, that she shortened her visit; she mounted her horse to return home next day, and never again went to the house of this dear son. Peter knew the cause of it, and he was deeply grieved; but still, his wife had become so entirely the governing power in his house, that he made no effort to correct the grievance.

Three years before the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, he began to collect money with which he intended to leave France. He sold whatever he could, and he had raised about 15,000 francs in gold, when he thought it was time to apply for a passport. He obtained one from the king, in which his wife and two daughters were included, and they all four might easily have quitted the kingdom, but he had still some sums of money due to him, which he hoped to receive, and so he lingered on from day to day, and kept it a secret that he had procured a passport. At length the dragoons made their