2 A HUNDKED YEARS 



a Scottish maid, and my father had brought an Aber- 

 deenshire salmon- fisher with him, with the usual appli- 

 ances, such as nets, etc., for the capture of the salmon 

 in the River Elle. But though there were, and doubtless 

 are, salmon in that river, I do not think the fishing 

 enterprise proved much of a success. 



My mother told me that immediately after my birth 

 I was taken in charge by the accoucheuse, a Madame Le 

 Blanc, but during the first night my mother's sharp 

 ears thought they heard some small cries from a distant 

 room. So, not thinking for a moment of herself and the 

 danger to her life, she sprang out of her bed and made 

 straight for our room, where she found Madame Le 

 Blanc sound asleep and no one attending to her precious 

 son, whom she snatched up in her arms and carried back 

 to her bed; no one else was allowed to have charge of 

 him from that day forward. 



Although my father had a big extent of chasse to 

 shoot over, there was no game to speak of, and the bags 

 consisted chiefly of squirrels, which it was the fashion 

 there to eat, and of which pies were made until the 

 Breton cook struck against preparing them, declaring 

 they reminded her of skinned babies ! The food in those 

 days was very poor in Brittany, and the peasants sub- 

 sisted chiefly on porridge made of hie noir (buck- wheat). 

 Often, to get decent rolls and bread, my father had to 

 drive to the town of L'Orient, a good many miles 

 away. 



I was registered in Brittany by the name of Hector, 

 after my paternal grandfather. Sir Hector, but after- 

 wards my father, recollecting that the eldest son of my 



