THE LAST YEARS 379 



seen in Geneva but tears and consternation. The Montagnards said 

 they had only made a beginning of purging Geneva of its enemies. 

 This unhappy city is a desert, all the honest people have fled or are 

 in prison. Arrests continue. Alphonse and I were warned that we 

 were being looked for and that we might expect to be arrested. Our 

 father urged us to fly immediately. 1 You will realise how difficult it 

 was for us to seek safety while leaving our friends in prison and our 

 parents in danger ; that if we could have seen any probability of a 

 rally or resistance we should never have consented. But the case was 

 hopeless, we were useless and a burden to our parents who desired 

 to remain to protect their property, which is almost their only source 

 of income. 



' We gained at night by bye-paths the shores of the lake. The 

 Montagnards had already seized all the boats. We crossed the French 

 frontier, found a boat, and landed at Rolle at my aunt Tronchin's, 

 where we are lodging. The two Calandrini are in prison as well as 

 Pasteur and the Pictets, Marcet also. My other friends have escaped. 

 Diodati, the Major, escaped by swimming from " Behind the Rhone," 

 to S6cheron, whence he got into Switzerland. Yesterday and to-day 

 they have released one hundred and fifty prisoners. Some have been 

 completely acquitted, others have been condemned to confiscations, 

 fines, and banishment. Six Montagnards, who called themselves 

 French, have been arrested. Anxiety is now felt only for Duroveray 

 and Bellamy among those under arrest.' 



Theodore concludes : 



* The moment may come when my parents will be obliged to 

 abandon their property. The confiscation of that of emigrants is 

 already proposed. The wish to be some help to them is the only link 

 that attaches me to life. This idea puts aside all my tastes and all 

 personal considerations. I eagerly desire a post as a tutor or travelling 

 companion. It is the only thing I can do. Geneva is marked with 

 a stain that can never be effaced, it is for me an accursed spot, which 

 I shall never see without horror ; I am ashamed of it. I should like 

 to deliver my friends and then burn the town. Let it be no more 

 mentioned.' 



Several of the letters written by Madame de Saussure during 

 this brief Reign of Terror have been preserved. They show very 

 remarkable calmness and courage in the terrible circumstances of 

 the moment. The husbands of her friends Mesdames Cayla and 



a Ttav vlStv is the concise entry in de Saussure's Greek diary for the 

 day before the murders. It follows on the words ' very bad news of the seven.' 



