sion of my brothers. But the answer was, "Stay where you are, or go to Perrinet."
A short time after this ineffectual struggle for liberty, Mr. Sautreau beat me unmercifully, and I felt so dreadfully outraged by it, that I quitted his house next morning, at break of day, and lame as I was, I ran home, a distance of fully six miles. I hoped to soften my mother, but she was immovable; she would not suffer me even to kiss her, but told me to go straight back; she offered me only the old alternative, of going to Perrinet, if I refused. She said she would not allow me to sleep in her house. I had set off from Saujon without having breakfasted, and the only refreshment furnished by my mother was dry bread.
You may imagine, better than I can describe, the feelings with which I commenced my walk back again; but my mother must be obeyed, and I can truly say, that the mortification I experienced from her cold reception, was much more painful than the blows or the taunts of Mr. Sautreau.
When I had completed three years at Saujon, my mother heard so much of the great skill of a Mr. De la Bussiere, at Marennes, in imparting learning, that she, most happily for me, determined upon trying what he could do with me, whether he could draw forth the talent, which the family council had decided, that I possessed.
Mr. De la Bussiere was a very eccentric man, a Protestant layman. He was an excellent Greek and Latin scholar; he wrote pretty poetry, and he was withal a good physician. He was as obstinate as a mule; he drank to excess, but did not commence his potations until the labors of the day were ended. He had ten or twelve pupils, but no boarders, for he and his wife had only one small room, which served as kitchen,
