"What fine and
honest faces! What an accent in their cries of 'Long live the
King!' Yes, plainly they love us." She proceeded to the church of
Saint Florent, where, kneeling beneath a canopy, she heard Mass.
She regarded with attention the tomb of Bonchamp, and said, as she
beheld his statue: "He looks as if he were still commanding."
On leaving the church, she went to see the place where Bonchamp is
buried, and, under a tent, partook of a repast offered her by the
Countess d'Autichamp. She had recounted to her in detail the
celebrated passage of the Loire, the disastrous period when all
the city of Saint Florent was burned by order of the Convention,
and the only house left standing was the one occupied by the
republican General LEchelle as his headquarters.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Madame embarked anew on the
steamboat awaiting her at the point of Varades, and proceeded in
this way to Nantes. The inhabitants from the two banks of the
stream greeted her upon her passage. The red aprons and white caps
of the women contrasted, in the landscape, with the sombre,
costume of the men. That she might be better recognized by the
crowd, the Princess, clad in a simple robe of brown silk, with a
long chain of gold at the neck, separated herself from her suite,
mounted to the highest point on the boat, and greeted with voice
and gesture all these faithful people.
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