This wretch whom I loaded
with kindness, whose children were clothed by Theresa, and whose
father, who was a beggar, I almost supported, robbed us with as much
ease as effrontery, not one of the three being sufficiently vigilant
to prevent him: and one night he emptied my cellar.
Whilst he seemed to address himself to me only I suffered
everything, but being desirous of giving an account of the fruit, I
was obliged to declare by whom a great part of it had been stolen.
Madam d'Epinay desired me to pay and discharge him, and look out for
another; I did so. As this rascal rambled about the Hermitage in the
night, armed with a thick club staff with an iron ferrule, and
accompanied by other villains like himself, to relieve the governesses
from their fears, I made his successor sleep in the house with us; and
this not being sufficient to remove their apprehensions, I sent to ask
M. d'Epinay for a musket, which I kept in the chamber of the gardener,
with a charge not to make use of it except an attempt was made to
break open the door or scale the walls of the garden, and to fire
nothing but powder, meaning only to frighten the thieves. This was
certainly the least precaution a man indisposed could take for the
common safety of himself and family, having to pass the winter in
the midst of a wood, with two timid women. I also procured a little
dog to serve as a sentinel. De Leyre coming to see me about this time,
I related to him my situation, and we laughed together at my
military apparatus.
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