At midnight I heard a great noise in the gallery which ran along theback part of the house.A shower of stones thrown against the windowand the door which opened to the gallery fell into it with so muchnoise and violence, that my dog, which usually slept there, and hadbegun to bark, ceased from fright, and ran into a corner gnawing andscratching the planks to endeavor to make his escape.I immediatelyrose, and was preparing to go from my chamber into the kitchen, when astone thrown by a vigorous arm crossed the latter, after having brokenthe window, forced open the door of my chamber, and fell at my feet,so that had I been a moment sooner upon the floor I should have hadthe stone against my stomach.I judged the noise had been made tobring me to the door, and the stone thrown to receive me as I wentout.I ran into the kitchen, where I found Theresa, who also hadrisen, and was tremblingly ****** her way to me as fast as shecould.We placed ourselves against the wall out of the direction ofthe window to avoid the stones, and deliberated upon what was bestto be done; for going out to call assistance was the certain meansof getting ourselves knocked on the head.Fortunately the maid-servantof an old man who lodged under me was waked by the noise, and got upand ran to call the chatelain, whose house was next to mine.He jumpedfrom his bed, put on his robe de chambre, and instantly came to mewith the guard, which, on account of the fair, went the round thatnight, and was just at hand.The chatelain was so alarmed at the sightof the effects of what had happened that he turned pale, and on seeingthe stones in the gallery, exclaimed, "Good God! it is a regularquarry!" On examining below stairs, the door of a little court wasfound to have been forced, and there was an appearance of an attempthaving been made to get into the house by the gallery.On inquiringthe reason why the guard had neither prevented nor perceived thedisturbance, it came out that the guards of Motiers had insistedupon doing duty that night, although it was the turn of those ofanother village.
The next day the chatelain sent his report to the council ofstate, which two days afterwards sent an order to inquire into theaffair, to promise a reward and secrecy to those who should impeachsuch as were guilty, and in the meantime to place, at the expense ofthe king, guards about my house, and that of the chatelain, whichjoined to it.The day after the disturbance, Colonel Pury, theAttorney-General Meuron, the Chatelain Martinet, the Receiver Guyenet,the Treasurer d'Ivernois and his father, in a word, every person ofconsequence in the country, came to see me, and united theirsolicitations to persuade me to yield to the storm, and leave, atleast for a time, a place in which I could no longer live in safetynor with honor.I perceived that even the chatelain was frightenedat the fury of the people, and apprehending it might extend tohimself, would be glad to see me depart as soon as possible, that hemight no longer have the trouble of protecting me there, and be ableto quit the parish, which he did after my departure.I thereforeyielded to their solicitations, and this with but little pain, for thehatred of the people so afflicted my heart that I was no longer ableto support it.
I had a choice of places to retire to.After Madam de Verdelinreturned to Paris, she had, in several letters, mentioned a Mr.
Walpole, whom she called my lord, who, having a strong desire to serveme, proposed to me an asylum at one of his country houses, of thesituation of which she gave me the most agreeable description;entering, relative to lodging and subsistence, into a detail whichproved she and Lord Walpole had held particular consultations upon theproject.My lord marshal had always advised me to go to England orScotland, and in case of my determining upon the latter, offered methere an asylum.But he offered me another at Potsdam, near to hisperson, and which tempted me more than all the rest.He had justcommunicated to me what the king had said to him upon my goingthere, which was a kind of invitation to me from that monarch, and theDuchess of Saxe-Gotha depended so much upon my taking the journey thatshe wrote to me, desiring I would go to see her in my way to the courtof Prussia, and stay some time before I proceeded farther; but I wasso attached to Switzerland that I could not resolve to quit it so longas it was possible for me to live there, and I seized this opportunityto execute a project of which I had for several months conceived theidea, and of which I have deferred speaking, that I might notinterrupt my narrative.
This project consisted in going to reside in the island of St.