Excerpt from The Republican's Mistress, Vol. 1 of 3: A Novel Founded Upon Facts Suzette was the mother of two -children only, and from the day of their marriage, they had never known a sorrow till the time arrived that Jaques, their eldest child, had com pleted his twentieth year; both their children had from their infancy ma nifested a haughtiness of disposition seldom observed in humble life; their persons were both eminently beautiful, and the fond parents, as they often gazed upon them, had whispered to each other, how noble! Sure they were born to grace a chateau, not in habit this humble cottage. Alas! They little thought that those rare endowments which were then their pride, would one day be the cause of anguish and unavailing regret, and bring their' grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. When J aques had attained the age of twenty, his conduct began to wear a mysterious aspect he oftentimes 'absented himself for weeks from the cottage, and when questioned as to the cause refused an answer; his man ners, naturally grave and haughty, became severe and imperious; and he addressed his parents with the air of a master commanding his slaves, ra ther than that of an affectionate son. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.