The upper story of the house had never
been required by the family, and the rooms had not even been roofed or
plastered. One great partition wall ran across the space, and the only
ceiling was the bare high-pointed roof of the house. This place was
called the granary, and was used for a drying ground. And here the
superfluous birds were brought, much to the old man's grief, for he knew
that he should never see them again; but he could not refuse them when
they were given to him, and the room which he inhabited would
conveniently hold no more.
The happiness of the last years of the old man's life was much disturbed
by the events of the French revolution. He had been very anxious when
he saw his young son join a club, which was sure to incur the ill-will
of the ruling power in Paris; and yet he could not dissuade him from
doing so; and, though he had rejoiced when his son returned to Poitou
still safe, the imprisonment of the King had woefully afflicted him, and
his death had nearly killed him. He had now expressed his opposition to
the levies of a conscription with a degree of energy which had
astonished his family.
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