My Memoirs

CHAPTER I

CHILDHOOD

(_"Monsieur et Madame Edouard Japy have the honour to inform you of the birth of a daughter." Beaucourt, April, 16th, 1869._)

Beaucourt is a village in the "Belfort Territory," not far from the Swiss and German frontiers. It was in that village, at the "Château Edouard"--all large mansions in that region are called "...