A. B. Nicholls_.
{107} Miss Mary Dixon, the sister of Mr. George Dixon, M.P., is still
alive, but she has unfortunately not preserved her letters from Charlotte
Bronte.
{109a} 'The Brontes at Brussels,' by Frederika Macdonald.--_The Woman at
Home_, July 1894.
{109b} This statement has received the separate endorsement of the Rev.
A. B. Nicholls and of Miss Ellen Nussey.
{110} M. and Mme. Heger celebrated their golden wedding in 1888, but
Mme. Heger died the next year. M. Constantin Heger lived to be
eighty-seven years of age, dying at 72 Rue Nettoyer, Brussels, on the 6th
of May 1896. He was born in Brussels in 1809, took part in the Belgian
revolution of 1830, and fought in the war of independence against the
Dutch. He was twice married, and it was his second wife who was
associated with Charlotte Bronte. She started the school in the Rue
d'Isabelle, and M. Heger took charge of the upper French classes. In an
obituary article written by M. Colin of _L'Etoile Belge_ in _The Sketch_
(June 5, 1896), which was revised by Dr. Heger, the only son of M. Heger,
it is stated that Charlotte Bronte was piqued at being refused permission
to return to the Pensionnat a third time, and that _Villette_ was her
revenge. We know that this was not the case. The Pensionnat Heger was
removed in 1894 to the Avenue Louise.
Pages:
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783