Untreated mental illnesses paired with prejudices of the era were, sadly, an invincible tandem. Disregarding Adèle’s needs, Hugo proceeded to play upon the inexperienced and psychologically frail daughter as on a harp.
In 1861, when her father was in Brussels and her mother in Paris, Adèle travelled to the Isle of Wight and to London, and met Pinson. His regiment was due to leave for a posting to Halifax, Nova Scotia. She may have told him she was pregnant; she may have threatened suicide. A marriage licence was drawn up in December, valid for three months. In order to ensure her dowry, she returned home to get her father’s permission. Hugo wanted to know more – was this Englishman worthy of the daughter of France’s national genius? Adèle persuaded him (he was in any case deep in revisions and corrections to Les Misérables) and Pinson arrived for a short visit on Christmas Day, only to leave “abruptly” the next day. Nobody knows what happened. No wedding plans were made. The following summer Adèle left home and made her way to Halifax, where she was to spend the next three years stalking Pinson, her behaviour becoming more and more eccentric. When the regiment was posted to Barbados, she followed him there too. She kept in touch with her family. Her mother wanted to go out and bring her back, but died before seeing her again; her father and brothers sent money, fearing the shame her actions might bring given the “exceptional perils and the exceptional glory” (as Mme Hugo put it) of the Hugo name. ©
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