Note 110 — Chapter IV · : THE PENSIONNAT HÉGER, BRUSSELS

M. and Mme. Héger celebrated their golden wedding in 1888, but Mme. Héger died the next year. M. Constantin Héger 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 Brontë. She started the school in the Rue d’Isabelle, and M. Héger 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. Héger, the only son of M. Héger, it is stated that Charlotte Brontë 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 Héger was removed in 1894 to the Avenue Louise. The building in the Rue d’Isabelle will shortly be pulled down.