Opting at first for the south of France, and Bordeaux in particular, he changed direction after having learnt of the ferocious oppression led there by Tallien, the Convention's representative, and the dangers that travel in those regions entailed. He passed through Poitiers, and La Rochelle, where he stayed for one month. Wishing to avoid taking the risk of enlisting in the National Guard, where he could well be recognised, he feigned illness and obtained a medical certificate which would allow him to take a thermal cure at Castéra-Verduzan in the Gers region. To allay suspicions, he took the precaution of regularly pricking his gums in order to simulate "incurable scurvy." It was while at this spa that he learnt of the fall of Robespierre on 27 July 1794. He waited four months for his proscription to be lifted before returning to Paris.