indigènelearns
by
hard
experience
to
be
courteous
to
a
French
soldier
.
Cecil
simply
asked
,
in
answer
,
if
Madame
la
Princesse
were
visible
.
The
negro
returned
,
cautiously
,
that
she
was
at
home
,
but
doubted
her
being
accessible
.
"
You
come
from
M
.
le
Marquis
?
"
he
inquired
.
"
"
No
;
on
my
own
errand
.
"
"
You
!
"
Not
all
the
native
African
awe
of
a
Roumi
could
restrain
the
contemptuous
amaze
in
the
word
.
"
I
.
Ask
if
Corporal
Victor
,
of
the
Chasseurs
,
can
be
permitted
a
moment
's
interview
with
your
mistress
.
I
come
by
permission
,
"
he
added
,
as
the
native
hesitated
between
his
fear
of
a
Roumi
and
his
sense
of
the
appalling
unfittingness
of
a
private
soldier
seeking
an
audience
of
a
Spanish
Princess
.
The
message
was
passed
about
between
several
of
the
household
;
at
last
a
servant
of
higher
authority
appeared
:
"
Madame
permitted
Corporal
Victor
to
be
taken
to
her
presence
.
Would
he
follow
?
"
He
uncovered
his
head
and
entered
,
passing
through
several
passages
and
chambers
,
richly
hung
and
furnished
;
for
the
villa
had
been
the
"
campagne
"
of
an
Ilustrious
French
personage
,
who
had
offered
it
to
the
Princess
Corona
when
,
for
some
slight
delicacy
of
health
,
the
air
of
Algeria
was
advocated
.
A
singular
sensation
came
on
him
,
half
of
familiarity
,
half
of
strangeness
,
as
he
advanced
along
them
;
for
twelve
years
he
had
seen
nothing
but
the
bare
walls
of
barrack-rooms
,
the
goat-skin
of
douars
,
and
the
canvas
of
his
own
camp-tent
.
To
come
once
more
,
after
so
long
an
interval
,
amidst
the
old
things
of
luxury
and
grace
that
had
been
so
long
unseen
,
wrought
curiously
on
him
.
He
could
not
fairly
disentangle
past
and
present
.
For
the
moment
,
as
his
feet
fell
once
more
on
soft
carpets
,
and
his
eyes
glanced
over
gold
and
silver
,
malachite
and
bronze
,
white
silk
and
violet
damasks
,
he
almost
thought
the
Algerian
years
were
a
disordered
dream
of
the
night
.
His
spur
caught
in
the
yielding
carpet
,
and
his
sabre
clashed
slightly
against
it
;
as
the
rentrée
au
caserne
had
done
an
hour
before
,
the
sound
recalled
called
the
actual
present
to
him
.
He
was
but
a
French
soldier
,
who
went
on
sufferance
into
the
presence
of
a
great
lady
.
All
the
rest
was
dead
and
buried
.
Some
half-dozen
apartments
,
large
and
small
,
were
crossed
;
then
into
that
presence
he
was
ushered
.
The
room
was
deeply
shaded
,
and
fragrant
with
the
odours
of
the
innumerable
flowers
of
the
Sahel
soil
;
there
was
that
about
it
which
struck
on
him
as
some
air
,
long
unheard
but
once
intimately
familiar
,
on
the
ear
will
revive
innumerable
memories
;
like
the
"
vieil
air
languissant
et
funèbre
,
"
for
which
Gerard
de
Nerval
was
willing
to
give
"
all
Rossini
and
Weber
.
"
She
was
at
some
distance
from
him
,
with
the
trailing
draperies
of
eastern
fabrics
falling
about
her
in
a
rich
,
unbroken
,
shadowy
cloud
of
melting
colour
,
through
which
,
here
and
there
,
broke
threads
of
gold
;
involuntarily
he
paused
on
the
threshold
looking
at
her
.
Some
faint
,
far-off
remembrance
stirred
in
him
,
but
deep
down
in
the
closed
grave
of
his
past
;
some
vague
intangible
association
of
forgotten
days
,
forgotten
thoughts
,
drifted
before
him
as
it
had
drifted
before
him
when
first
in
the
Chambrée
of
his
barracks
he
had
beheld
the
Venetia
Corona
.
She
moved
forward
as
her
servant
announced
him
;
she
saw
him
pause
there
like
one
spell-bound
,
and
thought
it
the
hesitation
of
one
who
felt
sensitively
his
own
low
grade
in
life
.
She
came
towards
him
with
the
silent
sweeping
grace
that
gave
her
the
carriage
of
an
empress
;
her
voice
fell
on
his
ear
with
the
accent
of
a
woman
immeasurably
proud
,
but
too
proud
not
to
bend
softly
and
graciously
to
those
who
were
so
far
beneath
her
that
without
such
aid
from
her
they
could
never
have
addressed
or
have
approached
her
.
"
You
have
come
,
I
trust
,
to
withdraw
your
prohibition
?
Nothing
will
give
me
greater
pleasure
than
to
bring
his
Majesty
's
notice
to
one
of
the
best
soldiers
his
Army
holds
.
"
There
was
that
in
the
words
,
gently
as
they
were
spoken
,
that
recalled
him
suddenly
to
himself
;
they
had
that
negligent
,
courteous
pity
she
would
have
shown
to
some
colon
begging
at
her
gates
!
He
forgot
—
forgot
utterly
—
that
he
was
only
an
African
trooper
.
He
only
remembered
that
he
had
once
been
a
gentleman
,
that
—
if
a
life
of
honour
and
of
selfnegation
can
make
any
so
—
he
was
one
still
.
He
advanced
and
bowed
with
the
old
serene
elegance
that
his
bow
had
once
been
famed
for
;
and
she
,
well
used
to
be
even
over-critical
in
such
trifles
,
thought
,
"
That
man
has
once
lived
in
courts
!
"
"
Pardon
me
,
Madame
,
I
do
not
come
to
trespass
so
far
upon
your
benignity
,
"
he
answered
,
as
he
bent
before
her
.
"
I
come
to
express
,
rather
,
my
regret
that
you
should
have
made
one
signal
error
.
"
"
Error
!
"
—
a
haughty
surprise
glanced
from
her
eyes
as
they
swept
over
him
.
Such
a
word
had
never
been
used
to
her
in
the
whole
course
of
her
brilliant
and
pampered
life
of
sovereignty
and
indulgence
.
"
One
common
enough
,
Madame
,
in
your
Order
.
The
error
to
suppose
that
under
the
rough
cloth
of
a
private
trooper
's
uniform
there
cannot
possibly
be
such
aristocratic
monopolies
as
nerves
to
wound
.
"
"
I
do
not
comprehend
you
.
"
She
spoke
very
coldly
;
she
repented
her
profoundly
of
her
concession
in
admitting
a
Chasseur
d'Afrique
to
her
presence
.
"
Possibly
not
.
Mine
was
the
folly
to
dream
that
you
would
ever
do
so
.
I
should
not
have
intruded
on
you
now
,
but
for
this
reason
:
the
humiliation
you
were
pleased
to
pass
on
me
I
could
neither
refuse
nor
resent
to
the
dealer
of
it
.
Had
I
done
so
,
men
who
are
only
too
loyal
to
me
would
have
resented
with
me
,
and
been
thrashed
or
been
shot
,
as
payment
.
I
was
compelled
to
accept
it
,
and
to
wait
until
I
could
return
your
gift
to
you
.
I
have
no
right
to
complain
that
you
pained
me
with
it
,
since
one
who
occupies
my
position
ought
,
I
presume
,
to
consider
remembrance
,
even
by
an
outrage
,
an
honour
done
to
him
by
the
Princess
Corona
.
"
As
he
said
the
last
words
he
laid
on
a
table
that
stood
near
him
the
gold
of
Châteauroy
's
insult
.
She
had
listened
with
a
bewildered
wonder
,
held
in
check
by
the
haughtier
impulse
of
offence
,
that
a
man
in
this
grade
could
venture
thus
to
address
,
thus
to
arraign
her
.
His
words
were
totally
incomprehensible
to
her
,
though
,
by
the
grave
rebuke
of
his
manner
,
she
saw
that
they
were
fully
meant
,
and
,
as
he
considered
,
fully
authorised
by
some
wrong
done
to
him
.
As
he
laid
the
gold
pieces
down
upon
her
table
,
an
idea
of
the
truth
came
to
her
.
"
I
know
nothing
of
what
you
complain
of
;
I
sent
you
no
money
.
What
is
it
you
would
imply
?
"
she
asked
him
,
looking
up
from
where
she
leaned
back
in
the
low
couch
into
whose
depths
she
had
sunk
as
he
had
spoken
.
"
You
did
not
send
me
these
?
Not
as
payment
for
the
chess
service
?
"
"
Assuredly
not
.
After
what
you
said
the
other
day
,
I
should
have
scarcely
been
so
ill-bred
and
so
heedless
of
inflicting
pain
.
Who
used
my
name
thus
?
"
His
face
lightened
with
a
pleasure
and
a
relief
that
changed
it
wonderfully
;
that
brighter
look
of
gladness
had
been
a
stranger
to
it
for
so
many
years
.
"
You
give
me
infinite
happiness
,
Madame
.
You
little
dream
how
bitter
such
slights
are
where
one
has
lost
the
power
to
resent
them
!
It
was
M
.
de
Châteauroy
,
who
this
morning
—
"
"
Dared
to
tell
you
I
sent
you
those
coins
?
"
The
serenity
of
a
courtly
woman
of
the
world
was
unbroken
,
but
her
blue
and
brilliant
eyes
darkened
and
gleamed
beneath
the
sweep
of
their
lashes
.
"
Perhaps
I
can
scarcely
say
so
much
.
He
gave
them
,
and
he
implied
that
he
gave
them
from
you
.
The
words
he
spoke
were
these
.
"
He
told
her
them
as
they
had
been
uttered
,
adding
no
more
;
she
saw
the
construction
they
had
been
intended
to
bear
,
and
that
which
they
had
borne
naturally
to
his
ear
;
she
listened
earnestly
to
the
end
.
Then
she
turned
to
him
with
the
exquisite
softness
of
grace
which
,
when
she
was
moved
to
it
,
contrasted
so
vividly
with
the
haughty
and
almost
chill
languor
of
her
habitual
manner
.
"
Believe
me
,
I
regret
deeply
that
you
should
have
been
wounded
by
this
most
coarse
indignity
;
I
grieve
sincerely
that
through
myself
in
any
way
it
should
have
been
brought
upon
you
.
As
for
the
perpetrator
of
it
,
M
.
de
Châteauroy
will
be
received
here
no
more
;
and
it
shall
be
my
care
that
he
learns
not
only
how
I
resent
his
unpardonable
use
of
my
name
,
but
how
I
esteem
his
cruel
outrage
to
a
defender
of
his
own
Flag
.
You
did
exceedingly
well
and
wisely
to
acquaint
me
;
in
your
treatment
of
it
as
an
affront
that
I
was
without
warrant
to
offer
you
,
you
showed
the
just
indignation
of
a
soldier
,
and
—
of
what
I
am
very
sure
that
you
are
—
a
gentleman
.
"
He
bowed
low
before
her
.
"
Madame
,
you
have
made
me
the
debtor
of
my
enemy
's
outrage
.
Those
words
from
you
are
more
than
sufficient
compensation
for
it
.
"
"
A
poor
one
,
I
fear
!
Your
Colonel
is
your
enemy
,
then
?
And
wherefore
?
"
He
paused
a
moment
:
"
Why
at
first
I
scarcely
know
.
We
are
antagonistic
,
I
suppose
.
"
"
But
is
it
usual
for
officers
of
his
high
grade
to
show
such
malice
to
their
soldiers
?
"
"
Most
unusual
.
In
this
service
especially
so
;
although
officers
rising
from
the
ranks
themselves
are
more
apt
to
contract
prejudices
and
ill-feeling
against
,
as
they
are
to
feel
favouritism
to
,
their
men
,
than
where
they
enter
the
regiment
in
a
superior
grade
at
once
.
At
least
,
that
is
the
opinion
I
myself
have
formed
,
studying
the
working
of
the
different
systems
.
"
"
You
know
the
English
service
,
then
?
"
"
I
know
something
of
it
.
"
"
And
still
,
though
thinking
this
,
you
prefer
the
French
?
"
"
I
distinctly
prefer
it
,
as
one
that
knows
how
to
make
fine
soldiers
,
and
how
to
reward
them
;
as
one
in
which
a
brave
man
will
be
valued
,
and
a
worn-out
veteran
will
not
be
left
to
die
like
a
horse
at
a
knacker
's
.
"
"
A
brave
man
valued
,
and
yet
you
are
a
corporal
!
"
thought
Miladi
,
as
he
pursued
:
"
Since
I
am
here
,
Madame
,
let
me
thank
you
,
in
the
Army
's
name
,
for
your
infinite
goodness
in
acting
so
munificently
on
my
slight
hint
.
Your
generosity
has
made
many
happy
hearts
in
the
hospital
.
"
"
Generosity
!
Oh
,
do
not
call
it
by
any
such
name
!
What
did
it
cost
me
?
We
are
terribly
selfish
here
.
I
am
indebted
to
you
that
for
once
you
made
me
remember
those
who
suffered
.
"
She
spoke
with
a
certain
impulse
of
candour
and
of
self-accusation
that
broke
with
great
sweetness
the
somewhat
careless
coldness
of
her
general
manner
;
it
was
like
a
gleam
of
light
that
showed
all
the
depth
and
the
warmth
that
in
truth
lay
beneath
that
imperial
languor
of
habit
.
It
broke
further
the
ice
of
distance
that
severed
the
grande
dame
from
the
cavalry
soldier
.
Insensibly
to
himself
,
the
knowledge
that
he
had
,
in
fact
,
the
right
to
stand
before
her
as
an
equal
gave
him
the
bearing
of
one
who
exercised
that
right
,
and
her
rapid
perception
had
felt
before
now
that
this
Roumi
of
Africa
was
as
true
a
gentleman
as
any
that
had
ever
thronged
about
her
in
palaces
.
Her
own
life
had
been
an
uninterrupted
course
of
luxury
,
prosperity
,
serenity
,
and
power
:
the
adversity
which
she
could
not
but
perceive
had
weighed
on
his
had
a
strange
interest
to
her
.
She
had
heard
of
many
calamities
,
and
aided
many
;
but
they
had
always
been
far
sundered
from
her
,
they
had
never
touched
her
:
in
this
man
's
presence
they
seemed
to
grow
very
close
,
terribly
real
.
She
led
him
on
to
speak
of
his
comrades
,
of
his
daily
life
,
of
his
harassing
routine
of
duties
in
peace
,
and
of
his
various
experiences
in
war
.
He
told
her
,
too
,
of
Léon
Ramon
's
history
;
and
as
she
listened
,
he
saw
a
mist
arise
and
dim
the
brilliancy
of
those
eyes
that
men
complained
would
never
soften
.
The
very
fidelity
with
which
he
sketched
to
her
the
bitter
sufferings
and
the
rough
nobility
that
were
momentarily
borne
and
seen
in
that
great
military
family
of
which
he
had
become
a
son
by
adoption
,
interested
her
by
its
very
unlikeness
to
anything
in
her
own
world
.
His
voice
had
still
its
old
sweetness
,
his
manner
still
its
old
grace
;
and
added
to
these
were
a
grave
earnestness
and
a
natural
eloquence
that
the
darkness
of
his
own
fortunes
and
the
sympathies
with
others
that
pain
had
awakened
had
brought
to
him
.
He
wholly
forgot
their
respective
stations
;
he
only
remembered
that
for
the
first
time
for
so
many
years
he
had
the
charm
of
converse
with
a
woman
of
high
breeding
,
of
inexpressible
beauty
,
and
of
keen
and
delicate
intuition
.
He
wholly
forgot
how
time
passed
,
and
she
did
not
seek
to
remind
him
;
indeed
,
she
but
little
noted
it
herself
.
At
last
the
conversation
turned
back
to
his
Chief
.
"
You
seem
to
be
aware
of
some
motive
for
your
commandant
's
dislike
?
"
she
asked
him
.
"
Tell
me
to
what
you
attribute
it
?
"
"
It
is
a
long
tale
,
Madame
.
"
"
No
matter
,
I
would
hear
it
.
"
"
I
fear
it
will
only
weary
you
?
"
"
Do
not
fear
that
.
Tell
it
me
?
"
He
obeyed
,
and
told
to
her
the
story
of
the
Emir
and
of
the
Pearl
of
the
Desert
;
and
Venetia
Corona
listened
,
as
she
had
listened
to
him
throughout
,
with
an
interest
that
she
rarely
vouchsafed
to
the
recitals
and
the
witticisms
of
her
own
circle
.
He
gave
to
the
narrative
a
soldierly
simplicity
,
and
a
picturesque
colouring
that
lent
a
new
interest
to
her
;
and
she
was
of
that
nature
which
,
however
it
may
be
led
to
conceal
feeling
from
pride
and
from
hatred
,
never
fails
to
awaken
to
indignant
sympathy
at
wrong
.
"
This
barbarian
is
your
chief
?
"
she
said
,
as
the
tale
closed
.
"
His
enmity
is
your
honour
!
I
can
well
credit
that
he
will
never
pardon
your
having
stood
between
him
and
his
crime
.
"
"
He
has
never
pardoned
it
yet
,
of
a
surety
.
"
"
I
will
not
tell
you
it
was
a
noble
action
,
"
she
said
,
with
a
smile
sweet
as
the
morning
,
a
smile
that
few
saw
light
on
them
.
"
It
came
too
naturally
to
a
man
of
honour
for
you
to
care
for
the
epithet
.
Yet
it
was
a
great
one
a
most
generous
one
.
But
I
have
not
heard
one
thing
:
—
what
argument
did
you
use
to
obtain
her
release
?
"
"
No
one
has
ever
heard
it
,
"
he
answered
her
,
while
his
voice
sank
low
.
"
I
will
trust
you
with
it
;
it
will
not
pass
elsewhere
.
I
told
him
enough
of
—
of
my
own
past
life
to
show
him
that
I
knew
what
his
had
been
,
and
that
I
knew
moreover
,
though
they
were
dead
to
me
now
,
men
in
that
greater
world
of
Europe
who
would
believe
my
statement
if
I
wrote
them
his
outrage
on
the
Emir
,
and
would
avenge
it
for
the
reputation
of
the
Empire
.
And
unless
he
released
the
Emir
's
wife
,
I
swore
to
him
that
I
would
so
write
,
though
he
had
me
shot
on
the
morrow
;
and
he
knew
I
should
keep
my
word
.
"
She
was
silent
some
moments
,
looking
on
him
with
a
musing
gaze
,
in
which
some
pity
and
more
honour
for
him
were
blended
.
"
You
told
him
your
past
.
Will
you
confess
it
to
me
?
"
"
I
cannot
,
Madame
.
"
"
And
why
?
"
"
Because
I
am
dead
!
Because
,
in
your
presence
,
it
becomes
more
bitter
to
me
to
remember
that
I
ever
lived
.
"
"
You
speak
strangely
.
Cannot
your
life
have
a
resurrection
?
"
"
Never
,
Madame
.
For
a
brief
hour
you
have
given
it
one
—
in
dreams
.
It
will
have
no
other
.
"
"
But
surely
there
may
be
ways
,
—
such
a
story
as
you
have
told
me
brought
to
the
Emperor
's
knowledge
,
you
would
see
your
enemy
disgraced
,
yourself
honoured
?
"
"
Possibly
,
Madame
.
But
it
is
out
of
the
question
that
it
should
ever
be
so
brought
.
As
I
am
now
,
so
I
desire
to
live
and
die
.
"
"
You
voluntarily
condemn
yourself
to
this
?
"
"
I
have
voluntarily
chosen
it
.
I
am
well
sure
that
the
silence
I
entreat
will
be
kept
by
you
?
"
"
Assuredly
;
unless
by
your
wish
it
be
broken
.
Yet
,
—
I
await
my
brother
's
arrival
here
;
he
is
a
soldier
himself
;
I
shall
hope
that
he
will
persuade
you
to
think
differently
of
your
future
.
At
any
rate
,
both
his
and
my
own
influence
will
always
be
exerted
for
you
,
if
you
will
avail
yourself
of
it
.
"
"
You
do
me
much
honour
,
Madame
.
All
I
will
ever
ask
of
you
is
to
return
those
coins
to
my
Colonel
,
and
to
forget
that
your
gentleness
has
made
me
forget
,
for
one
merciful
half-hour
,
the
sufferance
on
which
alone
a
private
trooper
can
present
himself
here
.
"
He
swept
the
ground
with
his
képi
as
though
it
were
the
plumed
hat
of
a
Marshal
,
and
backed
slowly
from
her
presence
,
as
he
had
many
a
time
long
before
backed
out
of
a
throne-room
.
As
he
went
,
his
eyes
caught
the
armies
of
the
ivory
chessmen
;
they
stood
under
glass
,
and
had
not
been
broken
by
her
lapdog
.
Miladi
,
left
alone
there
in
her
luxurious
morning-room
,
sat
awhile
lost
in
thought
.
He
attracted
her
;
he
interested
her
;
he
aroused
her
sympathy
and
her
wonder
as
the
men
of
her
own
world
had
failed
to
do
—
aroused
them
despite
the
pride
which
made
her
impatient
of
lending
so
much
attention
to
a
mere
Chasseur
d'Afrique
.
His
knowledge
of
the
fact
that
he
was
in
reality
the
representative
of
his
race
,
although
the
power
to
declare
himself
so
had
been
for
ever
abandoned
and
lost
,
had
given
him
in
her
presence
that
day
a
certain
melancholy
,
and
a
certain
grave
dignity
,
that
would
have
shown
a
far
more
superficial
observer
than
she
was
that
he
had
come
of
a
great
race
,
and
had
memories
that
were
of
a
very
different
hue
to
the
coarse
and
hard
life
which
he
led
now
.
She
had
seen
much
of
the
world
,
and
was
naturally
far
more
penetrative
and
more
correct
in
judgment
than
are
most
women
.
She
discovered
the
ring
of
true
gold
in
his
words
,
and
the
carriage
of
pure
breeding
in
his
actions
.
He
interested
her
;
—
more
than
it
pleased
her
that
he
should
.
A
man
so
utterly
beneath
her
!
—
doubtless
brought
into
the
grade
to
which
he
had
fallen
by
every
kind
of
error
,
of
improvidence
,
of
folly
,
of
probably
worse
than
folly
!
It
was
too
absurd
that
she
,
so
difficult
to
interest
,
so
inaccessible
,
so
fastidious
,
so
satiated
with
all
that
was
brilliant
and
celebrated
,
should
find
herself
seriously
spending
her
thoughts
,
her
pity
,
and
her
speculation
on
an
adventurer
of
the
African
Army
!
She
laughed
a
little
at
herself
as
she
stretched
out
her
hand
for
a
new
volume
of
French
poems
dedicated
to
her
by
their
accomplished
writer
,
who
was
a
Parisian
diplomatist
.
"
One
would
imagine
I
was
just
out
of
a
convent
,
and
weaving
a
marvellous
romance
from
a
mystery
and
a
tristesse
,
because
the
first
soldier
I
notice
in
Algeria
has
a
gentleman
's
voice
and
is
ill-treated
by
his
officers
!
"
she
thought
,
with
a
smile
,
while
she
opened
the
poems
which
had
that
day
arrived
,
radiant
in
the
creamy
vellum
,
the
white
velvet
,
and
the
gold
of
a
dedication
copy
,
with
the
coronet
of
the
Corona
d'Amägué
on
their
binding
.
The
poems
were
sparkling
with
all
the
grace
of
airy
vers
de
société
and
elegant
silvery
harmonies
;
but
they
served
ill
to
chain
her
attention
,
for
whilst
she
read
her
eyes
wandered
at
intervals
to
the
chess
battalions
.
"
Such
a
man
as
that
buried
in
the
ranks
of
this
brutalised
army
!
"
she
mused
.
"
What
fatal
chance
could
bring
him
here
?
Misfortune
,
not
misconduct
,
surely
.
I
wonder
if
Lyon
could
learn
!
He
shall
try
.
"
"
Your
Chasseur
has
the
air
of
a
Prince
,
my
love
,
"
said
a
voice
behind
her
.
"
Equivocal
compliment
!
A
much
better
air
than
most
Princes
,
"
said
Madame
Corona
,
glancing
up
with
a
slight
shrug
of
her
shoulders
,
as
her
guest
and
travelling
companion
,
the
Marquise
de
Rénardière
,
entered
.
"
Indeed
!
I
saw
him
as
he
passed
out
;
and
he
saluted
me
as
if
he
had
been
a
Marshal
.
Why
did
he
come
?
"
Venetia
Corona
pointed
to
the
Napoléons
,
and
told
the
story
;
rather
listlessly
and
briefly
.
"
Ah
!
The
man
has
been
a
gentleman
,
I
dare
say
.
So
many
of
them
come
to
our
army
.
I
remember
General
Villefleur
's
telling
me
—
he
commanded
here
awhile
—
that
the
ranks
of
the
Zéphyrs
and
Zouaves
were
full
of
well-born
men
,
utterly
good-for-nothing
,
the
handsomest
scoundrels
possible
,
who
had
every
gift
and
every
grace
,
and
yet
come
to
no
better
end
than
a
pistol-shot
in
a
ditch
or
a
mortal
thrust
from
Bedouin
steel
.
I
dare
say
your
Corporal
is
one
of
them
.
"
"
It
may
be
so
.
"
"
But
you
doubt
it
,
I
imagine
.
"
"
I
am
not
sure
that
I
do
.
But
this
person
is
certainly
unlike
a
man
to
whom
disgrace
has
ever
attached
.
"
"
You
think
your
protégé
,
then
,
has
become
what
he
is
through
adversity
,
I
suppose
?
Very
interesting
!
"
"
I
really
can
tell
you
nothing
of
his
antecedents
.
Through
his
skill
at
sculpture
,
and
my
notice
of
it
,
considerable
indignity
has
been
brought
upon
him
;
and
a
soldier
can
feel
,
it
seems
,
though
it
is
very
absurd
that
he
should
!
That
is
all
my
concern
with
the
matter
,
except
that
I
have
to
teach
his
commander
not
to
play
with
my
name
in
his
barrackyard
.
"
She
spoke
with
that
negligence
which
always
sounded
very
cold
,
though
the
words
were
so
gently
spoken
.
Her
best
and
most
familiar
friends
always
knew
when
,
with
that
courtly
chillness
,
she
had
signed
them
their
line
of
demarcation
.
And
the
Marquise
de
Rénardière
said
no
more
,
but
talked
of
the
Ambassador
's
poems
.
CHAPTER
XI
.
"
LE
BON-ZIG
.
"
Meanwhile
,
the
subject
of
their
first
discourse
returned
to
the
Chambrée
.
He
had
encouraged
the
men
to
pursue
those
various
industries
and
ingenuities
which
,
though
they
are
affectedly
considered
against
"
discipline
,
"
formed
,
as
he
knew
well
,
the
best
preservative
from
real
insubordination
,
and
the
best
instrument
in
humanising
and
ameliorating
the
condition
of
his
comrades
.
The
habit
of
application
alone
was
something
gained
;
and
if
it
kept
them
only
for
a
while
from
the
haunts
of
those
coarsest
debaucheries
,
which
are
the
only
possible
form
in
which
the
soldier
can
pursue
the
forbidden
license
of
vice
,
it
was
better
than
that
leisure
should
be
spent
in
that
joyless
bestiality
which
made
Cecil
,
once
used
to
every
refinement
of
luxury
and
indulgence
,
sicken
with
a
pitying
wonder
for
those
who
found
in
it
the
only
shape
they
knew
of
"
pleasure
.
"
He
had
seen
from
the
first
,
in
many
men
of
his
tribu
,
capabilities
that
might
be
turned
to
endless
uses
;
in
the
conscript
drawn
from
the
populace
of
the
provinces
there
was
almost
always
a
knowledge
of
self-help
,
and
often
of
some
trade
,
coupled
with
habits
of
diligence
;
in
the
soldier
made
from
the
street-Arab
of
Paris
there
was
always
inconceivable
intelligence
,
rapidity
of
wit
,
and
plastic
vivacity
;
in
the
adventurers
come
,
like
himself
,
from
higher
grades
of
society
,
and
burying
a
broken
career
under
the
shelter
of
the
tricolour
,
there
were
continually
gifts
and
acquirements
,
and
even
genius
,
that
had
run
to
seed
and
brought
forth
no
fruit
.
Of
all
these
France
always
avails
herself
in
a
great
degree
;
but
,
as
far
as
Cecil
's
influence
extended
,
they
were
developed
much
more
than
usual
.
As
his
own
character
gradually
changed
under
the
force
of
fate
,
the
desire
for
some
interest
in
life
grew
on
him
(
every
man
,
save
one
absolutely
brainless
and
self-engrossed
,
feels
this
sooner
or
later
)
;
and
that
interest
he
found
,
or
rather
created
,
in
his
regiment
.
All
that
he
could
do
to
contribute
to
its
efficiency
in
the
field
he
did
;
all
that
he
could
do
to
further
its
internal
excellence
he
did
likewise
.
Coarseness
perceptibly
abated
,
and
violence
became
much
rarer
in
that
portion
of
his
corps
with
which
he
had
immediately
to
do
;
the
men
gradually
acquired
from
him
a
better
,
a
higher
tone
;
they
learned
to
do
duties
inglorious
and
distasteful
as
well
as
they
did
those
which
led
them
to
the
danger
and
the
excitation
that
they
loved
;
and
,
having
their
good
faith
and
sympathy
,
heart
and
soul
,
with
him
,
he
met
,
in
these
lawless
leopards
of
African
France
,
with
loyalty
,
courage
,
generosity
,
and
self-abnegation
far
surpassing
those
which
he
had
ever
met
with
in
the
polished
civilisation
of
his
early
experience
.
For
their
sakes
,
he
spent
many
of
his
free
hours
in
the
Chambrée
.
Many
a
man
,
seeing
him
,
there
came
and
worked
at
some
ingenious
design
,
instead
of
going
off
to
burn
his
brains
out
with
brandy
,
if
he
had
sous
enough
to
buy
any
,
or
to
do
some
dexterous
bit
of
thieving
on
a
native
,
if
he
had
not
.
Many
a
time
,
knowing
him
to
be
there
,
sufficed
to
restrain
the
talk
around
from
lewdness
and
from
ribaldry
,
and
turn
it
into
channels
at
once
less
loathsome
and
more
mirthful
,
because
they
felt
that
obscenity
and
vulgarity
were
alike
jarring
on
his
ear
,
although
he
had
never
more
than
tacitly
shown
that
they
were
so
.
A
precisian
would
have
been
covered
with
their
contumely
and
ridicule
;
a
saint
would
have
been
driven
out
from
their
midst
with
every
missile
merciless
tongues
and
merciless
hands
could
pelt
with
;
a
martinet
would
have
been
cursed
aloud
,
and
cheated
,
flouted
,
rebelled
against
,
on
every
possible
occasion
.
But
the
man
who
was
"
one
of
them
"
entirely
,
whilst
yet
simply
and
thoroughly
a
gentleman
,
had
great
influence
—
an
influence
exclusively
for
good
.
The
Chambrée
was
empty
when
he
returned
;
the
men
were
scattered
over
the
town
in
one
of
their
scant
pauses
of
liberty
;
there
was
only
the
dog
of
the
regiment
,
Flick-Flack
,
a
snow-white
poodle
,
asleep
in
the
heat
,
on
a
sack
,
who
,
without
waking
,
moved
his
tail
in
a
sign
of
gratification
as
Cecil
stroked
him
,
and
sat
down
near
,
betaking
himself
to
the
work
he
had
in
hand
.
It
was
a
stone
for
the
grave
of
Léon
Ramon
.
There
was
no
other
to
remember
the
dead
Chasseur
;
no
other
beside
himself
,
save
an
old
woman
sitting
spinning
at
her
wheel
under
the
low-sloping
shingle
roof
of
a
cottage
by
the
western
Biscayan
sea
,
who
,
as
she
spun
,
and
as
the
thread
flew
,
looked
with
anxious
aged
eyes
over
the
purple
waves
where
she
had
seen
his
father
—
the
son
of
her
youth
—
go
down
beneath
the
waters
,
and
murmured
ever
and
again
,
"
Il
r'viendra
!
il
r'viendra
!
"
But
the
thread
of
her
flax
would
be
spun
out
,
and
the
thread
of
her
waning
life
be
broken
,
ere
ever
the
soldier
for
whom
she
watched
would
go
back
to
her
and
to
Languedoc
.
For
life
is
brutal
;
and
to
none
so
brutal
as
to
the
aged
who
remember
so
well
,
yet
are
forgotten
as
though
already
they
were
amidst
the
dead
.
Cecil
's
hand
pressed
the
graver
along
the
letters
,
but
his
thoughts
wandered
far
from
the
place
where
he
was
.
Alone
there
,
in
the
great
sun-scorched
barrack-room
,
the
news
that
he
had
read
,
the
presence
he
had
quitted
,
seemed
alike
a
dream
.
He
had
never
known
fully
all
that
he
had
lost
until
he
had
stood
before
the
beauty
of
this
woman
,
in
whose
deep
imperial
eyes
the
light
of
other
years
seemed
to
lie
,
the
memories
of
other
worlds
seemed
to
slumber
.
Those
blue
,
proud
,
fathomless
eyes
!
Why
had
they
looked
on
him
?
He
had
grown
content
with
his
fate
;
he
had
been
satisfied
to
live
and
to
fall
a
soldier
of
France
;
he
had
set
a
seal
on
that
far-off
life
of
his
earlier
time
,
and
had
grown
to
forget
that
it
had
ever
been
.
Why
had
chance
flung
him
in
her
way
,
that
,
with
one
careless
haughty
glance
,
one
smile
of
courteous
pity
,
she
should
have
undone
in
a
moment
all
the
work
of
a
half-score
years
,
and
shattered
in
a
day
the
serenity
which
it
had
cost
him
such
weary
self-contest
,
such
hard-fought
victory
,
to
attain
?
She
had
come
to
pain
,
to
weaken
,
to
disturb
,
to
influence
him
,
to
shadow
his
peace
,
to
wring
his
pride
,
to
unman
his
resolve
,
as
women
do
mostly
with
men
.
Was
life
not
hard
enough
here
already
,
that
she
must
make
it
more
bitter
yet
to
bear
?
He
had
been
content
,
with
a
soldier
's
contentment
,
in
danger
and
in
duty
;
and
she
must
waken
the
old
coiled
serpent
of
restless
stinging
regret
which
he
had
thought
lulled
to
rest
for
ever
!
"
If
I
had
my
heritage
?
"
he
thought
;
and
the
chisel
fell
from
his
hands
as
he
looked
down
the
length
of
the
barrack-room
with
the
blue
glare
of
the
African
sky
through
the
casement
.
Then
he
smiled
at
his
own
folly
,
in
dreaming
idly
thus
of
things
that
might
have
been
.
"
I
will
see
her
no
more
,
"
he
said
to
himself
.
"
If
I
do
not
take
care
,
I
shall
end
by
thinking
myself
a
martyr
—
the
last
refuge
and
consolation
of
emasculate
vanity
,
of
impotent
egotism
!
"
For
though
his
whole
existence
was
a
sacrifice
,
it
never
occurred
to
him
that
there
was
anything
whatever
great
in
its
acceptation
,
or
unjust
in
its
endurance
.
He
thought
too
little
of
his
life
's
value
,
or
of
its
deserts
,
ever
to
consider
by
any
chance
that
it
had
been
harshly
dealt
with
,
or
unmeritedly
visited
.
At
that
instant
Petit
Picpon
's
keen
,
pale
,
Parisian
face
peered
through
the
door
,
his
great
black
eyes
,
that
at
times
had
so
pathetic
a
melancholy
,
and
at
others
such
a
monkeyish
mirth
and
malice
,
were
sparkling
excitedly
and
gleefully
.
"
Mon
Caporal
!
"
"
You
,
Picpon
?
What
is
it
?
"
"
Mon
Caporal
,
there
is
great
news
.
La
danse
commence
là-bas
.
"
35
"
Ah
!
Are
you
sure
?
"
"
Sure
,
mon
Caporal
.
The
Arbicos
want
a
fantasia
à
la
clarinette
.
36
We
are
not
to
know
just
yet
:
we
are
to
have
the
ordre
de
route
to-morrow
.
I
overheard
our
officers
say
so
.
They
think
we
shall
have
brisk
work
.
And
for
that
they
will
not
punish
the
vieille
lame
.
"
"
Punish
!
Is
there
fresh
disobedience
?
In
my
squadron
;
in
my
absence
?
"
He
rose
instinctively
,
buckling
on
his
sword
which
he
had
put
aside
.
"
Not
in
your
tribu
,
mon
Caporal
,
"
said
Picpon
,
quickly
.
"
It
is
not
much
,
either
.
Only
the
bon-zig
Rac
.
"
"
Rake
!
What
has
he
been
doing
?
"
There
was
infinite
anxiety
and
vexation
in
his
voice
.
Rake
had
recently
been
changed
into
another
squadron
of
the
regiment
,
to
his
great
loss
and
regret
;
for
not
only
did
he
miss
the
man
's
bright
face
and
familiar
voice
from
the
Chambrée
,
but
he
had
much
disquietude
on
the
score
of
his
safety
,
for
Rake
was
an
incorrigible
pratique
,
had
only
been
kept
from
scrapes
and
mischief
by
Cecil
's
influence
,
and
even
despite
that
had
been
often
in
hot
water
,
and
once
even
had
been
drafted
for
a
year
or
so
of
chastisement
amongst
the
"
Zéphyrs
,
"
a
mode
of
punishment
which
,
but
for
its
separation
of
him
from
his
idol
,
would
have
given
unmitigated
delight
to
the
audacious
offender
.
"
Very
little
,
mon
Caporal
!
"
said
Picpon
,
eagerly
.
"
A
mere
nothing
—
a
bagatelle
!
Run
a
Spahi
through
the
stomach
,
that
is
all
.
I
do
n't
think
the
man
is
so
much
as
dead
,
even
!
"
"
I
hope
not
,
indeed
.
When
will
you
cease
this
brawling
amongst
yourselves
?
A
soldier
's
blade
should
never
be
turned
upon
men
of
his
own
army
.
How
did
it
happen
?
"
"
Pour
si
peu
de
chose
,
mon
Caporal
.
A
woman
!
They
quarrelled
about
a
little
fruit-seller
.
The
homard
37
was
in
fault
.
Crache-au-nez-d'la-Mort
was
there
before
him
;
and
was
preferred
by
the
girl
;
and
women
should
be
allowed
something
to
do
with
choosing
their
lovers
,
that
I
think
,
though
it
is
true
they
often
take
the
worst
man
.
They
quarrelled
;
the
homard
drew
first
;
and
then
,
pouf
et
passe
!
quick
as
thought
,
Rac
lunged
through
him
.
He
has
always
a
most
beautiful
stroke
.
Le
Capitaine
Argentier
was
passing
,
and
made
a
fuss
;
else
nothing
would
have
been
done
.
They
have
put
him
under
arrest
,
but
I
heard
them
say
they
would
let
him
free
to-night
because
we
should
march
at
dawn
.
"
"
I
will
go
and
see
him
at
once
.
"
"
Wait
,
mon
Caporal
;
I
have
something
to
tell
you
,
"
said
Picpon
,
quickly
.
"
The
zig
has
a
motive
in
what
he
does
.
Rac
wanted
to
get
the
trou
.
38
He
has
done
more
than
one
bit
of
mischief
only
for
that
.
"
"
Only
for
what
?
He
cannot
be
in
love
with
the
trou
?
"
"
It
serves
his
turn
,
"
said
Picpon
,
mysteriously
.
"
Did
you
never
guess
why
,
mon
Caporal
?
Well
,
I
have
.
Crache-au-nez-d'la-Mort
is
a
risquetout
.
39
officers
know
it
;
the
bureaux
know
it
.
He
would
have
mounted
,
mounted
,
mounted
,
and
been
a
Captain
long
before
now
,
if
he
had
not
been
a
pratique
.
"
"
I
know
that
;
so
would
many
of
you
.
"
"
Ah
,
mon
Caporal
;
but
that
is
just
what
Rac
does
not
choose
.
In
the
books
his
page
beats
every
man
's
,
except
yours
.
They
have
talked
of
him
many
times
for
the
cross
and
for
promotion
;
but
whenever
they
do
—
cric-crac
!
he
goes
off
to
a
bit
a
mischief
,
and
gets
himself
punished
.
Any
rabiat
,
long
or
short
,
serves
his
purpose
.
They
think
him
too
wild
to
take
out
of
the
ranks
.
You
remember
,
mon
Caporal
,
that
splendid
thing
that
he
did
five
years
ago
at
Sabasasta
?
Well
,
you
know
they
spoke
of
promoting
him
for
it
,
and
he
would
have
run
up
all
the
grades
like
a
squirrel
,
and
died
a
Kébir
,
41
I
dare
say
.
What
did
he
do
to
prevent
it
?
Why
,
went
that
escapade
into
Oran
disguised
as
a
Dervish
,
and
got
the
trou
instead
.
"
"
To
prevent
it
?
Not
purposely
?
"
"
Purposely
,
mon
Caporal
,
"
said
Petit
Picpon
,
with
a
sapient
nod
that
spoke
volumes
.
"
He
always
does
something
when
he
thinks
promotion
is
coming
—
something
to
get
himself
out
of
its
way
,
do
you
see
?
And
the
reason
is
this
:
'
tis
a
good
zig
,
and
loves
you
,
and
will
not
be
put
over
your
head
.
'
Me
rise
afore
him
?
'
said
the
zig
to
me
once
.
'
I
'll
have
the
As
de
pique
42
"
on
my
collar
fifty
times
over
first
!
He
's
a
Prince
,
and
I
'm
a
mongrel
got
in
a
gutter
!
I
owe
him
more'n
I
'll
ever
pay
,
and
I
'll
kill
the
Kébir
himself
afore
I
'll
insult
him
that
way
.
'
So
say
little
to
him
about
the
Spahi
,
mon
Caporal
.
He
loves
you
well
,
does
your
Rac
.
"
"
Well
indeed
!
Good
God
!
what
nobility
!
"
Picpon
glanced
at
him
;
then
,
with
the
tact
of
his
nation
,
glided
away
and
busied
himself
teaching
Flick-Flack
to
shoulder
and
present
arms
,
the
weapon
being
a
long
chibouque-stick
.
"
After
all
,
Diderot
was
in
the
right
when
he
told
Rousseau
which
side
of
the
question
to
take
,
"
mused
Cecil
,
as
he
crossed
the
barrack-yard
a
few
minutes
later
to
visit
the
incarcerated
pratique
.
"
On
my
life
,
civilisation
develops
comfort
,
but
I
do
believe
it
kills
nobility
.
Individuality
dies
in
it
,
and
egotism
grows
strong
and
specious
.
Why
is
it
that
in
a
polished
life
a
man
,
whilst
becoming
incapable
of
sinking
to
crime
,
almost
always
becomes
also
incapable
of
rising
to
greatness
?
Why
is
it
that
misery
,
tumult
,
privation
,
bloodshed
,
famine
,
beget
,
in
such
a
life
as
this
,
such
countless
things
of
heroism
,
of
endurance
,
of
self-sacrifice
—
things
worthy
of
demigods
—
in
men
who
quarrel
with
the
wolves
for
a
wild-boar
's
carcase
,
for
a
sheep
's
offal
?
"
A
question
which
perplexes
,
very
wearily
,
thinkers
who
have
more
time
,
more
subtlety
,
and
more
logic
to
bring
to
its
unravelment
than
Bertie
had
either
leisure
or
inclination
to
do
.
"
Is
this
true
,
Rake
—
that
you
intentionally
commit
these
freaks
of
misconduct
to
escape
promotion
?
"
he
asked
of
the
man
when
he
stood
alone
with
him
in
his
place
of
confinement
.
Rake
flushed
a
little
.
"
Mischief
's
bred
in
me
,
sir
;
it
must
come
out
.
It
's
just
bottled
up
in
me
like
ale
;
if
I
did
n't
take
the
cork
out
now
and
then
,
I
should
fly
apieces
!
"
"
But
many
a
time
when
you
have
been
close
on
the
reward
of
your
splendid
gallantry
in
the
field
,
you
have
frustrated
your
own
fortunes
and
the
wishes
of
your
superiors
by
wantonly
proving
yourself
unfit
for
the
higher
grade
they
were
going
to
raise
you
to
;
why
do
you
do
that
?
"
Rake
fidgeted
restlessly
,
and
,
to
avoid
the
awkwardness
of
the
question
,
replied
,
like
a
Parliamentary
orator
,
by
a
flow
of
rhetoric
.
"
Sir
,
there
's
a
many
chaps
like
me
.
They
ca
n't
help
nohow
bustin
'
out
when
the
fit
takes
'
em
.
'
Tai
n't
reasonable
to
blame
'
em
for
it
;
they
're
just
made
so
,
like
a
chesnut
's
made
to
bust
its
pod
,
and
a
chicken
to
bust
its
shell
.
Well
,
you
see
,
sir
,
France
she
know
that
,
and
she
say
to
herself
,
'
Here
are
these
madcaps
,
if
I
keep
'
em
tight
in
hand
I
sha
n't
do
nothin
'
with
'
em
—
they
'll
turn
obstreperous
and
cram
my
convict-cells
.
Now
,
I
want
soldiers
,
I
do
n't
want
convicts
.
I
ca
n't
let
'
em
stay
in
the
Regulars
,
'
cause
they
'll
be
for
making
all
the
army
wildfire
like
'
em
;
I
'll
just
draft
'
em
by
theirselves
,
treat
'
em
different
,
and
let
'
em
fire
away
.
They
've
got
good
stuff
in
'
em
,
though
too
much
of
the
curb
riles
'
em
.
'
Well
,
sir
,
she
do
that
;
and
are
n't
the
Zéphyrs
as
fine
a
lot
of
fellows
as
any
in
the
service
?
Of
course
they
are
;
but
if
they
'd
been
in
England
—
God
bless
her
,
the
dear
old
d
—
d
obstinate
soul
!
—
they
'd
have
been
druv
'
crazy
along
o
'
pipeclay
and
razors
;
she
'd
never
have
seed
what
was
in
'
em
,
her
eyes
are
so
bunged
up
with
routine
.
If
a
pup
riot
in
the
pack
,
she
's
no
notion
but
to
double-thong
him
,
and
a-course
,
in
double-quick
time
,
she
finds
herself
obliged
to
go
further
and
hang
him
.
She
do
n't
ever
remember
that
it
may
be
only
just
along
of
his
breedin
'
,
and
that
he
may
make
a
very
good
hound
elseways
let
out
a
bit
,
though
he
'll
spile
the
whole
pack
if
she
will
be
a
fool
and
try
to
make
a
steady
line-hunter
of
him
straight
agin
his
nature
.
"
Rake
stopped
breathless
in
his
rhetoric
,
which
contained
more
truth
in
it
,
as
also
more
roughness
,
than
most
rhetoric
does
.
"
You
are
right
.
But
you
wander
from
my
question
,
"
said
Cecil
,
gently
.
"
Do
you
avoid
promotion
?
"
"
Yes
,
sir
,
I
do
,
"
said
Rake
,
something
sulkily
;
for
he
felt
he
was
being
driven
"
up
a
corner
.
"
"
I
do
.
I
ai
n't
not
one
bit
fitter
for
an
officer
than
that
rioting
pup
I
talk
on
is
fit
to
lead
them
crack
packs
at
home
.
I
should
be
in
a
strait-waistcoat
if
I
was
promoted
;
and
as
for
the
cross
—
Lord
,
sir
,
that
would
get
me
into
a
world
o
'
trouble
!
I
should
pawn
it
for
a
toss
of
wine
the
first
day
out
,
or
give
it
to
the
first
moukiera
that
winked
her
black
eye
for
it
!
The
star
put
on
my
buttons
suits
me
a
deal
better
;
if
you
'll
believe
me
,
sir
,
it
do
.
"
43
Cecil
's
eyes
rested
on
him
with
a
look
that
said
far
more
than
his
answer
.
"
Rake
,
I
know
you
better
than
you
would
let
me
do
,
if
you
had
your
way
.
My
noble
fellow
!
you
reject
advancement
,
and
earn
yourself
an
unjust
reputation
for
mutinous
conduct
,
because
you
are
too
generous
to
be
given
a
step
above
mine
in
the
regiment
.
"
"
Who
's
a
been
a
tellin
'
you
that
trash
,
sir
?
"
retorted
Rake
,
with
ferocity
.
"
No
matter
who
.
It
is
no
trash
.
It
is
a
splendid
loyalty
of
which
I
am
utterly
unworthy
,
and
it
shall
be
my
care
that
it
is
known
at
the
bureaux
,
so
that
henceforth
your
great
merits
may
be
—
"
"
Stow
that
,
sir
!
"
cried
Rake
,
vehemently
.
"
Stow
that
,
if
you
please
!
Promoted
I
wo
n't
be
—
no
,
not
if
the
Emperor
hisself
was
to
order
it
,
and
come
across
here
to
see
it
done
!
A
pretty
thing
,
surely
!
Me
a
officer
,
and
you
never
a
one
—
me
a
commandin
'
of
you
,
and
you
a
salutin
'
of
me
!
By
the
Lord
,
sir
!
we
might
as
well
see
the
camp-scullions
a
ridin
'
in
state
,
and
the
Marshal
a
scouring
out
the
soup-pots
!
"
"
Not
at
all
.
This
Army
has
not
a
finer
soldier
than
yourself
;
you
have
a
right
to
the
reward
of
your
services
in
it
.
And
I
assure
you
you
do
me
a
great
injustice
if
you
think
I
would
not
as
willingly
go
out
under
your
orders
as
under
those
of
all
the
Marshals
of
the
Empire
.
"
The
tears
rushed
into
the
hardy
eyes
of
the
redoubtable
"
Crache-au-nez-d'la-Mort
,
"
though
he
dashed
them
away
in
a
fury
of
eloquence
.
"
Sir
,
if
you
do
n't
understand
as
how
you
've
given
me
a
power
more
than
all
the
crosses
in
the
world
in
sayin
'
of
them
there
words
,
why
you
do
n't
know
me
much
either
,
that
's
all
.
You
're
gentleman
—
a
right
on
rare
thing
that
is
—
and
,
bein
'
a
gentleman
,
a
course
you
'd
be
too
generous
and
too
proud
like
not
to
behave
well
to
me
,
whether
I
was
a
servin
'
you
as
I
've
always
served
you
,
or
a
insultin
'
of
you
by
ridin
'
over
your
head
in
that
way
as
we
're
speakin
'
on
.
But
I
know
my
place
,
sir
,
and
I
know
yours
.
If
it
was
n't
for
that
'
ere
Black
Hawk
—
damn
him
!
—
I
ca
n't
help
it
,
sir
,
I
will
damn
him
,
if
he
shoot
me
for
it
—
you
'd
a
been
a
Chef
d'Escadron
by
now
.
There
ai
n't
the
leastest
doubt
of
it
.
Ask
all
the
zigs
what
they
think
.
Well
,
sir
,
now
you
know
I
'm
a
man
what
do
as
I
say
;
if
you
do
n't
let
me
have
my
own
way
,
and
if
you
do
the
littlest
thing
to
get
me
a
step
,
why
,
sir
,
I
swear
as
I
'm
a
livin
'
bein
'
,
that
I
'll
draw
on
Châteauroy
the
first
time
I
see
him
afterwards
,
and
slit
his
throat
as
I
'd
slit
a
jackal
's
!
There
!
—
my
oath
's
took
!
"
And
Cecil
saw
that
it
would
also
be
kept
.
The
natural
lawlessness
and
fiery
passion
inborn
in
Rake
had
of
course
not
been
cooled
by
the
teachings
of
African
warfare
;
and
his
hate
was
intense
against
the
all-potent
Chief
of
his
regiment
,
as
intense
as
the
love
he
bore
to
the
man
whom
he
had
followed
out
into
exile
.
Cecil
tried
vainly
to
argue
with
him
;
all
his
reasonings
fell
like
hailstones
on
a
cuirass
,
and
made
no
more
impression
;
he
was
resolute
.
"
But
listen
to
one
thing
,
"
he
urged
at
last
.
"
Can
you
not
see
how
you
pain
me
by
this
self-sacrifice
?
If
I
knew
that
you
had
attained
a
higher
grade
,
and
wore
your
epaulettes
in
this
service
,
can
you
not
fancy
I
should
feel
pleasure
then
(
as
I
feel
regret
,
even
remorse
,
now
)
that
I
brought
you
to
Africa
through
my
own
follies
and
misfortunes
?
"
"
Do
you
,
sir
?
There
ai
n't
the
least
cause
for
it
,
then
,
"
returned
Rake
,
sturdily
.
"
Lor
bless
you
,
sir
,
why
this
life
's
made
a
purpose
for
me
!
If
ever
a
round
peg
went
trim
and
neat
into
a
round
hole
,
it
was
when
I
came
into
this
here
Army
.
I
never
was
so
happy
in
all
my
days
before
.
They
're
right
on
good
fellows
,
and
'
ll
back
you
to
the
death
if
so
be
as
you
've
allays
been
share-and-share-alike
with
'
em
,
as
a
zig
should
.
As
a
private
,
sir
,
I
'm
happy
and
I
'm
safe
;
as
a
officer
,
I
should
be
kicking
over
the
traces
,
and
blunderin
'
everlastingly
.
However
,
there
ai
n't
no
need
to
say
a
word
more
about
it
;
I
've
sworn
,
and
you
've
heerd
me
swear
,
sir
,
and
you
know
as
how
I
shall
keep
my
oath
if
ever
I
'm
provoked
to
it
by
bein
'
took
notice
of
.
I
stuck
that
homard
just
now
just
by
way
of
a
lark
,
and
only
'
cause
he
come
where
he
'd
no
business
to
poke
his
turbaned
old
pate
;
'
tai
n't
likely
as
I
shall
stop
at
givin
'
the
Hawk
two
inches
of
steel
if
he
comes
such
a
insult
over
us
both
as
to
offer
a
blackguard
like
me
the
epaulettes
as
you
ought
to
be
a
wearin
'
!
"
And
Cecil
knew
that
it
was
hopeless
either
to
persuade
him
to
his
own
advantage
or
to
convince
him
of
his
disobedience
in
speaking
thus
of
his
supreme
,
before
his
non-commissioned
,
officer
.
He
was
himself
,
moreover
,
deeply
moved
by
the
man
's
fidelity
.
He
stretched
his
hand
out
:
"
I
wish
there
were
more
blackguards
with
hearts
like
yours
.
I
cannot
repay
your
love
,
Rake
,
but
I
can
value
it
.
"
Rake
put
his
own
hands
behind
his
back
.
"
God
bless
you
,
sir
,
you
've
repaid
it
ten
dozen
times
over
.
But
you
sha
n't
do
that
,
sir
.
I
told
you
,
long
ago
,
I
'm
too
much
of
a
scamp
!
Some
day
,
p'rhaps
,
as
I
said
,
when
I
've
settled
scores
with
myself
,
and
wiped
off
all
the
bad
'
uns
with
a
clear
sweep
,
tolerably
clean
.
Not
afore
,
sir
!
"
And
Rake
was
too
sturdily
obstinate
not
to
always
carry
his
point
.
The
love
that
he
bore
to
Cecil
was
very
much
such
a
wild
,
chivalric
,
romantic
fidelity
as
the
Cavaliers
or
the
Gentlemen
of
the
North
bore
to
their
Stuart
idols
.
That
his
benefactor
had
become
a
soldier
of
Africa
in
no
way
lessened
the
reverent
love
of
his
loyalty
,
any
more
than
theirs
was
lessened
by
the
adversities
of
their
royal
masters
.
Like
theirs
,
also
,
it
had
beauty
in
its
blindness
—
the
beauty
that
lies
in
every
pure
unselfishness
.
Meanwhile
,
Picpon
's
news
was
correct
.
The
regiment
was
ordered
out
à
la
danse
.
44
There
was
fresh
war
in
the
interior
;
and
wherever
there
was
the
hottest
slaughter
,
there
the
Black
Hawk
always
flew
down
with
his
falcon-flock
.
When
Cecil
left
his
incorrigible
zig
,
the
trumpets
were
sounding
an
assembly
;
there
were
noise
,
tumult
,
eagerness
,
excitement
,
delighted
zest
on
every
side
;
a
general
order
was
read
to
the
enraptured
squadrons
;
they
were
to
leave
the
town
at
the
first
streak
of
dawn
.
There
were
before
them
death
,
deprivation
,
long
days
of
famine
,
long
days
of
drought
and
thirst
;
parching
sun-baked
roads
;
bitter
chilly
nights
;
fiery
furnace-blasts
of
sirocco
;
killing
,
pitiless
,
northern
winds
;
hunger
,
only
sharpened
by
a
snatch
of
raw
meat
or
a
handful
of
maize
;
and
the
probabilities
,
ten
to
one
,
of
being
thrust
under
the
sand
to
rot
,
or
left
to
have
their
skeletons
picked
clean
by
the
vultures
.
But
what
of
that
?
There
were
also
the
wild
delight
of
combat
,
the
freedom
of
lawless
warfare
,
the
joy
of
deep
strokes
thrust
home
,
the
chance
of
plunder
,
of
wine-skins
,
of
cattle
,
of
women
;
above
all
,
that
lust
for
slaughter
which
burns
so
deep
down
in
the
hidden
souls
of
men
,
and
gives
them
such
brotherhood
with
wolf
,
and
vulture
,
and
tiger
,
when
once
its
flame
bursts
forth
.
That
evening
,
at
the
Villa
Aïoussa
there
gathered
a
courtly
assembly
,
of
much
higher
rank
than
Algiers
can
commonly
afford
,
because
many
of
station
as
lofty
as
her
own
had
been
drawn
thither
to
follow
her
to
what
the
Princess
Corona
called
her
banishment
—
an
endurable
banishment
enough
under
those
azure
skies
,
in
that
clear
elastic
air
,
and
with
that
charming
"
bonbonnière
"
in
which
to
dwell
,
yet
still
a
banishment
to
the
reigning
beauty
of
Paris
,
to
one
who
had
the
habits
and
the
commands
of
a
wholly
undisputed
sovereignty
in
the
royal
splendour
of
her
womanhood
.
There
was
a
variety
of
distractions
to
prevent
ennui
;
there
were
half
a
dozen
clever
Paris
actors
playing
the
airiest
of
vaudevilles
in
the
Bijou
theatre
,
beyond
the
drawing-rooms
;
there
were
some
celebrated
Italian
singers
whom
an
Imperial
Prince
had
brought
over
in
his
yacht
;
there
was
the
best
music
;
there
was
wit
as
well
as
homage
whispered
in
her
ear
.
Yet
she
was
not
altogether
amused
;
she
was
a
little
touched
with
ennui
.
"
Those
men
are
very
stupid
.
They
have
not
half
the
talent
of
that
soldier
!
"
she
thought
once
,
turning
from
a
Peer
of
France
,
an
Austrian
Archduke
,
and
a
Russian
diplomatist
.
And
she
smiled
a
little
,
furling
her
fan
and
musing
on
the
horror
that
the
triad
of
fashionable
conquerors
near
her
would
feel
if
they
knew
that
she
thought
them
duller
than
an
African
lascar
!
But
they
only
told
her
things
of
which
she
had
been
long
weary
,
specially
of
her
own
beauty
;
he
had
told
her
of
things
totally
unknown
to
her
,
things
real
,
terrible
,
vivid
,
strong
,
sorrowful
—
strong
as
life
,
sorrowful
as
death
.
"
Châteauroy
and
his
Chasseurs
have
an
ordre
de
route
,
"
a
voice
was
saying
,
that
moment
,
behind
her
chair
.
"
Indeed
?
"
said
another
.
"
The
Black
Hawk
is
never
so
happy
as
when
unhooded
.
When
do
they
go
?
"
"
To-morrow
.
At
dawn
.
"
"
There
is
always
fighting
here
,
I
suppose
?
"
"
Oh
yes
.
The
losses
in
men
are
immense
;
only
the
journals
would
get
a
communiqué
,
or
worse
,
if
they
ventured
to
say
so
in
France
.
How
delicious
La
Doche
is
!
She
comes
in
again
with
the
next
scene
.
"
The
Princess
Corona
listened
;
and
her
attention
wandered
further
from
the
Archduke
,
the
Peer
,
and
the
diplomatist
,
as
from
the
vaudeville
.
She
did
not
find
Madame
Doche
very
charming
;
and
she
was
absorbed
for
a
time
looking
at
the
miniatures
on
her
fan
.
At
the
same
moment
,
through
the
lighted
streets
of
Algiers
,
Cigarette
,
like
a
union
of
fairy
and
of
fury
,
was
flying
with
the
news
.
Cigarette
had
seen
