ather, for whom he had ever preserved the warmest attachment. One of
the few survivors of the Garde du Corps, he had taken service with
the Republic, and was already reputed as one of the most distinguished
cavalry officers.

'Strange enough, Maurice,' said he to me, 'there was something in your
look and manner, as you spoke to me there, that recalled your poor
father to my memory; and without knowing or suspecting why, I suffered
you to bandy words with me, while at another moment I would have ordered
you to be ironed and sent to prison.'

Of my mother, of whom I wished much to learn something, he would not
speak, but adroitly changed the conversation to the subject of my own
adventures, and these he made me recount from the beginning. If the lady
enjoyed all the absurdities of my chequered fortune with a keen sense of
the ridiculous, the colonel apparently could trace in them but so many
resemblances to my father's character, and constantly broke out into
exclamations of 'How like him!' 'Just what he would have done himself!'
'His own very words! 'and so on.

It was only in a pause of the conversation, as the clock on the
mantelpiece struck eleven, that I was aware of the lateness of the hour,
and remembered that I should be on the punishment-roll the next morning
for absence from quarters.

'Never fret about that, Maurice--I 'll return your name as on a special
service; and to have the benefit of truth on our side, you shall be
named one of my orderlies, with the grade of corporal.'

'Why not make him a sous-lieutenant?' said the lady, in a half-whisper.
'I'm sure he is better worth his epaulettes than any I have seen on your
staff.'

'Nay, nay,' muttered the colonel, 'the rules of the service forbid it.
He'll win his spurs time enough, or I 'm much mistaken.'

While I thanked my new and kind patron for his goodness, I could not
help saying that my heart was eagerly set upon the prospect of actual
service; and that proud as I should be of his protection, I would rather
merit it by my conduct than owe my advancement to favour.

'Which simply means that you are tired of Nancy, and riding drill, and
want to see how men comport themselves where the manoeuvres are not
arranged beforehand. Well, so far you are right, boy. I shall, in all
likelihood, be stationed here for three or four months, during which
you might have advanced a stage or so towards those epaulettes my fair
friend desires to see upon your shoulde