s he dashed his clenched fist against
the ground beside him. His eyes, as he spoke, glared with all the
wildness of insanity, and great drops of sweat hung upon his damp
forehead.

'Is it too much,' continued he, with all the vehemence of passion, 'is
it too much that I was master here? Are these walls too luxurious?
Is there the sign of foreign gold in this tasteful furniture and the
splendour of these hangings? Or is this'--and he stretched out his lean
and naked arms as he spoke--'is this the garb--is this the garb of a man
who can draw at will on the coffers of royalty? Ay!' cried he, with a
wild laugh, 'if this is the price of my treachery, the treason might
well be pardoned.'

I did all I could to assuage the violence of his manner. I talked to
him calmly and soberly of myself and of him, repeating over and over the
assurance that I had neither the will nor the way to injure him. 'You
may be poor,' said I, 'and yet scarcely poorer than I am--friendless,
and have as many to care for you as I have. Believe me, comrade, save
in the matter of a few years the less on one side, and some services the
more on the other, there is little to chose between us.'

These few words, wrung from me in sorrowful sincerity, seemed to do more
than all I had said previously, and he moved the lamp a little to
one side that he might have a better view of me as I sat; and thus we
remained for several minutes staring steadfastly at each other, without
a word spoken on either side. It was in vain that I sought in that face,
livid and shrunk by famine--in that straggling matted hair, and that
figure enveloped in rags, for any traces of former condition. Whatever
might once have been his place in society, now he seemed the very lowest
of that miserable tribe whose lives are at once the miracle and shame of
our century.

'Except that my senses are always playing me false,' said he, as he
passed his hand across his eyes, 'I could say that I have seen your face
before. What was your corps?'

'The Ninth Hussars, "the Tapageurs," as they called them.'

'When did you join--and where?' said he, with an eagerness that
surprised me.

'At Nancy,' said I calmly.

'You were there with the advanced guard of Moreau's corps,' said he
hastily; 'you followed the regiment to the Moselle.'

'How do you know all this?' asked I, in amazement.

'Now for your name; tell me your name,' cried he, grasping my hand in
both of his--'and I charge you by all