corn, if you have
got it, and then let us talk together'; and with this I walked into the
garden, and seated myself on a bench.

If Jacques be an old soldier, thought I, the only way is to come the
officer over him; discipline and obedience are never forgotten, and
whatever chances I may have of his confidence will depend on how much I
seem his superior. It appeared as if this conjecture was well founded,
for as Jacques came back, his manner betrayed every sign of respect and
deference. There was an expression of almost fear in his face as, with
his hand to his cap, he asked 'What were my orders?'

The very deference of his air was disconcerting, and so, assuming a look
of easy cordiality, I said--

'First, I will ask you to give me something to eat; and secondly, to
give me your company for half an hour.'

Jacques promised both, and learning that I preferred my breakfast in
the open air, proceeded to arrange the table under a blossoming
chestnut-tree.

'Are you quite alone here?' asked I, as he passed back and forward.

'Quite alone, sir; and except a stray faggot-cutter or a chance
traveller who may have lost his way, I never see a human face from
year's end to year's end. It's a lonely thing for an old soldier, too,'
said he, with a sigh.

'I know more than one who would envy you, Jacques,' said I; and the
words made him almost start as I spoke them. The coffee was now ready,
and I proceeded to make my breakfast with all the appetite of a long
fast.

There was indeed but little to inspire awe, or even deference, in my
personal appearance--a threadbare undress frock and a worn-out old
foraging-cap were all the marks of my soldierlike estate; and yet,
from Jacques's manner, one might have guessed me to be a general at the
least. He attended me with the stiff propriety of the parade, and when,
at last, induced to take a seat, he did so full two yards off from the
table, and arose almost every time he was spoken to. Now it was quite
clear that the honest soldier did not know me either as the hero of
Kehl, of Ireland, or of Genoa. Great achievements as they were, they
were wonderfully little noised about the world, and a man might frequent
mixed companies every day of the week, and never hear of one of them.
So far, then, was certain---it could not be my fame had imposed on
him; and, as I have already hinted, it could scarcely be my general
appearance. Who knows, thought I, but I owe all this obsequious
deferen