e corporal
might have dared to address him when the field-marshal could not have
uttered a word. It was part of his military policy to unbend to those
whose position excluded them from even the very shadow of a rivalry,
and be coldly distant to all whose station approached an equality. This
consideration restrained the feelings of those who now beheld me, and
who well knew, in any altercation, into which scale would be thrown the
weight of the imperial influence.

To desert the side of the room where I sat, and leave me in a marked
isolation, was their first move; but seeing that I rather assumed this
as a token of victory, they resorted to another tactic,--they occupied
all the tables, save one at the very door, and thus virtually placed me
in a position of obloquy and humiliation. For a night or two I held my
ground without flinching; but I felt that I could not continue a
merely defensive warfare, and determined, at any hazard, to finish the
struggle. Instead, therefore, of resuming the humble place they had
assigned me, I carried my coffee with me, and set the cup on a table
at which a lieutenant-colonel was seated, reading his newspaper by
the fire. He started up as he saw me, and called out, "What means this
insolence? Is this a place for you?"

"The general instructions of the army declare that a sous-officer has
the entree to all public cafes and restaurants frequented by regimental
officers, although not to such as are maintained by them as clubs and
messrooms. I am, therefore, only within the limits of a right, Monsieur
Colonel," said I, offering a military salute as I spoke.

"Leave the room, sir, and report yourself to your captain," said he,
boiling over with rage.

I arose, and prepared to obey his command.

"If that fellow be not reduced to the ranks on to-morrow's parade, I 'll
leave the service," said he to an officer at his side.

"If I have your permission to throw him out of the window, Monsieur
Colonel, I 'll promise to quit the army if I don't do it," said a young
lieutenant of cuirassiers. He was seated at a table near me, and with
his legs in such a position as to fill up the space I had to pass out
by.

[Illustration: Struck him to the ground]

Without any apology for stepping across him, I moved forward, and
slightly--I will not say unintentionally--struck his foot with my own.
He sprang up with a loud oath, and knocked my shako off my head. I
turned quickly and struck him to the grou