s, some reading, and some apparently asleep;
but, however occupied, no sooner had I made my appearance than all,
forgetting everything but my presence, turned their eyes upon me.

"The citizen," cried out my guide, as we came up, "the citizen tells me
that he was quite unconscious of our polite intentions in his behalf;
and I can fully believe him, for he was on the eve of departure when I
caught him!"

"What does he think a French soldier is made of?" shouted out the
colonel, with a blow of his closed fist on the table. "He dares to make
use of an expression insulting to every officer of my regiment, and then
says he is unaware of any claim we have upon him!"

A new light broke upon me at these words, and, for a moment, the sense
of shame at my mistake nearly overcame me. I rallied, however, enough to
say,--

"It is quite as you say, Monsieur le Colonel; I was really unaware that
you or your officers had any claim upon me! I had been the subject of a
rudeness to-day, at the table-d'hote, which, in my little knowledge of
the world, I attributed to the underbred habits of a coarse school of
manners. I now perceive that I was too lenient in my judgment."

"Are we to listen to any more of this, messieurs?" said the colonel,
rising; "or is it from me that chastisement is to come?"

"No; I have the right, I claim the place, I am the youngest subaltern,
I am the 'cadet of the corps,'" cried half-a-dozen in a breath; but
Carrier's voice overbore the others, saying,--

"Comrades, you seem to forget that this is my quarrel; I will not yield
my right to any one!"

"Yes, yes," exclaimed several voices together; "Carrier says truly.
The affair is his. We fight with the sabre, citizen, in the
Chasseurs-a-Cheval. Is the weapon to your liking?"

"One arm is the same to me as another," replied I; and unfortunately
this was too literally the case, since I was equally inexpert in all!

"You can claim the pistol, if you wish it," whispered an old captain,
with a snow-white moustache. "The challenged chooses his weapons."

"The sabre be it, then," exclaimed Carrier, catching me up at once.

"Not if the citizen prefer the pistol," interposed the captain.

"He has already made his choice: he said all weapons were alike to him."

"Quite true," said I; "I did say so!"

"The greater fool you, then!" murmured the captain, between his teeth.
"You might just as well have given yourself your chance. Carrier won't
be so generous to