said
the corporal, dropping his voice respectfully, as we drew near. At
the same instant a young officer, whose long plume bespoke him as an
aide-de-camp, pushed past us; but, turning hastily round, said something
I could not catch to the corporal. 'Bien, mon lieutenant,' said the
latter, carrying his hand to his shako. 'Follow me, monsieur,' said the
officer, addressing me, and the next moment I found myself in a large
and richly furnished room, when having motioned me to be seated, he left
me.

My meditations, such as they were, were not suffered to be long, for in
a few seconds the aide-de-camp made his appearance, and with a low bow
requested me to accompany him.

'The general will receive you at once,' said he.

I eagerly asked his name.

'Le General Oudinot.'

'Ah, the Marshal?'

'No; his brother. I perceive you are a young soldier; so let me give
you a hint. Don't mind his manner; "c'est un brave homme" at bottom,
but'--the loud burst of laughter from a room at the end of the corridor
drowned the conclusion of his speech, and before I had time for another
question the door opened, and I was introduced.

In a small but richly furnished chamber sat four officers round a table
covered with a magnificent display of silver cups and plate, and upon
which a dessert was spread, with flasks of French and Spanish wine, and
a salver holding cigars; a book, apparently an orderly book, was before
them, from which one of the party was reading as I came in. As the
aide-de-camp announced me they all looked up, and the general, for
I knew him at once, fixing his eyes steadily on me, desired me to
approach.

As I obeyed his not very courteous order, I had time to perceive that
the figure before me was that of a stout, square-built man of about
fifty-five or sixty. His head was bald; his eyebrows, of a bushy grey,
were large and meeting. A moustache of the same grizzly appearance
shaded his lip, and served to conceal two projecting teeth, which, when
he spoke, displayed themselves like boar's tusks, giving a peculiarly
savage expression to his dark and swarthy countenance. The loose sleeve
of his coat denoted that he had lost his left arm high up; but whenever
excited, I could see that the short stump of the amputated limb jerked
convulsively in a manner it was painful to look at.

'What, a deserter! a spy! Eh, what is it, Alphonse?'

The aide-de-camp, blushing, whispered some few words rapidly, and the
general resume