, and had been hitherto living on the small stipend allowed by
his uncle; starving himself three-quarters of the year, in order that he
might have the means of spending the other quarter at the Beaugency
mansion. And what a long time might elapse before he could make any
thing by his profession! It was, as they both agreed, _desesperant_.

"These events occurred in the early years of the French Republic, when
France was at war with all the world, and soldiering the best trade
going. 'I'll enter the army,' said Eugene; 'it is the profession I
always preferred, and that for which I have most talent, and the only
one in these times by which a man can hope to rise rapidly. At the bar I
may wait for years without getting any thing to do. Besides, I am
intimate with a son of General Duhamel's; and I know he will speak a
good word for me, and get his father to push me on.' Of course there
were objections to this plan on the part of Henriette, but her lover's
arguments overcame them; and, after repeated vows of fidelity, they
parted, he to fulfill his intentions, and she to remain at home with
Rosina and an elderly female relative, who came to live with her--a plan
she preferred to accepting her brother's invitation to reside with him
in Catalonia, where she would have been exposed to the constant visits
of the count: whereas, now that her father was dead, he could not, with
propriety, visit her at her own house. It appeared afterward that he had
only been deferring his proposals till what he considered a decorous
moment for making them; being meanwhile assured of the brother's
support, and having little doubt of being accepted since the state of M.
de Beaugency's affairs was disclosed. But before that moment came, a
circumstance occurred to facilitate his views, in a manner he little
expected; for, eager to distinguish himself under the eye of his
commanding officer, Eugene de Beaugency, with the ardor and inexperience
of youth, had rushed into needless danger, and fallen in the very first
battle his regiment was engaged in."

By the time my companion had reached this point in his narration, we
found ourselves at the entrance of the village, where the church stood,
and beside it the small house occupied by the cure. It had a little
garden in front, and under the porch sat a very ancient woman basking in
the sun. Her head shook with palsy, her form was bent, and she had a
pair of long knitting needles in her hands, from her man