"He'll give 'em something to
cheer for soon." He stands at the salute.

'"Who's t'other in black beside him?" I asks, fairly shaking all over.

'"Ah! he's the clever one. You'll hear of him before long. He's that
scoundrel-bishop, Talleyrand."

'"It is!" I said, and up the steps I went with my fiddle, and run after
the carriage calling, "Abbe, Abbe!"

'A soldier knocked the wind out of me with the back of his sword, but I
had sense to keep on following till the carriage stopped--and there just
was a crowd round the house-door! I must have been half-crazy else I
wouldn't have struck up "Si le Roi m'avait donne Paris la grande ville!"
I thought it might remind him.

'"That is a good omen!" he says to Boney sitting all hunched up; and he
looks straight at me.

'"Abbe--oh, Abbe!" I says. "Don't you remember Toby and Hundred and
Eighteen Second Street?"

'He said not a word. He just crooked his long white finger to the guard
at the door while the carriage steps were let down, and I skipped into
the house, and they slammed the door in the crowd's face. '"You go
there," says a soldier, and shoves me into an empty room, where I
catched my first breath since I'd left the barge. Presently I heard
plates rattling next door--there were only folding doors between--and a
cork drawn. "I tell you," some one shouts with his mouth full, "it was
all that sulky ass Sieyes' fault. Only my speech to the Five Hundred
saved the situation."

'"Did it save your coat?" says Talleyrand. "I hear they tore it when
they threw you out. Don't gasconade to me. You may be in the road of
victory, but you aren't there yet."

'Then I guessed t'other man was Boney. He stamped about and swore at
Talleyrand.

'"You forget yourself, Consul," says Talleyrand, "or rather you remember
yourself--Corsican."

'"Pig!" says Boney, and worse.

'"Emperor!" says Talleyrand, but, the way he spoke, it sounded worst of
all. Some one must have backed against the folding doors, for they flew
open and showed me in the middle of the room. Boney whipped out his
pistol before I could stand up.

"General," says Talleyrand to him, "this gentleman has a habit of
catching us canaille en deshabille. Put that thing down."

'Boney laid it on the table, so I guessed which was master. Talleyrand
takes my hand--"Charmed to see you again, Candide," he says. "How is the
adorable Dr Pangloss and the noble Huron?"

'"They were doing very well when I left," I said. "But I'm