rs of both arms of the service,
land and naval. That was very well to say; but when they are created
they are to be filled up, and when they are full the soldiers must go.
When I saw that, my confidence vanished, but yet everybody cried,
"Peace, peace, peace! We accept the treaty of Paris. The kings and
emperors convened at Vienna are our friends. Marie Louise and the King
of Rome are coming."

The more I heard of these things, the more my distrust increased. In
vain Mr. Goulden would say, "He has taken Carnot into his counsels.
Carnot is a good patriot; Carnot will prevent him from going to war, or
if we are forced to go to war, he will show him that the enemy must
come here to find us, the nation must be roused, declare the country in
danger, etc."

In vain did he tell me these things, I always said to myself, "all
these new regiments are to be filled; that is certain." We heard also
that ten thousand picked men were to be added to the Old Guard, and
that the light artillery was to be reorganized. Everybody knows that
light artillery follows the army. To remain behind the ramparts or for
defence at home, it is useless.

I came to this conclusion at once, and though I was generally careful
to conceal my anxiety from Catherine, yet this night I could not help
telling her so. She said nothing, which shows plainly that she had
good sense and that she thought so too.

All these things diminished my enthusiasm for the Emperor very much
indeed, and I sometimes said to myself as I was at work, "I would
rather see processions going past my windows, than to go and fight
against people whom I never saw." At least the sight would cost me
neither leg nor arm, and if it annoyed me too much I could make an
excursion to Quatre Vents. My vexation increased the more, as since
the dispute with Mr. Goulden, Aunt Gredel did not come to see us. She
was a very wilful woman and would not listen to reason, and would hold
resentment against a person for years and years. But she was our
mother, and it was our duty to yield something to her as she wished us
only good. But how could we be reconciled to her ideas and those of
Mr. Goulden?

This was what embarrassed us, for if we were bound to love Aunt Gredel,
we owed also the most profound respect to him, who looked upon us as
his own children, and who loaded us every day with his benefits.

These thoughts made us sad, and I had resolved to tell Mr. Goulden,
that Catherine a