ry
salute.

"Maurice Tiernay," repeated he, slowly, after me. "And have you no more
to say for yourself than your name?"

"Very little, sir," said I, taking courage from the difficulty in which
I found myself.

"What of your father, boy?--is he a soldier?"

"He was, sir," replied I, with firmness.

"Then he is dead? In what corps did he serve?"

"In the Garde du Corps," said I, proudly.

The old general gave a short cough, and seemed to search for his
snuff-box, to cover his confusion; the next moment, however, he had
regained his self-possession, and continued: "And since that event--I
mean, since you lost your father--what have you been doing? How have you
supported yourself?"

"In various ways, sir," said I, with a shrug of the shoulders, to imply
that the answer might be too tedious to listen to. "I have studied to be
a priest, and I have served as a 'rat' in the Prison du Temple."

"You have certainly tried the extremes of life," said he, laughing; "and
now you wish, probably, to hit the 'juste milieu,' by becoming a
soldier?"

"Even so, sir," said I, easily. "It was a mere accident that mounted me
upon this caisson; but I am quite ready to believe that fortune intended
me kindly when she did so."

"These 'gredins' fancy that they are all born to be generals of France,"
said the old man, laughing; "but, after all, it is a harmless delusion,
and easily curable by a campaign or two. Come, sirrah, I'll find out a
place for you, where, if you can not serve the republic better, you
will, at least, do her less injury, than as a driver in her artillery.
Bertholet, let him be enrolled in your detachment of the gendarme, and
give him my address: I wish to speak to him to-morrow."

"At what hour, general?" said I, promptly.

"At eight, or half-past--after breakfast," replied he.

"It may easily be before mine," muttered I to myself.

"What says he?" cried the general, sharply.

The aid-de-camp whispered a few words in answer, at which the other
smiled, and said, "Let him come somewhat earlier--say eight o'clock."

"You hear that, boy?" said the aid-de-camp to me, while, with a slight
gesture, he intimated that I might retire. Then, as if suddenly
remembering that he had not given me the address of the general, he took
a scrap of crumpled paper from his pocket-book, and wrote a few words
hastily on it with his pencil. "There," cried he, throwing it toward me,
"there is your billet for this day at least."