e suitors in vain? Yet, with all this, how my heart
throbbed to think that we should meet again! Nor was the thought less
stirring that I felt, that even in the short interval of absence I had
won praise from him for whom her admiration was equal to my own. With
all the turmoil of my hopes and fears I felt a rush of pleasure at my
heart; and when I slept, it was to dream of happy days to come, and a
future far brighter than the past.

My first thought when morning broke was to ride over to Beygern, to
learn the fate of my wounded friends. On my way thither I fell in with
several officers bound on a similar errand, for already the convent had
become the great hospital to which the sufferers were brought from every
part of the camp. As we went along, I was much struck by the depression
of spirit so remarkable everywhere. The battle over, all the martial
enthusiasm seemed to have evaporated: many grumbled at the tiresome
prospect of a winter in country quarters, or cantoned in the field; some
regretted the briefness of the campaign; while others again complained
that to return to France after so little of active service would only
expose them to ridicule from their companions who had seen Italy and
Egypt.

"Spare your sorrows on that score, my young friends," said a colonel,
who listened patiently to the complaints around him; "we shall not
see the dome of the Invalides for some time yet. Except the _compagnie
d'elite_, I fancy few of us will figure on the Boulevards."

"There, again," cried another: "I never heard anything so unfair as that
_compagnie d'elite_; they have been, with two solitary exceptions, taken
from the cavalry. Austerlitz was to be the day of honor for the infantry
of France, said the bulletin."

"And so it was," interrupted a little dark-eyed major; "and I suppose
his Majesty thought we had enough of it on the field, and did not wish
to surfeit us with glory. But I ask pardon," said he, turning towards
me; "monsieur is, if I mistake not, named one of the _elite_?"

As I replied in the affirmative, I observed all eyes turned towards me;
but not with any kindly expression,--far from it. I saw that there was a
deliberate canvass of me, as though to see by my outward man how I could
possibly deserve such a favor.

"Can you explain to us, Monsieur," said the little major to me, "on what
principle the _elite_ were chosen? For we have a thousand contradictory
reports in the camp: some say by ballot; som