I went to headquarters, but the emperor was busy;
seemingly I was forgotten. My regiment was out of reach, so, at the
invitation of my old duelling antagonist, Francois, I joined the
Voltigeurs. My friends could not understand why, after tasting the
delights of infantry fighting, I should wish to rejoin the hussars; but
I went back to my old regiment after the victory, and rode with it to
Berlin.

Soon after our arrival there I read my name in a general order among
those on whom the Cross of the Legion was to be conferred. On the
morning of the day when I was to receive the decoration, I was requested
to attend the bureau of the adjutant-general. There I was confronted
with Marshal Berthier, who held up a letter before me. I saw, by the
handwriting, it was Duchesne's.

"There, sir, that letter belongs to you," he said. "There is enough in
it to make your conduct the matter of a court-martial; but I am
satisfied that a warning will be sufficient. I need hardly say that you
will not receive the Cross of the Legion."

I glanced at the letter, and realised Duchesne's treachery. Knowing that
all doubtful letters were opened and read by the authorities, he had
sent me a letter bitterly attacking the emperor, and professing to
regard me as a royalist conspirator.

Exasperated, I drew my sword.

"I resign, sir," I said. "The career I can no longer follow honourably
and independently, I shall follow no more."

With a half-broken heart and faltering step, I regained my quarters; the
whole dream of life was over. Broken in spirit, I made my way slowly
back through Germany to Paris, and back to Ireland.

_IV.--The Call of the Sword_

On reaching my native country I found that my brother had died, and that
I had inherited an income of L4,000 a year. I sought to forget the past.
But a time came when I could resist the temptation no longer, and the
first fact I read of was the burning of Moscow. As misfortune followed
misfortune, an impulse came to me that it was useless to resist. My
heart was among the glittering squadrons of France. I thought suddenly,
was this madness? And the thought was followed by a resolve as sudden. I
wrote some lines to my agent, saddled my horse, and rode away. At
Verviers I offered my sword to the emperor as an old officer, and went
forward in charge of a squadron to Brienne. This place was held by the
Prussians, and Bluecher and his Prussians were near at hand. Once more I
beheld the terrifi