' friend, and a friend of the
Emperor's."

Every soul in the barn rushed to the door to see the commandant again;
they saw him in the moonlight, as he took the doctor's arm.

"It was a stupid thing to do," said Genestas. "Quick! let us go into
the house. Those Eagles, cannon, and campaigns!... I had quite forgotten
where I was."

"Well, what do you think of our Goguelat?" asked Benassis.

"So long as such stories are told in France, sir, she will always find
the fourteen armies of the Republic within her, at need; and her cannon
will be perfectly able to keep up a conversation with the rest of
Europe. That is what I think."

A few moments later they reached Benassis' dwelling, and soon were
sitting on either side of the hearth in the salon; the dying fire in
the grate still sent up a few sparks now and then. Each was absorbed in
thought. Genestas was hesitating to ask one last question. In spite of
the marks of confidence that he had received, he feared lest the doctor
should regard his inquiry as indiscreet. He looked searchingly at
Benassis more than once; and an answering smile, full of a kindly
cordiality, such as lights up the faces of men of real strength of
character, seemed to give him in advance the favorable reply for which
he sought. So he spoke:

"Your life, sir, is so different from the lives of ordinary men, that
you will not be surprised to hear me ask you the reason of your retired
existence. My curiosity may seem to you to be unmannerly, but you will
admit that it is very natural. Listen a moment: I have had comrades with
whom I have never been on intimate terms, even though I have made many
campaigns with them; but there have been others to whom I would say, 'Go
to the paymaster and draw our money,' three days after we had got drunk
together, a thing that will happen, for the quietest folk must have a
frolic fit at times. Well, then, you are one of those people whom I
take for a friend without waiting to ask leave, nay, without so much as
knowing wherefore."

"Captain Bluteau----"

Whenever the doctor had called his guest by his assumed name, the
latter had been unable for some time past to suppress a slight grimace.
Benassis, happening to look up just then, caught this expression of
repugnance; he sought to discover the reason of it, and looked full into
the soldier's face, but the real enigma was well-nigh insoluble for him,
so he set down these symptoms to physical suffering and went on: