rtailing of the
expenses of the household, and the possibility of suppressing some of
the carriages.

'It is my desire to be economical at home so as to make a good show
abroad,' said he. 'For myself, when I had the honour to be a
sub-lieutenant I found that I could live very well upon 1,200 francs a
year, and it would be no hardship to me to go back to it. This
extravagance of the palace must be stopped. For example, I see upon
your accounts that 155 cups of coffee are drunk a day, which with sugar
at 4 francs and coffee at 5 francs a pound come to 20 sous a cup.
It would be better to make an allowance for coffee. The stable bills
are also too high. At the present price of fodder seven or eight francs
a week should be enough for each horse in a stable of two hundred.
I will not have any waste at the Tuileries.'

Thus within a few minutes he would pass from a question of milliards to
a question of sous, and from the management of a empire to that of a
stable. From time to time I could observe that he threw a little
oblique glance at me as if to ask what I thought of it all, and at the
time I wondered very much why my approval should be of any consequence
to him. But now, when I look back and see that my following his
fortunes brought over so many others of the young nobility, I understand
that he saw very much further than I did.

'Well, Monsieur de Laval,' said he suddenly, 'you have seen something of
my methods. Are you prepared to enter my service?'

'Assuredly, Sire,' I answered.

'I can be a very hard master when I like,' said he smiling. 'You were
there when I spoke to Admiral Bruix. We have all our duty to do, and
discipline is as necessary in the highest as in the lowest ranks.
But anger with me never rises above here,' and he drew his hand across
his throat. 'I never permit it to cloud my brain. Dr. Corvisart here
would tell you that I have the slowest pulse of all his patients.'

'And that you are the fastest eater, Sire,' said a large-faced,
benevolent-looking person who had been whispering to Marshal Berthier.

'Ohe, you rascal, you rake that up against me, do you? The Doctor will
not forgive me because I tell him when I am unwell that I had rather die
of the disease than of the remedies. If I eat too fast it is the fault
of the State, which does not allow me more than a few minutes for my
meals. Which reminds me that it must be rather after my dinner hour,
Constant?'

'It is four ho