“Ah, ah! is it you, Monsieur Leduc?” said he.
“Yes, Colonel, it is I; and in good company, too, as you may see,” my companion replied.
“Colonel, I call on you in right of being the son of one of your old companions in arms; for you took a part in the Egyptian campaign, under General Desaix?”
“Yes, sir, I did,” answered he.
“The fact of being the son of an old companion in arms,” I continued, “and of bearing the name of the conqueror of Murad Bey, induced me to take the liberty of calling on you, and asking for information on certain points. To commence. Were you at the battle of Valmy?”
“I was with my regiment six days before, on the 2nd of September; and I just missed leaving my bones at La Force, in trying to rescue a woman—a princess, I should say.”
“The Princess Lamballe?”
“Exactly so.”
“At this period, I was living then, in the Rue Saint Honoré with the carpenter, Duplay.”
“You have seen Robespierre, then?”