“Just as I have you. It was I who made the table on which he wrote the greater part of his speeches.”
“And Danton?”
“Danton? It was he who enrolled me on the 2nd of September. But I knew Danton, as you say, and Camilles Desmoulins, Saint Just, and afterwards, later on, the Duke D’Enghien, and even Marshal Ney.”
“You have seen the Duke D’Enghien?”
“I was secretary to the Minister of War who sentenced him.”
“And also Marshal Ney?”
“It was he who made me lieutenant-colonel in the retreat from Moscow.”
“I will never leave you, Colonel; I will be your secretary, and we will write your memoirs.”
“You are too late,” said he, laughing; “my memoirs are already three-fourths finished.”
“What? Do you mean to say you have written——”