"In what regiment?"
"In the first regiment I come across."
"That is all very fine," replied my grandfather, "but as I am the marquis de la Pailleterie, a colonel and commissary-general of artillery, I will not allow you to drag my name in the mire of the lowest ranks of the army."
"Then you object to my enlisting?"
"No; but you must enlist under an assumed name."
"That is quite fair," replied my father. "I will enlist under the name of Dumas."
"Very well."
And the marquis, who had never in any sense been a very tender parent, turned his back on his son and left him free to go his own gait.
So my father enlisted under the name of Alexandre Dumas, as had been agreed.