At first, I confess, I thought he was still talking to me in English, and I admired his perseverance.
Finally I discovered that he was offering to drink a glass of wine with me, in Virgil's tongue.
I accepted, and for the rest of the day we managed to understand one another or very nearly so.
The workhouse that we had abused so much saved us from having a strange garrison; and the great stream of English, Russian, and Prussian soldiers passed through without stopping.
Then news reached us from Paris, from the provinces, and from abroad; much of it was of terrible import to us.
On the 2nd of July, while the allied powers were declaring Napoleon to be a prisoner of war, Marshal Brune was assassinated at Avignon.
Alas! he was the only one of all my father's friends who had remained faithful to us! I vowed then that one day, when I grew up, I would go to Avignon, and in some way or other I would make his murderers pay for their crime.
I kept my word.
On the 19th of August, as Napoleon reached the Straits of Gibraltar, Labédoyère was shot.
On the 13th of October Murat was shot at Pozzo, and on the 7th December Marshal Ney was shot in the walk leading to the Observatoire.