"Can I do anything for you?"
"I confess, General, that you are nearly my sole hope."
"How is that?"
"Will you first make yourself acquainted with this letter from M. Danré."
"Ah! worthy Danré!... You know him?"
"He was an intimate friend of my father."
"Yes, he lived a league from Villers-Cotterets, where General Dumas died.... And what is the good fellow doing?"
"He is happy and proud to have been of some use to you in your election, General."
"Of some use? Say rather he did everything!" said he, breaking open the letter. "Do you know," he continued, as he held the letter open without reading it,—"do you know that he made himself answerable on my account to the electors—body and soul, body and soul?... They did not want to appoint me! I hope his rash zeal did not cost him too much. Let me see what he says."
He began to read.