“There, you see, mamma, they were robbers!” interrupted the child.
“Of course they were robbers; I should like to hear any one declare they were not! Was it you who fired at them, when the men were afraid?”
“Yes, it was I, general. But unfortunately that coward of a conductor had loaded his pistols only with powder; otherwise I should have killed their leader.”
“Then you were not afraid?”
“I?” replied the boy. “No, I am never afraid.”
“You ought to be named Cornelia, madame,” exclaimed Bonaparte, turning to Madame de Montrevel, who was leaning on Josephine’s arm. Then he said to the child, kissing him: “Very good; we will take care of you. What would you like to be?”
“Soldier first.”
“What do you mean by first?”
“Why, first a soldier, then later a colonel like my brother, and then a general like my father.”
“It won’t be my fault if you are not,” answered the First Consul.