“Does that surprise you?” asked the child.
“No,” said Bonaparte; “what do you want to fight with?”
“With swords.”
“But only the sergeants have swords, and they won’t lend you one.”
“Then we will do without swords.”
“But what will you fight with?”
The child pointed to the compass with which the young mathematician had made his equations.
“Oh! my child,” said Bonaparte, “a compass makes a very bad wound.”
“So much the better,” replied Louis; “I can kill him.”
“But suppose he kills you?”