The knocking was renewed.
"Come in!" cried the marquis, rubbing his eyes. "Ha! bless me, general, you've come just in time," he cried; "two minutes more, and you were dead."
"How so?"
"Yes, by a sword-thrust I was just putting through you."
"By way of retaliation, my good friend," said the general, holding out his hand.
"That's how I take it. But I see you are looking rather puzzled by my poor room; its shabbiness surprises you. Yes, there is some difference between this bare, forlorn place, with its horsehair chairs and carpetless floor, and the fine apartments of your Parisian lords. But I can't help it. I spent one third of my life in camps and another third in penury, and this little cot with its thin mattress seems to me luxury enough for my old age. But what in the world brings you here at this early hour, general? It is hardly light yet."
"I came to bid you good-bye, my kind host," replied the general.
"Already? Ah, see what life is! I must tell you now that only yesterday I had all sorts of prejudices against you before your arrival."
"Had you? And yet you welcomed me most cordially."
"Bah!" said the marquis, laughing; "you've been in Egypt. Did you never receive a few shots from the midst of a cool and pleasant oasis?"