Two soldiers entered behind Faraud, who proudly displayed the paper stripes on his sleeves.
"What does this mean?" asked Pichegru.
"General," replied Faraud, carrying his hand to his cap, "we are delegates from the regiment of the Indre."
"Ah, yes," said Pichegru, "who have come to thank me for the favor I have just done them."
"On the contrary, general, we have come to refuse."
"To refuse? and why?" asked Pichegru.
"Confound it, general," said Faraud, with a twist of the neck peculiar to himself, "they say they fight for the glory of the Republic, for the preservation of the rights of man, and for nothing else. As for what they have done, they say it is no more than what their comrades have done, and they deserve no greater reward than the others. They have heard that they have only to go to citizen Estève to receive their back pay. If this incredible news is true, then that is all they want." And Faraud ended with the same peculiar twist of the neck by means of which he expressed all his emotions, whether sad or gay.
"Then they refuse?" asked Pichegru.
"Flatly," replied Faraud.