A DOMICILIARY VISIT
CHAPTER V
A DOMICILIARY VISIT
"This country is going to the dogs!" It was Bonaparte who spoke, striding up and down thoughtfully, his head bent, his hands clasped behind him. The two friends were taking an evening stroll in the Jardin des Plantes, and discussing, of course, the affairs of the nation, which were the only matters that interested anyone in those stirring days.
"Yes, the country, and especially this city is going to the dogs, and I think I'll leave it!" Jean was thoroughly startled.
"Leave it!" he echoed. "Oh, Citizen Bonaparte, where would you go?"
"I believe I'll go home to Corsica," replied Bonaparte. "I love my home, and I've always been happy there, poor though it is. And besides, my sister Elisa has been a student at the royal school of St. Cyr. I have just received word that this school was closed and suppressed by the Assembly on August sixteenth. So I must go there and take Elisa home. I don't want to return. Paris is a horrible place!"
"But what shall I do without you?" wailed Jean. "You are my best friend! I have almost no others in these dreadful days."
"Come with me, then!" generously responded Bonaparte. "Have you never thought of becoming a soldier? I have received news of my reinstatement in the army, and I would gladly take you with me."