“Is he here?” asked he, in a low voice.
“Yes, General,” said mademoiselle, with a courtesy, as she placed the chair for him to sit down. “He is much better. I 'll wait outside till you want me,” added she, as she left the room and closed the door.
“Come, come, my boy,” said the kind old man, as he took my hand in his, “don't give way thus. I have made many inquiries about this affair, and they all tend to exculpate you. This fellow François is the mauvaise tete of the regiment, and I only wish his chastisement had come from some other hand than yours.”
“Will he live. General?” asked I, with a smothering fulness in my throat as I uttered the words.
“Not if he be mortal, I believe. The sword pierced his chest from side to side.”
I groaned heavily as I heard these words; and burying my head beneath the clothes, became absorbed in my grief. What would I not have endured then of insult and contumely, rather than suffer the terrible load upon my conscience of a fellow-creature's blood, shed in passion and revenge! How willingly would I have accepted the most despised position among men to be void of this crime!
“It matters not,” cried I, in my despair—“it matters not how I guide my path, misfortunes beset me at every turn of the way—”
“Speak not thus,” said the general, sternly. “The career you have embarked in is a stormy and a rough one. Other men have fared worse than you have in it,—and without repining too. You knew of one such yourself, who in all the saddest bereavements of his hopes cherished a soldier's heart and a soldier's courage.”
The allusion to my poor friend, Charles de Meudon, brought the tears to my eyes, and I felt that all my sufferings were little compared with his.
“Let your first care be to get well as soon as you can: happily your name may escape the Emperor's notice in this affair by appearing in the list of wounded; our friend the maitre d'armes is not likely to discover on you. The campaign is begun, however, and you must try to take your share of it. The Emperor's staff starts for Munich to-morrow. I must accompany them; but I leave you in good hands here, and this detachment will occupy Elchingen at least ten days longer.”