“Yours, Monsieur le Général.”
“And the servant, and the horses?”
“Yours, also. His Majesty has graciously been pleased to order them for you; and desires you will remember that the sum of six thousand francs will be deducted from your pay to meet the cost of the equipage which the Emperor deems befitting your rank in the service.”
“It is thus,” said the narrator, “the Emperor would enforce that liberality on others he so eminently displays himself. The spoils of Italy and Austria are destined, not to found a new noblesse, but to enrich the bourgeoisie of this good city of Paris. I say, Edward, is not that Duchesne yonder? I thought he was above patronizing the salons of a mere commissary-general.”
“You don't know the chevalier,” replied the other; “no game flies too high or too low for his mark. Depend upon it, he's not here for nothing.”
“If mademoiselle be the object,” said a third, “I'll swear he shall have no rivalry on my side. By Jove I I 'd rather face a charge of Hulans than speak to her.”
“If thou wert a Marshal of France, Claude, thou wouldst think differently.”
“If I were a Marshal of France,” repeated he, with energy, “I'd rather marry Minette, the vivandière of ours.”
“And no bad choice either,” broke in a large! heavy-looking officer. “There is but one objection to such an arrangement.”
“And that, if I might ask—”