"And are you going to send this Eagle to Paris?" asked Marteau threateningly. "This Eagle for which I fought, this Eagle which I rescued from the Elster and the Aube, for which hundreds of brave men have died, this Eagle which has been in the forefront of every battle in which the regiment took part since the Emperor gave it into our keeping before Ulm?"
"What can I do?"
"I will throw it into the Isère first. I will destroy it myself before that happens," cried Marteau, snatching it up and pressing it to his heart. "I have taken no oaths. I am still the Emperor's man."
"Not so loud," said Lestoype warningly. "The men of the regiment may not all be true. You may be overheard."
"You and all the others have taken the oath of allegiance to the King?"
"What else was there to do? Soldiering is my trade. They offered us commissions; the Empire was dead; the Emperor banished. It was a living, at any rate."
"But I am free, I am not bound."
"You must, you will take the oath," urged Lestoype.
"How if he should come back?"
"He will not come back."