"I have seen some little service already," Ralph said.
"May I ask what general has had the benefit of your assistance?" the lieutenant said, with an affectation of politeness.
At this moment the Sous Prefect pushed forward.
"Silence, sir!" he said to the officer. "There has been too much of this. These gentlemen have performed a great service to France, and are my guests; and I look upon it as a personal attack upon myself."
"Excuse me, sir," Ralph said, rising from his seat for the first time. "I am grateful to you, for your interference in my behalf; but I can make no claim, upon the present occasion, to have rendered any service to France. I had nothing to do with the dispatches, nothing to do with the balloon. I came out as a passenger, upon my private desire and pleasure, at the risk of course of being killed. Undoubtedly I nearly was killed; and I look upon the entertainment that you have given us as a kind congratulation upon our not having broken our necks.
"Kindly, then, permit me to answer this officer for myself. I think I can hold my own."
The Sous Prefect shrugged his shoulders; to signify that, in that case, he washed his hands of the whole business.
"Now, sir," Ralph said, "I will answer the question. The general upon whose staff my brother and myself served was General Cambriels."
The officer shrugged his shoulders.
"Since that time," Ralph said, more sternly than he had yet spoken, "my brother and myself have had the offer of posts upon the staffs of General Trochu, General Ducrot, and General Vinoy."