M. de Lanessan would have liked to send the General back to France—and indeed he proposed to do so—but the authorities in Paris, probably because they had no post for the officer at home, insisted that he should remain. Thus the brigade was resuscitated for his benefit, and its secretaries, already on their way to rejoin their respective regiments, were recalled to Bac-Ninh. I had been in Phulang-Thuong four days, and was awaiting a convoy for Nha-Nam, when the order arrived for my return, and its arrival caused me no little surprise and speculation.
Two days later I was back in my old place, my absence having lasted about a week, and the following morning General Pernot came up from Hanoï with his staff.
He was a short, fat, red-faced man with a very loud, disagreeable voice, and a temper that was worse; and his reputation with the men of being a crusty martinet was not altogether unjustified. The day following his arrival he came to the office and passed a review of the secretaries. On learning that I was in charge of the records, he came over to where I was standing at "attention," and asked:
"You are naturalised, I suppose?"
"No, mon Général," I answered.
"What! not naturalised yet! You have the intention of becoming so, of course?"
"No, mon Général," I replied.
He glared up at me with an angry stare, and his face took a dull-red colour. I thought he was going to burst.
"Oh, indeed!" he blurted out at last. "You must put in an application to become a French citizen, or go back to your battalion. I will have no foreigners in a post of confidence on my staff. Grand Dieu! what have they been doing to allow such a thing? It is shameful! Nom de nom!"