“What have you been doing during the Revolution? Have you served?”
“No, Sire.”
“Then you followed the Bourbons into exile?”
“Oh! no, Sire! I stayed at home and cultivated my little estate.”
“The more fool you, monsieur! In these times of trouble every one ought to give his personal service one way or the other. What do you want now?”
“Sire, a modest post in the octroi of my little town would——”
“Very well, you shall have it; and stay there! Is it possible that I have been the comrade of such a man?”
For the Revolution, the royalists themselves could scarcely have entertained a deeper hatred and contempt. He would speak with disgust of its early scenes, of the weakness of the authorities, which he despised, and of the mob, which he abominated.
Young and unknown, he had been present with Bourrienne on the 20th June, and seen the raving, frantic mob rushing upon the Tuileries. He followed with Bourrienne in a transport of indignation, and saw with contempt Louis XVI. at the window with a red cap on. He exclaimed—