"Ha! by descent. Your father was then an Emigré?"
"No, sir—my great grandfather."
"Parbleu! that is going very far back. Are you aware of the causes which induced him to leave his native country?"
"They were connected with political troubles, I've heard, sir. He took part against the English, my father told me, and was obliged to make his escape to save his life."
"You then hate the English, Maurice?"
"My grandfather certainly did not love them, sir."
"Nor can you, boy, ever forgive their having exiled your family from country and home: every man of honor retains the memory of such injuries."
"I can scarcely deem that an injury, sir, which has made me a French citizen," said I, proudly.
"True, boy—you say what is perfectly true and just; any sacrifice of fortune or patrimony is cheap at such a price; still you have suffered a wrong—a deep and irreparable wrong—and as a Frenchman you are ready to avenge it."
Although I had no very precise notion, either as to the extent of the hardships done me, nor in what way I was to demand the reparation, I gave the assent he seemed to expect.