"Hold your tongue, sir! not another word. I have served my country five-and-twenty years as an officer, under fire, at the peril of my life, always for honor, never for gain. Keep your money for your own set!"
"But, sir—"
"Silence! Money which passes through your hands would soil mine."
Another pause ensued, which the private secretary again broke,—
"Colonel, you will be accompanied by two police agents who have special instructions, and I should inform you that you are ordered to travel with a false passport, and under the name of Vincent."
"Good heavens!" said Charras; "this is really too much. Who is it imagines that they will make me travel by order with a false passport, and under a false name?" And looking steadily at M. Léopold Lehon, "Know, sir, that my name is Charras and not Vincent, and that I belong to a family whose members have always borne the name of their father."
They set out.
They journeyed by carriage as far as Creil, which is on the railway.
At Creil station the first person whom Charras saw was General Changarnier.
"Ah! it is you, General."