the
two years is still involved in obscurity and it is possible that he
went with his regiment to Douay, contracted his malaria there, and did
not actually get leave of absence until February first of the latter
year.

CHAPTER VII.

Further Attempts at Authorship.

Straits of the Buonaparte Family -- Napoleon's Efforts to
Relieve Them -- Home Studies -- His History and Short
Stories -- Visit to Paris -- Renewed Petitions to Government
-- More Authorship -- Secures Extension of his Leave -- The
Family Fortunes Desperate -- The History of Corsica
Completed -- Its Style, Opinions, and Value -- Failure to
Find a Publisher -- Sentiments Expressed in his Short
Stories -- Napoleon's Irregularities as a French Officer --
His Life at Auxonne -- His Vain Appeal to Paoli -- The
History Dedicated to Necker.

[Sidenote: 1787-89.]

When Napoleon arrived at Ajaccio, and, after an absence of eight
years, was again with his family, he found their affairs in a serious
condition. Not one of the old French officials remained; the
diplomatic leniency of occupation was giving place to the official
stringency of a permanent possession; proportionately the disaffection
of the patriot remnant among the people was slowly developing into a
wide-spread discontent. Joseph, the hereditary head of a family which
had been thoroughly French in conduct, and was supposed to be so in
sentiment, which at least looked to the King for further favors, was
still a stanch royalist. Having been unsuccessful in every other
direction, he was now seeking to establish a mercantile connection
with Florence which would enable him to engage in the oil-trade. A
modest beginning was, he hoped, about to be made. It was high time,
for the only support of his mother and her children, in the failure to
secure the promised subsidy for her mulberry plantations, was the
income of the old archdeacon, who was now confined to his room, and
growing feebler every day under attacks of gout. Unfortunately,
Joseph's well-meant efforts again came to naught.

The behavior of the pale, feverish, masterful young lieutenant was not
altogether praiseworthy. He filled the house with his new-fangled
philosophy, and assumed a self-important air. Among his papers and in
his own handwriting is a blank form for engaging and binding recruits.
Clearly he had a tacit understanding either with himself or with
others to secure some of