rone; he was called to it.

Son of a lawyer at Pau, Bernadotte, born in 1764--that is to say, five
years before Bonaparte--was in the ranks as a private soldier when only
eighteen. In 1789 he was only a sergeant-major. But those were the days
of rapid promotion. In 1794, Kleber created him brigadier-general on the
field of battle, where he had decided the fortunes of the day. Becoming
a general of division, he played a brilliant part at Fleurus and
Juliers, forced Maestricht to capitulate, took Altdorf, and protected,
against an army twice as numerous as his own, the retreat of Joubert.
In 1797 the Directory ordered him to take seventeen thousand men to
Bonaparte. These seventeen thousand men were his old soldiers, veterans
of Kleber, Marceau and Hoche, soldiers of the Sambre-et-Meuse; and yet
Bernadotte forgot all rivalry and seconded Bonaparte with all his might,
taking part in the passage of the Tagliamento, capturing Gradiska,
Trieste, Laybach, Idria, bringing back to the Directory, after
the campaign, the flags of the enemy, and accepting, possibly with
reluctance, an embassy to Vienna, while Bonaparte secured the command of
the army of Egypt.

At Vienna, a riot, excited by the tri-color flag hoisted above the
French embassy, for which the ambassador was unable to obtain redress,
forced him to demand his passports. On his return to Paris, the
Directory appointed him Minister of War. An underhand proceeding of
Sieyes, who was offended by Bernadotte's republicanism, induced the
latter to send in his resignation. It was accepted, and when Bonaparte
landed at Frejus the late minister had been three months out of office.
Since Bonaparte's return, some of Bernadotte's friends had sought to
bring about his reinstatement; but Bonaparte had opposed it. The result
was a hostility between the two generals, none the less real because not
openly avowed.

Bernadotte's appearance in Bonaparte's salon was therefore an event
almost as extraordinary as the presence of Moreau. And the entrance of
the conqueror of Maestricht caused as many heads to turn as had that of
the conqueror of Rastadt. Only, instead of going forward to meet him, as
he had Moreau, Bonaparte merely turned round and awaited him.

Bernadotte, from the threshold of the door, cast a rapid glance around
the salon. He divided and analyzed the groups, and although he must have
perceived Bonaparte in the midst of the principal one, he went up to
Josephine, who was r