be
something in the air here, so we had better proceed." And with a soft
smile and a courteous motion of her hand, she passed on.

I looked after them as they went. A strange odd feeling stirred within
my heart,--a kind of wild joy, with a mingled sense of hope too vague to
catch at. I watched the drooping feather of her bonnet, and the folds of
her dress as they fluttered in the wind; and when she disappeared from
my sight, I could scarce believe that she was not still beside me,
and that lier dark eyes did not look into my very soul. But already my
companions crowded about me, and amid a hundred warm congratulations and
kind wishes, I took my way back to the college.

Scarcely was breakfast over the following morning, when the order
arrived for my removal from the scholar quarter of the Polytechnique to
that occupied by the cadets. A small tricolored cockade affixed to
my hat was the only emblem of my new rank; but simple as it was, no
decoration ever attracted more envy and admiration from the beholders,
nor gave more pride to the wearer, than that knot of ribbon.

"At number thirteen you 'll find your quarters, Monsieur le Cadet," said
a sergeant, as he presented me with the official order.

I remember at this very hour what a thrill his military salute sent
through me. It was the first acknowledgment of my grade; the first
recognition that I was no longer a mere schoolboy. I had not much time
granted me to indulge such sensations, for already my schoolfellows had
thronged round me, and overwhelmed me with questions and felicitations.

"Ah, what a fortunate fellow! No examination to go through; has
his grade given him without toiling for it."--"Is it the cavalry,
Burke"--"Are you a cheval?"--"When do you join?"--"Where is your
regiment?"--"Shall we see you again?"--"Won't you write to us all about
the corps when you join them?"--"Who is your comrade?"--"Yes, tell us
that; who is he?"

"Ma foi," said I, "I know not more than yourselves. You are all aware to
what an accident I owe my promotion. Where I am destined for, or in what
corps, I can't tell. And as to my comrade--"

"Ah! take care he 's no tyrant," said one.

"Yes, yes," cried another; "show him you know what a small sword is at
once."

"Burke won't be trifled with," cried a third.

And then followed a very chorus of voices, each detailing some atrocity
committed by the cadets on their newly-joined associates. One had a
friend wounded in the side