n slowly forth at the whispered counsel of some
wily diplomat."

He smiled half-mournfully at the remark, or at my impetuosity in making
it, as he said:--

"My dear boy, never flatter yourself that the cause of any war can enter
into the calculation of the soldier. The liberty he fights for is often
the rankest tyranny; the patriotism he defends, the veriest oppression.
Play the game as though the stake were but your own ambition, if you
would play it manfully. As for me, I buckle on the harness for the
last time, come what will of it. The Emperor feels, and justly feels,
indignant that many of the older officers have declined the service by
which alone they were elevated to rank, and wealth, and honor. It
was not, then, at the moment when he distinguished me by an unsought
promotion,--still more, conferred a personal favor on me, that I could
ask leave to retire from the army."

By the tone in which he said these last few words, I saw that the
general was now approaching the topic I felt so curious about, and did
not venture by a word to interrupt or divert his thoughts from it. My
calculation proved correct; for, after meditating some eight or
ten minutes, he drew his chair closer to mine, and in a voice of
ill-repressed agitation, spoke thus:--

"You doubtless know the history of our great Revolution,--the causes
that led to, the consequences that immediately sprang from it,--the
terrible anarchy, the utter confiscation of wealth, and, worse still,
the social disorganization that invaded every family, however humble or
however exalted, setting wives against their husbands, children against
their parents, and making brothers sworn enemies to one another. It was
in vain for any man once engaged in the struggle to draw back; the
least hesitation to perform any order of the Convention--the delay of a
moment, to think--was death: some one was ever on the watch to denounce
the man thus deliberating, and he was led forth to the guillotine like
the blackest criminal. The immediate result of all this was a distrust
that pervaded the entire nation. No one knew who to speak to, nor
dare any confide in him who once had been his dearest friend. The old
Royalists trembled at every stir; the few demonstrations they forced
themselves to make of concurrence in the new state of things were
received with suspicion and jealousy. The 'Blues'--for so the
Revolutionary party was called--thirsted for their blood; the
aristocracy had be