Restoration, was misled by his
profound contempt for "civilians"; he believed in the triumph of the
Ordonnances, and was bent on playing for a rise; du Tillet and Nucingen,
who were sure of a revolution, played against him for a fall. The crafty
pair confirmed the judgment of the Comte de Brambourg and seemed
to share his convictions; they encouraged his hopes of doubling his
millions, and apparently took steps to help him. Philippe fought like
a man who had four millions depending on the issue of the struggle. His
devotion was so noticeable, that he received orders to go to Saint-Cloud
with the Duc de Maufrigneuse and attend a council. This mark of favor
probably saved Philippe's life; for when the order came, on the 25th of
July, he was intending to make a charge and sweep the boulevards, when
he would undoubtedly have been shot down by his friend Giroudeau, who
commanded a division of the assailants.

A month later, nothing was left of Colonel Bridau's immense fortune but
his house and furniture, his estates, and the pictures which had come
from Issoudun. He committed the still further folly, as he said himself,
of believing in the restoration of the elder branch, to which he
remained faithful until 1834. The not imcomprehensible jealousy Philippe
felt on seeing Giroudeau a colonel drove him to re-enter the service.
Unluckily for himself, he obtained, in 1835, the command of a regiment
in Algiers, where he remained three years in a post of danger,
always hoping for the epaulets of a general. But some malignant
influence--that, in fact, of General Giroudeau,--continually balked him.
Grown hard and brutal, Philippe exceeded the ordinary severity of the
service, and was hated, in spite of his bravery a la Murat.

At the beginning of the fatal year 1839, while making a sudden dash
upon the Arabs during a retreat before superior forces, he flung himself
against the enemy, followed by only a single company, and fell in,
unfortunately, with the main body of the enemy. The battle was bloody
and terrible, man to man, and only a few horsemen escaped alive. Seeing
that their colonel was surrounded, these men, who were at some distance,
were unwilling to perish uselessly in attempting to rescue him. They
heard his cry: "Your colonel! to me! a colonel of the Empire!" but
they rejoined the regiment. Philippe met with a horrible death, for the
Arabs, after hacking him to pieces with their scimitars, cut off his
head.

Joseph, wh