what means, or when, I had exchanged my dripping trowsers of coarse
sailcloth for the striped gear of our republican mode--how one had given
me his jacket, another a cap, and a third a shirt--I knew not; but there
I was, carried along in triumph, half fainting from exhaustion, and
almost maddened by excitement. That I must have told something of my
history--heaven knows how incoherently and unconnectedly--is plain
enough, for I could hear them repeating one to the other--"Had served
with Moreau's corps in the Black Forest;" "A hussar of the Ninth;" "One
of Humbert's fellows;" and so on.

As we turned into a species of "Place," a discussion arose as to whither
they should convey me. Some were for the "Cavalry Barracks," that I
might be once more with those who resembled my old comrades. Others,
more considerate, were for the hospital; but a staff officer decided the
question by stating that the general was at that very moment receiving
the report in the church of the Anunziata, and that he ought to see me
at once.

"Let the poor fellow have some refreshment," cried one--"Here, take
this, it's coffee." "No, no, the 'petit goutte' 's better--try that
flask." "He shall have my chocolate," said an old major from the door of
a cafe; and thus they pressed and solicited me with a generosity that I
had yet to learn how dear it cost.

"He ought to be dressed;" "He should be in uniform;" "Is better as he
is;" "The general will not speak to him thus;" "He will;" "He must."

Such, and such like, kept buzzing around me, as with reeling brain and
confused vision they bore me up the great steps, and carried me into a
gorgeous church, the most splendidly ornamented building I had ever
beheld. Except, however, in the decorations of the ceiling, and the
images of saints which figured in niches high up, every trace of a
religious edifice had disappeared. The pulpit had gone--the chairs and
seats for the choir, the confessionals, the shrines, altars--all had
been uprooted, and a large table, at which some twenty officers were
seated writing, now occupied the elevated platform of the high altar,
while here and there stood groups of officers, with their reports from
their various corps or parties in out-stations. Many of these drew near
to me as I entered, and now the buzz of voices in question and rejoinder
swelled into a loud noise, and while some were recounting my feat with
all the seeming accuracy of eye-witnesses, others were as reso