ire without my skin receiving a scratch? It is
because I have a star, as _He_ had. His was the grander, it is true, but
it went out at St. Helena, while mine is burning in Heaven still! If
Doctor Nibor resuscitated me with a few drops of warm water, it was
because my destiny was not yet accomplished. If the will of the French
people has re-established the imperial throne, it was to furnish me a
series of opportunities for my valor, during the conquest of Europe
which we are about to recommence! _Vive l'Empereur_, and me too! I shall
be duke or prince in less than ten years, and ... why not? One might try
to be at roll-call on the day when crowns are distributed! In that case,
I will adopt Clementine's oldest son: we will call him Pierre Victor
II., and he shall succeed me on the throne just as Louis XV. succeeded
his grandfather Louis XIV.!"

As he was finishing this wonderful speech, a _gendarme_ entered the
dining room, asked for Colonel Fougas, and handed him a letter from the
Minister of War.

"Gad!" cried the Marshal, "it would be pleasant to have your promotion
arrive at the end of such a discourse. For once, we would prostrate
ourselves before your star! The Magi kings would be nowhere compared
with us."

"Read it yourself," said he to the Marshal, holding out to him the
great sheet of paper. "But no! I have always looked Death in the face; I
will not turn my eyes away from this paper thunder if it is killing me.

"COLONEL:

"In preparing the Imperial decree which elevated you to
the rank of brigadier general, I found myself in the
presence of an insurmountable obstacle: viz., your
certificate of birth. It appears from that document that
you were born in 1789, and that you have already passed
your seventieth year. Now, the limit of age being fixed
at sixty years for colonels, sixty-two for brigadier
generals and sixty-five for generals of division, I find
myself under the absolute necessity of placing you upon
the retired list with the rank of colonel. I know,
Monsieur, how little this measure is justified by your
apparent age, and I sincerely regret that France should
be deprived of the services of a man of your capacity
and merit. Moreover, it is certain that an exception in
your favor would arouse no dissatisfaction in the army
and would meet with nothing but sympathetic approval.
But the law is express, and the Emperor himself can