e; "One
might think that that confounded stuffed Colonel had come to thrust
himself between us."

CHAPTER V.

DREAMS OF LOVE, AND OTHER DREAMS.

Leon learned to his cost, that a good conscience and a good bed are not
enough to insure a good sleep. He was bedded like a sybarite, innocent
as an Arcadian shepherd, and, moreover, tired as a soldier after a
forced march; nevertheless a dull sleeplessness weighed upon him until
morning. In vain he tossed into every possible position, as if to shift
the burden from one shoulder on to the other. He did not close his eyes
until he had seen the first glimmering of dawn silver the chinks of his
shutters.

He lulled himself to sleep thinking of Clementine; an obliging dream
soon showed him the image of her he loved. He saw her in bridal costume,
in the chapel of the imperial chateau. She was leaning on the arm of the
elder M. Renault, who had put spurs on in honor of the ceremony. Leon
followed, having given his arm to Mlle. Sambucco; the ancient maiden was
decorated with the insignia of the Legion of Honor. On approaching the
altar, the bridegroom noticed that his father's legs were as thin as
broomsticks, and, when he was about expressing his astonishment, M.
Renault turned around and said to him: "They are thin because they are
desiccated; but they are not deformed." While he was giving this
explanation, his face altered, his features changed, he shot out a black
moustache, and grew terribly like the Colonel. The ceremony began. The
choir was filled with tardigrades and rotifers as large as men and
dressed like choristers: they intoned, in solemn measure, a hymn of the
German composer, Meiser, which began thus:

The vital principle
Is a gratuitous hypothesis!

The poetry and the music appeared admirable to Leon; he was trying to
impress them on his memory when the officiating priest advanced toward
him with two gold rings on a silver salver. This priest was a colonel of
cuirassiers in full uniform. Leon asked himself when and where he had
met him. It was on the previous evening before Clementine's door. The
cuirassier murmured these words: "The race of colonels has vastly
degenerated since 1813." He heaved a profound sigh, and the nave of the
chapel, which was a ship-of-the-line, was driven over the water at a
speed of forty knots. Leon tranquilly took the little gold ring and
prepared to place it on Clementine's finger, but he perceived that the
hand