I had no wish to learn. 'It is all
vexation,' I said. And when I became a soldier, what do you suppose
prevented my learning?"

"Were your brains shot away, old Nonesuch?" queried the scholar
sarcastically.

"My brains, say you!" the old man cried indignantly. "And if they had
been, Mr. Scholar, I would still have more than you. No; it was an
adventure I had after Austerlitz. Ah, what a battle was that! I had the
good luck there to have this leg that I have not now, carried away by a
cannon-ball"--

"Good luck! says he," broke in the youngster. "And how good luck, Father
Nonesuch?"

"Tut, tut! boys are so impatient," said old Nonesuch with a frown. "Yes,
youngster, good luck, said I. Well, one day, after I had my timber-toe
put on, the emperor, who always had thoughts for those of his soldiers
who had been wounded, gave notice that he had certain small places at
his disposal which he wished to distribute among us crippled ones, in
order that we might rest from war. Then all of us set to wondering,
'What can I do? What shall I ask for? What do I like best to do?' My
wish was never to leave my own general. He was General Junot"--

"Ah, yes! I know of him," said the Corsican. "He married a Corsican
girl, Laura Permon, a friend of the Bonaparte children."

[Illustration: "_I know not if I know,' said I_."]

"The same," old Nonesuch said, with a nod at his comrade. "Now, I saw
that the person who was nearest to my General Junot was his secretary.
One day, when I was at Paris, the emperor, I was told, was to review his
troops in the courtyard of the Tuileries; so I dressed myself in my
best,--it was a grenadier's uniform,--a comrade wrote on a piece of
paper my desire; and, with my paper in my hand, I posted myself near a
battalion of lancers. 'The emperor will see me here,' said I. In truth,
he did come; he did see me. He came towards me, and, with the look that
pierced me through,--ten thousand bullets! as the plough cuts through
the ground,--'Are you not an Egyptian, my grenadier?' he asked me. (You
know, Corsican, he called all of us Egyptians who had fought with him in
Egypt.) 'Yes, my Emperor,' I replied, so glorified to see that he
recognized me, that, my faith! my heart swelled and swelled, so that I
thought it would crack with pride, and burst my coat open. The emperor
took the paper I held out toward him. He read it. 'So, so, my Egyptian!
you wish to be a secretary, eh?'--'Yes, my Emperor,' I answered. 'Do y