oire,
they've left thee a tail like a tirailleur's feather! Plagues light on
the thieves that did it! Come here, boy," said she, addressing me, "hold
the bridle: what's thy corps, lad?"

"I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris."

"Away with thee, street-runner; away with thee, then!" said she,
contemptuously; "there are no pockets to pick here, and if there were,
thou'd lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then; back with thee to
Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade
there, but there's work for ye all!"

"Nay, Mere, don't be harsh with the boy," said a soldier; "you can see
by his coat that his heart is with us."

"And he stole that, I'll be sworn," said she, pulling me round by the
arm, full in front of her. "Answer me, 'Gamin,' where didst find that
old tawdry jacket?"

"I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue,
it would fare worse with thee than thou thinkest!" said I, maddened by
the imputed theft and insolence together.

"And where may that be, young slip of the galleys?" cried she, angrily.

"In the 'Prison du Temple.'"

"Is that their livery, then?" said she laughing, and pointing at me with
ridicule, "or is it a family dress made after thy father's?"

"My father wore a soldier's coat, and bravely, too," said I, with
difficulty restraining the tears that rose to my eyes.

"In what regiment, boy?" asked the soldier who spoke before.

"In one that exists no longer," said I, sadly, and not wishing to allude
to a service that would find but slight favor in republican ears.

"That must be the 24th of the Line; they were cut to pieces at
'Tongres.'"

"No--no, he's thinking of the 9th, that got so roughly handled at
Fontenoy," said another.

"Of neither," said I; "I am speaking of those who have left nothing but
a name behind them, the 'Garde du Corps' of the king."

"Voila!" cried Madou, clapping her hands in astonishment at my
impertinence; "there's an aristocrat for you! Look at him, mes braves!
It's not every day we have the grand seigneurs condescending to come
among us! You can learn something of courtly manners from the polished
descendant of our nobility. Say, boy, art a count, or a baron, or
perhaps a duke."

"Make way there--out of the road, Mere Madou," cried a dragoon,
curveting his horse in such a fashion as almost to upset ass and
"cantiniere" together, "the staff is coming."

The mere mention of the wor