beyond Toulouse before he agreed to an
armistice.

The news of the peace, at this period, certainly sounded as strangely
in our ears as it did in those of the French marshal, for it was a
change that we never had contemplated. We had been born in war, reared
in war, and war was our trade; and what soldiers had to do in peace,
was a problem yet to be solved among us.

After remaining a few days at Toulouse, we were sent into quarters, in
the town of Castel-Sarazin, along with our old companions in arms,
the fifty-second, to wait the necessary arrangements for our final
removal from France.

Castel-Sarazin is a respectable little town, on the right bank of the
Garonne; and its inhabitants received us so kindly, that every officer
found in his quarter a family home. We there, too, found both the time
and the opportunity of exercising one of the agreeable professions to
which we had long been strangers, that of making love to the pretty
little girls with which the place abounded; when, after a three
months' residence among them, the fatal order arrived for our march to
Bordeaux, for embarkation, the buckets full of salt tears that were
shed by men who had almost forgotten the way to weep was quite
ridiculous. I have never yet, however, clearly made out whether people
are most in love when they are laughing or when they are crying. Our
greatest love writers certainly give the preference to the latter.
_Scott_ thinks that "love is loveliest when it's bathed in tears;" and
_Moore_ tells his mistress to "give smiles to those who love her
less, but to keep her tears for him;" but what pleasure he can take in
seeing her in affliction, I cannot make out; nor, for the soul of me,
can I see why a face full of smiles should not be every bit as
valuable as one of tears, seeing that it is so much more pleasant to
look at.

I have rather wandered, in search of an apology for my own countenance
not having gone into mourning on that melancholy occasion; for, to
tell the truth, (and if I had a visage sensible to such an impression,
I should blush while I tell it,) I was as much in love as any body, up
nearly to the last moment, when I fell out of it, as it were, by a
miracle; but, probably, a history of love's last look may be
considered as my justification. The day before our departure, in
returning from a ride, I overtook my love and her sister, strolling by
the river's side, and, instantly dismounting, I joined in their walk.
My h