nd, leaving his two friends looking utterly amazed, he went away at a
rapid pace.

Certainly, he had not foreseen all these difficulties; and in his blind
wrath he charged his chief with injustice and tyranny. He said,--

"I must stay in Paris; and I will stay."

Reflection, far from calming him, only excited him the more. Having left
home with the intention of offering his resignation only in an extreme
case, he was now determined to adhere to his plan, even if they should
offer him full satisfaction. Had he not an ample income of his own?
and could he not always find an honorable occupation? That would be
far better than to continue in a profession where one is never his own
master, but lives eternally under the dread of some order that may send
him, at a moment's warning, to heaven knows what part of the world.

That was the way he reasoned with himself while breakfasting at a tavern
not far off; and when he returned to the department, a little after
twelve, he looked upon himself as already no longer belonging to the
navy, and in his imagination caring little for the final decision.

It was the hour for receptions, when everybody who had any business at
the department came to look after his interests; and the anteroom
was filled with officers of every grade, some in uniform, others in
citizen's dress.

The conversation was very animated; for Daniel heard the sounds from the
outer passage.

He entered; and there was silence,--sudden, deep, chilling silence.

Evidently they had been talking about him.

Even if he could have doubted it for a moment, he read it in the faces
turned aside, the forced smiles, and the cautious glances with which he
was received. He thought, very much troubled,--

"What can this mean?"

In the meantime a young man in citizen's dress, whom he did not know,
called out from one side of the room to the other, to an old officer
in a seedy uniform, with blackened epaulets (a real sea-dog),
lean, bronzed, wrinkled, and with eyes bearing the traces of recent
ophthalmy,--

"Why do you stop, lieutenant? We were much interested, I assure you."

The lieutenant seemed to hesitate, as if he were making up his mind to
do a disagreeable thing, which still did not depend on his choice; and
then he resumed his account,--

"Well, we got there, convinced that we had taken all the necessary
precautions, and that there was, consequently, nothing to fear,--fine
precautions they turned out to be! I