“And if you, like me, my boy, had heard those words so quietly spoken, you would bow before that man down to the ground!  It is not so famous as Arcole, but perhaps it was finer.  We followed Hulot at the double, right up to those batteries.  All honor to those we left there!” and the old man lifted his hat.  “The Austrians were amazed at the dash of it.—­The Emperor made the man you saw a Count; he honored us all by honoring our leader; and the King of to-day was very right to make him a Marshal.”

“Hurrah for the Marshal!” cried the workman.

“Oh, you may shout—­shout away!  The Marshal is as deaf as a post from the roar of cannon.”

This anecdote may give some idea of the respect with which the Invalides regarded Marshal Hulot, whose Republican proclivities secured him the popular sympathy of the whole quarter of the town.

Sorrow taking hold on a spirit so calm and strict and noble, was a heart-breaking spectacle.  The Baroness could only tell lies, with a woman’s ingenuity, to conceal the whole dreadful truth from her brother-in-law.

In the course of this miserable morning, the Marshal, who, like all old men, slept but little, had extracted from Lisbeth full particulars as to his brother’s situation, promising to marry her as the reward of her revelations.  Any one can imagine with what glee the old maid allowed the secrets to be dragged from her which she had been dying to tell ever since she had come into the house; for by this means she made her marriage more certain.

“Your brother is incorrigible!” Lisbeth shouted into the Marshal’s best ear.

Her strong, clear tones enabled her to talk to him, but she wore out her lungs, so anxious was she to prove to her future husband that to her he would never be deaf.

“He has had three mistresses,” said the old man, “and his wife was an Adeline!  Poor Adeline!”

“If you will take my advice,” shrieked Lisbeth, “you will use your influence with the Prince de Wissembourg to secure her some suitable appointment.  She will need it, for the Baron’s pay is pledged for three years.”

“I will go to the War Office,” said he, “and see the Prince, to find out what he thinks of my brother, and ask for his interest to help my sister.  Think of some place that is fit for her.”

“The charitable ladies of Paris, in concert with the Archbishop, have formed various beneficent associations; they employ superintendents, very decently paid, whose business it is to seek out cases of real want.  Such an occupation would exactly suit dear Adeline; it would be work after her own heart.”

“Send to order the horses,” said the Marshal.  “I will go and dress.  I will drive to Neuilly if necessary.”

“How fond he is of her!  She will always cross my path wherever I turn!” said Lisbeth to herself.