of Bertrand, satisfied the laws of conscription. Thus you will be put in a straightforward path, and will march with the detachment. On reaching Boulogne, you will see your colonel,[1] a fanatic in masonry, illuminatism, hermetism, &c. You must tell him who you are; and, as you have rank, he will be sure to protect you. You can then tell him all concerning your origin that you may choose, and that may aid your plans. This confidence will at first do away with the sort of mistrust that is usually shewn to a substitute, and will ultimately procure you the regard of the other officers. But it is indispensable that you should make them believe that you have turned soldier on compulsion. Under your real name you were exposed to persecution from the emperor; and, to escape proscription, you had concealed yourself in a regiment. This is your tale, which will circulate throughout the camp, and no one will doubt but that you are the victim and enemy of the imperial system. I have no occasion to enter into longer details; the consequences will naturally ensue;—besides, I rely much,—entirely, on your sagacity."
Thus instructed, the count de L*** set out for Italy, and soon afterwards he entered France with the Ligurian conscripts. Colonel Aubry received him like a brother after a long absence, dispensed with his military drillings, assembled the lodge of the regiment to receive and feast him, and showed him every attention; authorising him to wear plain clothes; and treated him, in a word, with the greatest distinction.
In a few days the army knew that M. Bertrand was a "somebody." They could not give him epaulets, but he was nominated sergeant; and the officers forgetting, in his case only, that he was in the inferior ranks of a military hierarchy, did not hesitate to admit
- ↑ Colonel Aubry, inspector-general of artillery, who fell in his thirty-third year. He died a few days after the battle of Dresden, in which his two legs were carried off by a shot.
