gances which are simply imposed upon me by the stupid folly of my comrades."
At sixteen he passed his examination without any particular distinction. He was forty-second out of fifty-eight pupils who passed. His German master's comment upon him at the time was that "the pupil Bonaparte was nothing but a fool."
On September 1, 1785, he was named Second Lieutenant in the Bombardiers garrisoned at Valence. His new uniform was in proportion to the slenderness of his purpose.
His boots were so inordinately large that his legs, which were very slender, disappeared in them completely. Proud of his new outfit, he went off to seek his friends, the Permons. On seeing him the two children, Cecilia and Laura (the latter was afterwards Duchesse d'Abrantès), could not restrain their laughter, and to his face nicknamed him "Puss in Boots." He did not mind, it appears, for, according to one of these little wits, the lieutenant took them a few days later a toy carriage containing a puss in boots, and Perrault's fairy story.
III.
EARLY POVERTY.
At Valence―part of the journey to which Napoleon had to perform on foot from having spent his money―he had to live a very modest life. It is said that he was "a great talker, embarking, on
