Ah, how little do we know of fate, and how often do we despise circumstances that determine all our fortunes in the world.

To think that a gen-d'arme should have any thing to do with my future lot in life, and that the real want of a passport to travel should involve the probable want of a licence to marry.

Yes, it is quite in keeping, thought I, with every step I have taken through life.

I may be brought before the "maire" as a culprit, and leave him as a Benedict.
On reaching the town, we were not permitted to drive to the inn, but at once conveyed to the house of the "commissaire," who was also the "maire" of the district.

The worthy functionary was long since in bed, and it was only after ringing violently for half an hour that a head, surmounted with a dirty cotton night-cap, peeped from an upper window, and seemed to survey the assemblage beneath with patient attention.