The young man is worthy of patronage." And upon the margin of the report one of the examining officers wrote this extra indorsement-- "A Corsican by character and by birth.

If favored by circumstances, this young man will rise high." Napoleon's school-life was over.

On the first of September, 1785, he received the papers appointing him second-lieutenant in the artillery regiment, named La Fere (or "the sword"), and was ordered to report at the garrison at Valence.

His room-mate and friend, Alexander des Mazes, was appointed to the same regiment.
It was a proud day for the boy of sixteen.

At last his school-life was at an end.