CHAPTER THREE.
THE ACCUSATION.
"Now, then, children, listen to me, and answer, he who is the guilty one," Charles Bonaparte said, facing the group of children.

"Who is it that has taken the fruit from the basket of your uncle the canon ?" Each child declared his or her innocence, though one might imagine that Eliza's voice was not so outspoken as the others.
"And what do you say, Napoleon ?" asked Papa Charles, turning toward the suspected one.
"I have already said, Papa Charles, that it was not I," Napoleon answered, this time calmly and coolly; for his composure had returned.
"That is a lie, Napoleon!" exclaimed Nurse Saveria, who, as the trusted servant of the Bonaparte family, spoke just as she wished, and said precisely what she meant, while no one questioned her freedom.

"That is a lie, Napoleon, and you know it!" The boy sprang toward the nurse in a rage, and, lifting his hand threateningly, cried, "Saveria! if you were not a woman, I would"-- and he simply shook his little fist at her, too angry even to complete his threat.
"How now, Napoleon! what would you do ?" his father exclaimed.
But Saveria only laughed scornfully.

"It must have been you, Napoleon," she said.

"I have not left the pantry since I placed the basket of fruit in this sideboard.