I have heard that there are some fine women over there.' 'The women are beautiful.' He said nothing, but for some time he squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest, curling up the ends of his little yellow moustache.
'But they will escape in boats,' he muttered at last; and I could see that he had still that picture of a little island in his imagination.
'If they could but see us they might remain.

It has been said of the Hussars of Bercheny that they can set a whole population running, the women towards us, the men away.

We are, as you have no doubt observed, a very fine body of men, and the officers are the pick of the service, though the seniors are hardly up to the same standard as the rest of us.' With all his self-confidence, this officer did not seem to me to be more than my own age, so I asked him whether he had seen any service.

His moustache bristled with indignation at my question, and he looked me up and down with a severe eye.
'I have had the good fortune to be present at nine battles, sir, and at more than forty skirmishes,' said he.

'I have also fought a considerable number of duels, and I can assure you that I am always ready to meet anyone--even a civilian--who may wish to put me to the proof.' I assured him that he was very fortunate to be so young and yet to have seen so much, upon which his ill-temper vanished as quickly as it came, and he explained that he had served in the Hohenlinden campaign under Moreau, as well as in Napoleon's passage of the Alps, and the campaign of Marengo.
'When you have been with the army for a little time the name of Etienne Gerard will not be so unfamiliar to you,' said he.