"Yes, Michaud, my father was a shopkeeper, an upholsterer; the countess doesn't know it.

Oh! that I should ever--well! after all, I have waltzed with queens and empresses.

I'll tell her this very night," he cried, after a pause.
"They also call you a coward," continued Michaud.
"Ha!" "They ask how you managed to save yourself at Essling when nearly all your comrades perished." The accusation brought a smile to the general's lips.

"Michaud, I shall go at once to the Prefecture!" he cried, with a sort of fury, "if it is only to get the policies of insurance you ask for.

Let Madame la comtesse know that I have gone.