This made him sadder, if anything.
"What," said he, "have we both been scraping all this dross together for?
I would give it all to sit one hour by the fire, with her hand in mine, and hear her say, 'Scamp, you made me unhappy when you were young, but I have lived to be proud of you.'" He applied for active service, no matter what: obtained at once this post in Brittany, and threw himself into it with that honest zeal and activity, which are the best earthly medicine for all our griefs.

He was busy writing, when young Riviere first presented himself.

He looked up for a moment, and eyed him, to take his measure; then put into his hand a report by young Nicole, a subordinate filling a post of the same nature as Riviere's; and bade him analyze that report on the spot: with this he instantly resumed his own work.
Edouard Riviere was an adept at this sort of task, and soon handed him a neat analysis.

Raynal ran his eye over it, nodded cold approval, and told him to take this for the present as a guide as to his own duties.
He then pointed to a map on which Riviere's district was marked in blue ink, and bade him find the centre of it.

Edouard took a pair of compasses off the table, and soon discovered that the village of Beaurepaire was his centre.