Of course I shall not go and print his version; you might like his concise way better than my verbose; and I'm not here to hold up any man's coat-tails.

Short as he made it, Edouard's eyes were moist more than once; and at the end he caught Raynal's hand and kissed it.

Then he asked time to reflect; "for," said he, "I must try and be just." "I'll give you an hour," said Raynal, with an air of grand munificence.
The only treasure he valued was time.
In less than an hour Edouard had solved the knot, to his entire satisfaction; he even gave the commandant particular instructions for carrying out his sovereign decree.

Raynal received these orders from his subordinate with that simplicity which formed part of his amazing character, and rode home relieved of all responsibility in the matter.
COMMANDANT RAYNAL TO MADEMOISELLE DE BEAUREPAIRE.
Mademoiselle,--Before I could find time to write to our referee, news came in that he had just broken his arm;-- "Oh! oh, dear! our poor Edouard!" And if poor Edouard had seen the pale faces, and heard the faltering accents, it would have reconciled him to his broken arm almost.

This hand-grenade the commandant had dropped so coolly among them, it was a long while ere they could recover from it enough to read the rest of the letter,-- So I rode over to him, and found him on his back, fretting for want of something to do.