But seemingly, your invalids do not number more than a half-dozen out of the fifty or sixty men that are with you.

How is it then, that you do not return with these to Dumouriez ?" "Because I can serve France better here," answered Charlot, "and at the same time enrich myself and my followers." "In short," returned La Boulaye coldly, "because you have degenerated from a soldier into a brigand." Charlot looked up, and for just a second his glance was not without uneasiness.

Then he laughed.

He unbuckled his sword and tossed it into a corner, throwing his hat after it.
"It was ever your way to take extreme views, Caron," he observed, with a certain whimsical regret of tone.

"That, no doubt, is what has made a statesman of you.