Mme. de Fuchs had kept up the habit of supping, a habit so dear to our fathers, and the disappearance of which is so much regretted by those who are fond of joyous, frank, and unrestrained conversation, inspired by the gaiety of the moment. At one of those gatherings I had been placed close to the Comte de Witt. That same morning I had had a strange visit. I was just stepping out of bed when told that a young Frenchman wished to speak to me. The caller turns out to be a man of good appearance, who presents me with a small parcel he is carrying. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is a letter M. Rey, the advocate with whom you dined at M. de Bondy’s, the Prefect at Lyons, has asked me to hand you.’ While I motion him to be seated I open the epistle, in which M. Rey, after the usual greetings, asks me, supposing I should be in Vienna, to interest myself for the bearer, M. Cast ... in order to get him some employment. ‘By the date of the letter, monsieur, you must have left Lyons some time.’ ‘Yes,’ replies the visitor, ‘having the whole of the world thrown open to me to choose a _habitat_, I made my way to the present one on foot.’ ‘You have no doubt other recommendations?’ ‘None whatever.’ ‘Allow me to compliment you on your courage. To do three hundred leagues on foot simply on the strength of a letter from a person whom I have only seen once, and without even the certainty of finding me--assuredly you ought to succeed! In spite of this, I can give you but little hope. If you came to the Congress to claim a kingdom, a province, an indemnity, you would probably be listened to, but a post for a Frenchman in the Austrian States--that, I am afraid, will be a difficult thing to get. Nevertheless, I will do all I can for you. What have you done up to the present?’ ‘I have served in the Guards of Honour.’ ‘What sort of post have you in view?’ ‘I am not at all particular. I can be a secretary, or pretty well fill any kind of post, whether it be civil or military.’ ‘You are certainly determined to make the best of things,’ I could not help saying, for that particular aptitude for making the foot fit the boot in a cheerful and intelligent way is unquestionably French. I felt decidedly interested in my young compatriot, and I asked him to give me a few days to look round for him. Meanwhile I took his address, though with considerable doubt about the final result of his bold journey. At supper the conversation happened to turn on the sudden resolutions and the unhoped-for and unexpected bits of daring that often determine a man’s whole existence. As a matter of course, instances were quoted, and notably that of General Tettenborn, who, in something like four months had worked his way from major to general-in-chief. ‘I could mention a trait of courage and a reliance on luck which, save for the favourable results to come, is worth all those we have mentioned.’