"Not at all," replied citizen Fenouillot; "the Prince and his son liked my wine, and they treated me with a consideration almost equal to that which you have shown me, although I must confess that when the news of the capitulation of Toulon arrived, yesterday, and I, as a good Frenchman, could not conceal my delight, the Prince, with whom I was talking at the time, dismissed me in a very bad humor." "Ah, ha!" exclaimed Pichegru; "then Toulon has really been recaptured from the English?" "Yes, general." "What day was Toulon taken?" "The 19th." "And to-day is the 21st. Impossible! The devil! the Prince de Condé has not the telegraph at his disposal." "No," replied the other; "but he has the pigeon-post, and carrier-pigeons travel forty-eight miles an hour. In short, the news came to Strasbourg, where pigeons abound, and I myself saw the little note in the Prince's hands. The note was small, having been fastened under the bird's wing, but the writing was fine, and therefore it contained several details." "And do you know what they were?" "The city capitulated on the 19th. That same day part of the besieging army entered, and, in the evening, by order of the commissioner of the Convention, two hundred and thirteen persons were shot." "Is that all? Did it not mention a certain Buonaparte?" "Yes, indeed; it said that the capture of the city was due to him." "He is certainly my cousin," said Abatucci, laughing. "And my pupil," added Pichegru. "Faith, so much the better! The Republic needs men of genius to offset such wretches as Fouché." "Fouché?" "Was it not Fouché who followed the French army to Lyons, and on the first day he was in power ordered two hundred and thirteen men shot?" "Ah, yes; but that was at Lyons. At Toulon it is citizen Barras." "And who is citizen Barras?" "Only a deputy from the Var, who has served in India, and learned there to imitate the habits of the Nabobs. At the Convention he sits with the Mountain. At all events; it looks as if they were going to shoot all the population, and raze the town." "Let them destroy and shoot! The sooner they do it, the quicker they will get through," said Pichegru. "Faith! I prefer our former good God to the modern Supreme Being who permits such horrors." "And what do they say of my cousin Buonaparte?" "They say that he is a young artillery officer," continued citizen Fenouillot, "and a friend of young Robespierre." "Come, general," said Abatucci, "if he is on such good terms with the Jacobins as that, he will make his way and protect us in the bargain." "Speaking of protection," said citizen Fenouillot, "is what the Duc de Bourbon told me when he was eulogizing you true?" "Very kind of the Duc de Bourbon," said Pichegru, laughing. "What did he tell you?" "That it was his father, the Prince de Condé, to whom you owed your first promotion." "Yes," replied Pichegru. "How was that?" asked three or four voices.