Schneider looked at him with something akin to tenderness. "Faith! he is very nice," he observed. Then, as the old servant brought in the French and German papers at that moment, he asked: "Do you know German?" "Not a word." "Very well; then I will teach you." "With the Greek?" "With the Greek. So you are ambitious to learn Greek?" "It is my only wish." "We will try to satisfy it. Here is the 'Moniteur Français'; read it while I look over the 'Vienna Gazette.'" There was a moment's silence as they both began to read. "Oh, oh!" said Euloge, as he read. "'At this hour Strasbourg will have been taken, and our victorious troops are probably on the march to Paris.' They are reckoning without Pichegru, Saint-Just, and myself." "'We are masters of the advanced works of Toulon,'" said Charles, also reading; "'and before three or four days will have passed we shall be masters of the entire town, and the Republic will be avenged.'" "What is the date of your 'Moniteur'?" asked Euloge. "The 8th," replied the child. "Does it say anything else?" "'In the session of the 6th, Robespierre read a reply to the manifesto of the Allied Powers. The Convention ordered it to be printed and translated into every language.'" "Go on," said Schneider. The child continued: "'The 7th, Billaud-Varennes reported that the rebels of the Vendée, having made an attempt upon the city of Angers, were beaten and driven away by the garrison, with whom the inhabitants had united.'" "Long live the Republic!" cried Schneider. "'Madame Dubarry, condemned to death the 7th, was executed the same day, with the banker Van Deniver, her lover. The old prostitute completely lost her head before the executioner cut it off. She wept and struggled, and called for help; but the people replied to her appeals with hoots and maledictions. They remembered the extravagances of which she and such as she had been the cause, and the public misery that had resulted.'" "The infamous creature!" said Schneider. "After having dishonored the throne, nothing must do but she must dishonor the scaffold also." Just then two soldiers entered, whose uniforms, though familiar to Schneider, made Charles shiver in spite of himself. They were dressed in black, with two crossbones above the tri-color cockade on their caps. White braid on their black cloaks and jackets gave the effect of the ribs of a skeleton; and their sabre-taches were ornamented with a skull and crossbones. They belonged to the regiment of "Hussars of Death," in which no one enlisted without having first vowed not to be made a prisoner. A dozen soldiers from this regiment formed Schneider's bodyguard, and served him as messengers. When he saw these men, Schneider rose. "Now," said he to the young boy, "you can stay or go as you please. I must go and send off my couriers. Only do not forget that we dine at two o'clock, and that you dine with us." Then, bowing slightly to Charles, he entered his study with his escort.