Nor could I be surprised to learn, as I did, how many a high offer of marriage had been made to her by those soldiers of fortune whose gallantry and daring had won them honors in the service.
To value at their real price such attractions, one should meet them far away, and remote from the ordinary habits of the world: in the wild, reckless career of the camp; on the long march; beside the weary watchfire; ay, on the very field of battle,--amid the din, the clamor, and the smoke,--the cheers, the cries of carnage. Then, indeed, such an apparition had something magical in it. To see that tender girl tripping along fearlessly from rank to rank as though she had a charmed life, now saluting with her hand some brave soldier as he rode by to the charge, now stooping beside the wounded, and holding to his bloodless lips the longed-for cup; to watch her as she rode gracefully at the head of the regiment, or lay beside the fire of the bivouac, relating with a woman"s grace some story of the campaign, while the gray-bearded veteran and the raw youth hung on each word, and wondered how the scenes in which they mingled and acted could bear such interest when told by rosy lips,--who would wonder if she had many lovers? Who would not rather be surprised at those who remained coldly indifferent to such charms as hers?
Let my confession, then, excite neither astonishment nor suspicion, when I acknowledge, that in such companionship the days slipped rapidly over.
I never wearied of hearing her tell of the scenes she had witnessed, nor did she of recounting them; and although a sense of reproach used now and then to cross me for the life of inactivity and indolence I was leading. Mademoiselle Minette promised me many a brave opportunity of distinction to come, and campaigns of as great glory as even those of Italy and Egypt.
END OF VOL. I.