It was
in reference to this last that General Feraud answered from a little
village on the banks of the Garonne, in the following words:
"If one of your boy's names had been Napoleon--or Joseph--or even
Joachim, I could congratulate you on the event with a better heart. As
you have thought proper to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand,
I am confirmed in my conviction that you never loved the Emperor. The
thought of that sublime hero chained to a rock in the middle of a savage
ocean makes life of so little value that I would receive with positive
joy your instructions to blow my brains out. From suicide I consider
myself in honour debarred. But I keep a loaded pistol in my drawer."
Madame la Generale D'Hubert lifted up her hands in despair after
perusing that answer.
"You see? He won't be reconciled," said her husband. "He must never, by
any chance, be allowed to guess where the money comes from. It wouldn't
do. He couldn't bear it."
"You are a brave homme, Armand," said Madame la Generale, appreciatively.
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