They inspected the martial
furnishing of the room: the drum, the pair of rifles, the pistols, in the
corner, the sabres crossed on the wall, the gold-handled sword that lay
upon the table, and the picture of Napoleon on a white horse against the
wall. Tobacco and wine were set upon a side table, and every man as he
passed out took a glass of wine and enough tobacco for his pipe, and
said: "Of grace, your health, monseigneur!"
There were those who scoffed, who from natural habit disbelieved, and
nodded knowingly, and whispered in each other's ears; but these were in
the minority; and all the women and children declared for this new "Man
of Destiny." And when some foolish body asked him for a lock of his hair,
and old Madame Degardy (crazy Joan, as she was called) followed, offering
him a pinch of snuff, and a lad appeared with a bunch of violets from
Madame Chalice, the dissentients were cast in shadow, and had no longer
courage to doubt.
Madame Chalice had been merely whimsical in sending these violets, which
her gardener had brought her that very morning.
"It will help along the pretty farce," she had said to herself; and then
she sat her down to read Napoleon's letters to Josephine, and to wonder
that a woman could have been faithless and vile with such a man.
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