"
"Hurrah for the Marshal!" cried the workman.
"Oh, you may shout--shout away! The Marshal is as deaf as a post from
the roar of cannon."
This anecdote may give some idea of the respect with which the
_Invalides_ regarded Marshal Hulot, whose Republican proclivities
secured him the popular sympathy of the whole quarter of the town.
Sorrow taking hold on a spirit so calm and strict and noble, was a
heart-breaking spectacle. The Baroness could only tell lies, with a
woman's ingenuity, to conceal the whole dreadful truth from her
brother-in-law.
In the course of this miserable morning, the Marshal, who, like all
old men, slept but little, had extracted from Lisbeth full particulars
as to his brother's situation, promising to marry her as the reward of
her revelations. Any one can imagine with what glee the old maid
allowed the secrets to be dragged from her which she had been dying to
tell ever since she had come into the house; for by this means she
made her marriage more certain.
"Your brother is incorrigible!" Lisbeth shouted into the Marshal's
best ear.
Her strong, clear tones enabled her to talk to him, but she wore out
her lungs, so anxious was she to prove to her future husband that to
her he would never be deaf.
"He has had three mistresses," said the old man, "and his wife was an
Adeline! Poor Adeline!"
"If you will take my advice," shrieked Lisbeth, "you will use your
influence with the Prince de Wissembourg to secure her some suitable
appointment.
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