liked to display his honourable discharge in which he was mentioned as
unschreckbar (fearless) before the enemy. No conjunction could seem more
unpromising, yet it stands in the family tradition that these two got on
very well together in their rural solitude.

When asked whether he had not been sorely tempted during the Hundred
Days to make his way again to France and join the service of his beloved
Emperor, Mr. Nicholas B. used to mutter: "No money. No horse. Too far to
walk."

The fall of Napoleon and the ruin of national hopes affected adversely
the character of Mr. Nicholas B. He shrank from returning to his
province. But for that there was also another reason. Mr. Nicholas B.
and his brother--my maternal grandfather--had lost their father early,
while they were quite children. Their mother, young still and left
very well off, married again a man of great charm and of an amiable
disposition but without a penny. He turned out an affectionate and
careful stepfather; it was unfortunate though that while directing the
boys' education and forming their character by wise counsel he did his
best to get hold of the fortune by buying and selling land in his own
name and investing capital in such a manner as to cover up the traces
of the real ownership. It seems that such practices can be successful
if one is charming enough to dazzle one's own wife permanently and brave
enough to defy the vain terrors of public opinion. The critical time
came when the elder of the boys on attaining his majority in the year
1811 asked for the accounts and some part at least of the inheritance
to begin life upon. It was then that the stepfather declared with
calm finality that there were no accounts to render and no property to
inherit. The whole fortune was his very own. He was very good-natured
about the young man's misapprehension of the true state of affairs, but