The two young men were each provided with a pass and a commission as
assistant-surgeon signed Coste and Bernadotte; and they were on their
way to join the demi-brigade to which they were attached. Both
belonged to moderately rich families in Beauvais, a town in which the
gentle manners and loyalty of the provinces are transmitted as a
species of birthright. Attracted to the theatre of war before the date
at which they were required to begin their functions, they had
travelled by diligence to Strasburg. Though maternal prudence had only
allowed them a slender sum of money they thought themselves rich in
possessing a few louis, an actual treasure in those days when
assignats were reaching their lowest depreciation and gold was worth
far more than silver. The two young surgeons, about twenty years of
age at the most, yielded themselves up to the poesy of their situation
with all the enthusiasm of youth. Between Strasburg and Bonn they had
visited the Electorate and the banks of the Rhine as artists,
philosophers, and observers. When a man's destiny is scientific he is,
at their age, a being who is truly many-sided. Even in making love or
in travelling, an assistant-surgeon should be gathering up the
rudiments of his fortune or his coming fame.

The two young had therefore given themselves wholly to that deep
admiration which must affect all educated men on seeing the banks of
the Rhine and the scenery of Suabia between Mayenne and Cologne,--a
strong, rich, vigorously varied nature, filled with feudal memories,
ever fresh and verdant, yet retaining at all points the imprints of
fire and sword. Louis XIV. and Turenne have cauterized that beautiful
land. Here and there certain ruins bear witness to the pride or rather
the foresight of the King of Versailles, who caused to be pulled down
the ancient castles that once adorned this part of Germany. Looking at