"You are a lucky fellow, Kennedy," O'Neil said, when Desmond told
his two comrades of the arrangements that had been made. "And, if
you go on like this, the regiment will believe that any good
fortune that may fall to its lot is the result of your luck."

"I really do not like having leave given to me, when I have been
such a short time in the regiment. It does not seem fair upon
others."

"No one will grudge you that," O'Sullivan said. "It is not as if
we were at home. Then, of course, everyone would like his turn.
But here, although we are soldiers of France, we are as strangers
in the land. Here in Paris we have many acquaintances, and a
welcome at most of the receptions; but that is the end of it. It
is seldom, indeed, that we are invited into the country houses of
those we know. That sort of hospitality is not the fashion in
France. Here, nobles may throw open their houses to all gentlemen
by birth who happen to be presented to them, but at home they are
rigidly exclusive; and, moreover, I am inclined to think they
regard us Irishmen as detrimental and dangerous. Many Irishmen
make exceedingly good matches, and we are regarded as having a way
with us, with the girls, that is likely to interfere with the
arrangements their parents have made for their marriages. Now, it
seems to me that your baron must be a very confiding old
gentleman, or he would never take you to stay in the society of
the young lady who owes so much to you. Faith, it seems to me that
you have the ball at your feet, and that you have only to go in
and win. From what I hear, Mademoiselle Pointdexter is no older
than you are yourself, and it is a glorious chance for you."