things are quiet tell me what you wanted to say just now."

"I wanted to ask what this new crisis means, commandant?" was the
reply.

"It is not new," said Hulot. "All Europe is against us, and this time
she has got the whip hand. While those Directors are fighting together
like horses in a stable without any oats, and letting the government
go to bits, the armies are left without supplies or reinforcements. We
are getting the worst of it in Italy; we've evacuated Mantua after a
series of disasters on the Trebia, and Joubert has just lost a battle
at Novi. I only hope Massena may be able to hold the Swiss passes
against Suwarow. We're done for on the Rhine. The Directory have sent
Moreau. The question is, Can he defend the frontier? I hope he may,
but the Coalition will end by invading us, and the only general able
to save the nation is, unluckily, down in that devilish Egypt; and how
is he ever to get back, with England mistress of the Mediterranean?"

"Bonaparte's absence doesn't trouble me, commandant," said the young
adjutant Gerard, whose intelligent mind had been developed by a fine
education. "I am certain the Revolution cannot be brought to naught.
Ha! we soldiers have a double mission,--not merely to defend French
territory, but to preserve the national soul, the generous principles
of liberty, independence, and rights of human reason awakened by our
Assemblies and gaining strength, as I believe, from day to day. France
is like a traveller bearing a light: he protects it with one hand, and
defends himself with the other. If your news is true, we have never
the last ten years been so surrounded with people trying to blow it
out. Principles and nation are in danger of perishing together."