Now, there were two brothers of this name in the regiment, both of
them sergeants, but having nothing else, physically or mentally in
common, the elder being something of a scamp, while the younger was
thoroughly respectable. It was this latter whom the colonel had
intended to appoint as my mentor, but in the short time which he and
my father had spent together, Col. Picart had forgotten, when naming
Pertelay, to add the younger: furthermore, this Pertelay was not in
the part of the squadron which was stationed in Nice, while the elder
was in the very company, the seventh, which I was about to join.

Major Muller believed that the colonel had named the elder to my
father and that this wild character had been chosen to open the eyes
of an innocent and shy young man, which I then was. So he sent us
the elder Pertelay.

This example of the old type of Hussar was a rowdy, quarrelsome,
swashbuckling, tippler, but also brave to the point of foolhardiness;
for the rest, he was completely ignorant of anything that was not
connected with his horse, his arms and his duties in the face of the
enemy. Pertelay the younger, on the other hand, was quiet, polite,
and well-educated. He was a handsome man and just as brave as his
brother, and would surely have gone far had he not, while still very
young, been killed in action.

Now to return to the elder. He arrived at my father's quarters,
and what did we see? A fine fellow, very well turned out it is true,
but with his shako tipped over one ear, his sabre trailing on the
ground, his red face slashed by an immense scar, moustaches six
inches long, which, stiffened by wax, curled up into his ears, two
big plaits of hair, braided from his temples, which, escaping from