daybreak, and as the barber was passing the razor as gently as possible
over his master's cheek, the conversation fell, or more likely was led,
on Foedor. The barber praised him highly, and this naturally caused his
master to ask him, remembering the correction the young aide-decamp had
superintended, if he could not find some fault in this model of
perfection that might counterbalance so many good qualities. Gregory
replied that with the exception of pride he thought Foedor
irreproachable.

"Pride?" asked the astonished general. "That is a failing from which I
should have thought him most free."

"Perhaps I should have said ambition," replied Gregory.

"Ambition!" said the general. "It does not seem to me that he has given
much proof of ambition in entering my service; for after his achievements
in the last campaign he might easily have aspired to the honour of a
place in the emperor's household."

"Oh yes, he is ambitious," said Gregory, smiling. "One man's ambition is
for high position, another's an illustrious alliance: the former will owe
everything to himself, the latter will make a stepping-stone of his wife,
then they raise their eyes higher than they should."

"What do you mean to suggest?" said the general, beginning to see what
Gregory was aiming at.

"I mean, your excellency," replied Gregory, "there are many men who,
owing to the kindness shown them by others, forget their position and
aspire to a more exalted one; having already been placed so high, their