and get employment in Madame Sans Gene's laundry," he said. "There's
no disgrace in washing, and in that way I may be able to provide
myself with decent linen, anyhow. Then I shall belong to the
laundered aristocracy, as the English have it."

But greater things than this awaited Napoleon at Paris. Falling in
with Barras, a member of the Convention which ruled France at this
time, he learned that the feeling for the restoration of the monarchy
was daily growing stronger, and that the royalists of Paris were a
great menace to the Convention.

"They'll mob us the first thing we know," said Barras. "The members
look to me to save them in case of attack, but I must confess I'd
like to sublet the contract."

"Give it to me, then. I'm temporarily out of a job," said Napoleon,
"and the life I'm leading is killing me. If it weren't for Talma's
kindness in letting me lead his armies on the stage at the Odeon,
with a turn at scene-shifting when they are not playing war dramas, I
don't know what I'd do for my meals; and even when I do get a
sandwich ahead occasionally I have to send it to Marseilles to my
mother. Give me your contract, and if I don't save your Convention
you needn't pay me a red franc. I hate aristocrats, and I hate mobs;
and this being an aristocratic mob, I'll go into the work with
enthusiasm."

"You!" cried Barras. "A man of your size, or lack of it, save the
Convention from a mob of fifty thousand? Nonsense!"

"Did you ever hear that little slang phrase so much in vogue in