R O U G E E T N O I R . “ - d als 0 n d en ad en . 3 !i 11 (fi Zfi FROM THE FRENCH OF E D M O N D A B O U T , P HI LA D E L P H I A CLAX T O N R E M SE N H AFFE LFIN G E R , . 624 626 AR ET T R E E T , M K S . 1 8 7 3. E n t e red a cc or d m t o A c t of Co n re ss 1 1 1 th e ea r 1 8 3 b , g g , y 7 , y CLAX T O N R E M E N HAFFE LFI N G E R S , n th e ffi c of th e lra n a n o f Co n 1 e s a t Wa h m o n i O e g s s gt . T ER E PE D BY J FAGA N PHILADELPHIA S OT Y . N SO , . N T E N T S CO . CHAPTER I . CAPT AIN BI T T E R LIN A II CH PTER . I CHAPTER II . I CHAPTER V. INNO CENT DREA M ING S CHAP TER V . T HE PL AY -BI LLS I CHAPTER V . T HE E IG H TH PASSENG ER HAPTE II C R V . A T O U R IN SWITZ ER LAND HAPTE C R VIII . C O T T N E N S . CHAPTER IX . A U RE L IA HA PTE X C R . R O U G E ET N O I R HAPTE X I C R . S I L I E R M . V G O HAPTE X II C R . T H E CA FE O F T H E M USK ETEERS CHAPTER X III . ’ HO W M E O R E FU SED E M M A S H AN D I CHAPTER X V . P RE PARATIO NS CHAPTER X V . B ATT LE I X I CHAPTER V . PO STSCRI PT R O UG E E T N O I R . HA E C PT R I . P B I T T E R LI N CA T AIN . HEN he was asked to fil l up the last census in papers, he wrote it all down himself, a little, i - fi e ld dry scratch of a hand , bristl ng like a stubble ’ Bitte rlin of 60 Jean Pierre , Luneville ; years old , 35 1 1 2 un years of active service, campaigns , wo ds ; in 1 8 8 4 1 8 86 in 1 8 4 7 Captain , Chevalier in , retired , ” - m a n a Saint Helena medal . ‘ - se t stifl His short, thick frame was as buckram perha ps more from habits of commanding than even from years . He had never been what the seamstresses call a fi n e - looking man ; but in 1 8 5 8 he wanted a line or two of the regulation height . I am rather inclined to the opinion that his body had sun k by degrees o n the marches, from putting one foot before the other ! His one, two feet were Short and his hands big . His — a s i face always red, and full of l ttle wrinkles as a ffill— had preserved an expression of firmness . That R it in a s r bold oman nose , which cut two the Ape i i n nines divide Italy, must have broken some hearts 2 H i 1 8 0 . is moustache had lost all its pliability ; n 2 1 3 1 4 G R O U E E T N O I R . ’ R u fact, no owland s Macassar had virtue eno gh to con quer it : it might be called a tooth - brush stuck on his upper li p . It was always as black a s j et fromSun W day morning till ednesday evening . If it grizzled a is little towards the end of the week , it because the art of the dyer has not yet reached perfection . As to his hair, it was quite another thing ; it had been always a n d fi n e black , the glossy color lasted to the day of — - h is death the hair dresser had guaranteed it . His age was so cleverly concealed that it betrayed itsel f h only by a few long , w ite hairs escaping out of his ears, and by the puckers of a face more corrugated f than a lake under the first puf s of the morning breeze . — His dress was that of a dandy of 1 8 28 a narrow his brimmed hat, a black stock nearly reaching ears , a - frock coat buttoned under the chin , wide pantaloons t with great plai s . The gloves he had a preference for were of white cotton ; the red ribbon in his button hole glowed splendidly l ike a pink i n the month of June . His voice was quick , imperious, and of a very w crusty, surly tone . He drawled to ards the middle of the his sentences, and stopped with a sudden j erk at end , as if he was drilling his men . He said , How do — DO ? you in the same tone that he would have said , MS . w a s Present AR H is disposition the most candid , the most honest, the most delicate, but at the same time in the sourest, the crossest, and the grumpiest the world . The Spirits of a man of sixty are nearly always such as they have been made by his previous life . Young people are j ust as nature has formed them t he old are f O u w O f a shioned by the hands, ften ro gh and a kward , C P T B I T T E R L I N A A I N . Bitt e rlin society . Jean Pierre had been the prettiest of — d rummer boys and the merriest O f Frenchmen at the battle of Leipsic . Fortune, who treated him like a h spoiled c ild , had made him a corporal at sixteen , and at seventeen a sergeant . Like many another he had ’ , e O f dr amed starry epaulets , marshals batons, and per h “ ” aps something better . The word impossible had ’ been rubbed out of the army s dictionary . A bold young f ellow, without birth , and hardly able to write his name, might aspire to anything, if opportunity would only give Bitte rlin him a lift . had attracted attention from the first by his steadiness, his cool courage , his activity, and all those other secondary qualities that are the small change n . of the Fre ch soldier He merited . his first epaulet at W aterloo, but he d id not receive it till nine years after in wards Spain . In the interim he had been tempted a hundred times to quit the service and go plant his cab bages at Luneville ; but he never gave his superiors any trouble , though discontented and a sergeant . Mechanically and without relish he continued in a pro h d fe ssion that he a embraced with enthusiasm . Between ff - n Con stitu the co ee house , the drill , the readi g of the ti on n e l , and the pretty eyes of a milliner of Toulouse, the hours O f this discouraged warrior sped along slowly ' ' Mihta r A 71 enough . He read over and over again the y n ua l m his , to count the na es of al l comrades who had ' a n d been passed over his shoulders, such reading soured his temper . Stil l some one thing or another kept hi m i n ~ his regiment, and he followed his flag as a dog fol lows his master . In this growling resignation there is something too sublime for mere civilians to admire . Bitte rlin detested the Bourbons ; but no one served 1 G 6 R O U E E T N O I R . m f u them ore aithf lly . If he did not get himself killed a 1 8 30 a . on their ccount in , he came at le st very near it a w He was ca rried to the hospit l ith a piece of lead in I h n . V e e h is leg he recovered his senses, aft r fifteen davs of fever and delirium , he was rej oiced to hear that the government was changed a little . His craving to s his a e e f mily , that is to say his regiment , hastened his recovery . He expected that the ti me of the great wars w a s a n d coming back again , , like all true soldiers , he d reamed of nothing less than the c o n fi a gra tio n O f Eu ' - I O e . fi re p But it all ended in a few works, and even Bitte rlin these was not ordered to extinguish . He was ’ a h ppointed captain by right of seniority , w en the fool s ” t turn came , as he himself expressed it, wi h a bitter o cca sid n a ll grunt . His colonel , who encouraged hi m y, proved to him clearly that he should not despair . A a —six capt in at thirty , he still had Africa before him . He u crossed the Mediterranean , took the field , but ca ght the dysentery before getting the first sight at an enemy .