The colonel, all dumbfounded, held out his hand to Leon, M. Renault, and the doctor, gallantly kissed the hand of Mme. Renault, swallowed at a gulp a claret glass filled to the brim with brandy, and said, in a subdued voice:—­

“Most excellent friends, forget the vagaries of an impulsive but generous soul.  To subdue my passions shall hereafter be my law.  After conquering all the nations in the universe, it is well to conquer one’s self.”

This said, he submitted his ear to M. Nibor, who finished dressing it.

“But,” said he, summoning up his recollections, “they did not shoot me, then?”

“No.”

“And I wasn’t frozen to death in the tower?”

“Not quite.”

“Why has my uniform been taken off?  I see!  I am a prisoner!”

“You are free.”

“Free! Vive l’Empereur! But then there’s not a moment to lose!  How many leagues is it to Dantzic?”

“It’s very far.”

“What do you call this chicken-coop of a town?”

“Fontainebleau.”

“Fontainebleau!  In France?”

“Prefecture of Seine-et-Marne.  We are going to introduce to you the sub-prefect, whom you just pitched into the street.”

“What the devil are your sub-prefects to me?  I have a message from the Emperor to General Rapp, and I must start this very day for Dantzic.  God knows whether I’ll be there in time!”

“My poor colonel, you will arrive too late.  Dantzic is given up.”

“That’s impossible!  Since when?”

“About forty-six years ago.”

“Thunder!  I did not understand that you were—­mocking me!”

M. Nibor placed in his hand a calendar, and said, “See for yourself!  It is now the 17th of August, 1859; you went to sleep in the tower of Liebenfeld on the 11th of November, 1813:  there have been, then, forty-six years, within three months, during which the world has moved on without you.”

“Twenty-four and forty-six:  but then I would be seventy years old, according to your statement!”

“Your vitality clearly shows that you are still twenty-four.”

He shrugged his shoulders, tore up the calendar, and said, beating the floor with his foot, “Your almanac is a humbug!”

M. Renault ran to his library, took up half a dozen books at haphazard, and made him read, at the foot of the title-pages, the dates 1826, 1833, 1847, and 1858.

“Pardon me!” said Fougas, burying his head in his hands.  “What has happened to me is so new!  I do not think that another human being was ever subjected to such a trial.  I am seventy years old!”

Good Mme. Renault went and got a looking-glass from the bath-room and gave it to him, saying:—­

“Look!”

He took the glass in both hands, and was silently occupied in resuming acquaintance with himself, when a hand-organ came into the court and began playing ‘Partant pour la Syrie.’