But, alas, the deplorable crime,
which so soon deprived me at one blow of my master and of power,
put an end to this, among other and greater schemes.
VII. THE GOVERNOR OF GUERET.
Without attaching to dreams greater importance than a prudent man
will always be willing to assign to the unknown and
unintelligible, I have been in the habit of reflecting on them;
and have observed with some curiosity that in these later years
of my life, during which France has enjoyed peace and comparative
prosperity, my dreams have most often reproduced the stormy rides
and bivouacs of my youth, with all the rough and bloody
accompaniments which our day knows only by repute. Considering
these visions, and comparing my sleeping apathy with my daylight
reflections, I have been led to wonder at the power of habit;
which alone makes it possible for a man who has seen a dozen
stricken fields, and viewed, scarcely with emotion, the slaughter
of a hundred prisoners, to turn pale at the sight of a coach
accident, and walk a mile rather than see a rogue hang.
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