Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/190

l66 old valet. N—— had formerly been a small tradesman at Lausanne, and had ordered patterns from my brother and paid him a crown each for them, to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. Such is the way of the world. Whilst the women and my brother worked, our fellow boarder, M. Leriche, the musician, would give concerts in the different towns in Switzerland, and bring back the pecuniary results of his tour,—the harmonious sounds of his Stradivarius converted by our Amphion into ducats,—as his contribution to the common fund. He insisted upon paying all the school expenses of my young nephew.

"Did you not give me a pension. Monsieur le Comte, when you were rich?" said the kind-hearted, honest musician when he first joined our little household. "It is bad enough that you have lost your fortune, there is no need you should lose your friend as well. As for the pension, let it go: you can renew it some day, when we have returned to France." My other nephew, being older, was serving in Conde's army.