Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/275

Rh lieutenant in the army. He rejoices at the prospect of helping his family out of his meagre income of less than two hundred and fifty dollars a year. But his responsibility is suddenly increased when Charles Bonaparte, his father, dies. The family is worse off than before, and when Joseph cannot straighten out their tangled affairs, Napoleon decides to undertake the task.

After eight years of absence we see Napoleon on leave from his regiment, returning to Corsica. He has hard work before him. There are four little children under nine, Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jerome, at home with their widowed mother. There are two, Lucien and Elizabeth, away at school. Only Joseph and Napoleon are on their feet, and on Napoleon, the stronger character, falls the brunt of the burden.

When the young lieutenant goes back to the army he takes Louis with him. He tutors him in mathematics, he shares his all with him. He deprives himself of many things really necessary to his position in order to help his family.

"I breakfast on dry bread," he writes. He