Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/48

 day, the guard was about to conduct us to prison, when we insisted upon halting at an inn, until the pleasure of the general should be known; finding they wavered at our firmness, we desired that one of the gendarmes should conduct two of us to his house, where we had an immediate interview; instead of receiving us with the contemptible pomp of a mushroom general, he immediately presented chairs, and, with the mild dignity of the accomplished gentleman, expressed his approbation of our request to be considered on parole, gave the necessary directions to the gendarme, and ordered him to retire. He then said, if we were desirous to remain in the town a few days, the permission should be granted; but, as our finances and inclination were not in unison, we declined his kind offer, with many thanks.

We returned to our friends, elated with the success of our mission; all participated in the pleasure, not merely from having escaped the filth and vermin of a prison, but also from its giving us a certain degree of consequence in the eyes of