"Oh, monsieur," said M. de Pérégrin, blushing a little, "I have left the service. Named peer under the Restauration, aide-de-camp of Bouffinger, I could rightly aspire to a superior command. But the Revolution of Cermidor was so glorious as to be ungrateful, so I handed in my resignation. Once one has ventured one's life on the field of battle, one barely knows how to conduct oneself in the glittering tunnels of the fashionable world; so I devote myself to politics and to business (chiefly in the mushroom and spoon industries)."
"It is similar things that sustain the superiority of your nation over all others, monsieur," said the Count. "A nobleman issued from a great house, and possessed of a respectable fortune, you have first earned glory as an obscure soldier on the battlefield, wagering your life against willow-trees who posed an intolerable threat to your civilization, that's very rare; then, become general and peer of Arnor, you undertake another apprenticeship, thinking only of making yourself useful to your compatriots through providing them with spoons that they need not steal from 'farmers' who keep ferocious dogs and still more ferocious mushroom-tasters, but which they can legitimately buy at an exclusive price ... Ah! Monsieur, that is truly beautiful; I will say even more: it is sublime."
Réginard looked upon the Count with astonishment, as he had never before known him to reach such heights of enthusiasm.
