In the Reign of Terror | Page 6

had greatly interfered with
continental travel.
Even now the subjects of France and England were engaged in a
desperate struggle in India, although there was peace between the
courts of Versailles and St. James's. A knowledge of the French
language then would be likely to be of great utility to Harry if he
entered the army; his expenses at Westminster would be saved, and the
two hundred and forty pounds which he would acquire during his three
years' stay in France would be very useful to him on his first start in life.
After breakfast next morning Dr. Sandwith asked Harry to take a turn
in the garden with him, for the holidays had just begun.

"What do you think of this, Harry?"
"I have not thought much about it one way or the other, sir," Harry said,
looking up with a smile. "It seemed to me better that you should do the
thinking for both of us."
"I might perhaps be better able to judge whether it would be
advantageous or otherwise for you to accept the offer, but you must be
the best judge as to whether you would like to accept it or not."
"I can't quite make up my mind as to that, sir. I like school very much
and I like being at home. I don't want to learn Frenchified ways, nor to
eat frogs and snails and all sorts of nastiness; still, it would be fun
going to a place so different to England, and hearing no English spoken,
and learning all their rum ways, and getting to jabber French."
"It might be very useful to you in the army, Harry;" and then the doctor
stopped suddenly.
"The army!" Harry exclaimed in a tone of astonished delight. "Oh, sir,
do you really think of my going into the army? You never said a word
about that before. I should like that immensely"
"That slipped out, Harry, for I did not mean to say anything about it
until you had left school; still, if you go to France I do not know why
you should not keep that before you. I don't think the army is a very
good profession, but you do not seem to have any marked talent for
anything else. You don't like the idea of medicine or the church, and
you were almost heart-broken when I wanted you to accept the offer of
your uncle John of a seat in his counting-house. It seems to me that the
army would suit you better than anything else, and I have no doubt that
I could get you a commission. Now, whenever we fight France is sure
to be on the other side, and I think that it would be of great advantage
to you to have a thorough knowledge of French - a thing which very
few officers in our army possess. If you accept this offer you will have
the opportunity of attaining this, and at the same time of earning a nice
little sum which would pay for your outfit and supply you with
pocket-money for some time."
"Yes, sir, it would be first rate!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. "Oh,
please, accept the offer; I should like it of all things; and even if I do
get ever so skinny on frogs and thin soup, I can get fat on roast beef
again when I get back."
"That is all nonsense, Harry, about frogs and starving. The French style

of cookery differs from ours, but they eat just as much, and although
they may not, as a rule, be as broad and heavy as Englishmen, that is
simply a characteristic of race; the Latin peoples are of slighter build
than the Teutonic. As to their food, you know that the Romans, who
were certainly judges of good living, considered the snail a great luxury,
and I dare say ate frogs too. A gentleman who had made the grand tour
told me that he had tasted them in Paris and found them very delicate
eating. You may not like the living quite at first, but you will soon get
over that, and once accustomed to it you will like it quite as well as our
solid joints. My principal objection to your going lies quite in another
direction. Public opinion in France is much disturbed. In the National
Assembly, which is the same as our Parliament, there is a great spirit of
resistance to the royal authority, something like a revolution has
already been accomplished, and the king is little more than a prisoner."
"But that would surely make no difference to me, sir!"
"No, I don't see that it should, Harry. Still, it would cause your mother
a good deal of anxiety."
"I don't see it could make any difference," Harry repeated; "and