He had hoped that some day he might win a colonelcy; more than that he had never thought of.

High commands in France were matters of birth, interest, and connection.

Gassion, who had just earned his marshal's baton, was the sole exception to the rule.

Hitherto generals, and still more marshals, had always been men belonging to the first families of France.

It had been a matter of course that when an army went to the field it was under the command of a prince of the blood, and the utmost an outsider could look for was the command of a regiment.