At the present price of fodder seven or eight francs a week should be enough for each horse in a stable of two hundred.
I will not have any waste at the Tuileries.' Thus within a few minutes he would pass from a question of milliards to a question of sous, and from the management of a empire to that of a stable.

From time to time I could observe that he threw a little oblique glance at me as if to ask what I thought of it all, and at the time I wondered very much why my approval should be of any consequence to him.

But now, when I look back and see that my following his fortunes brought over so many others of the young nobility, I understand that he saw very much further than I did.
'Well, Monsieur de Laval,' said he suddenly, 'you have seen something of my methods.

Are you prepared to enter my service ?' 'Assuredly, Sire,' I answered.
'I can be a very hard master when I like,' said he smiling.

'You were there when I spoke to Admiral Bruix.