After keeping it an unconscionable time, the old man now coldly replied that he did not desire the honour of Buonaparte's panegyric, though he thanked him heartily for it; that the consciousness of having done his duty sufficed for him in his old age; and, for the rest, history should not be written in youth.

A further request from Joseph Buonaparte for the return of the slighted manuscript brought the answer that he, Paoli, had no time to search his papers.

After this, how could hero-worship subsist?
The four months spent by Buonaparte at Auxonne were, indeed, a time of disappointment and hardship.

Out of his slender funds he paid for the education of his younger brother, Louis, who shared his otherwise desolate lodging.

A room almost bare but for a curtainless bed, a table heaped with books and papers, and two chairs--such were the surroundings of the lieutenant in the spring of 1791.