him on the shoulder, saying, “Will your excellency please to awaken?”
Albert stretched out his arms, rubbed his eyelids, and opened his eyes.
“Oh,” said he, “is it you, captain? You should have allowed me to sleep. I had such a delightful dream. I was dancing the galop at Torlonia’s with the Countess G⸺.” Then he drew his watch from his pocket, that he might see how time sped.
“Half-past one only?” said he. “Why the devil do you rouse me at this hour?”
“To tell you that you are free, your excellency.”
“My dear fellow,” replied Albert, with perfect ease of mind, “remember, for the future, Napoleon’s maxim, ‘Never awaken me but for bad news;’ if you had