as a sub-lieutenant, God knows at the price of what privations! Do you know how I managed it? It was by never setting foot in society or in a cafe; by eating dry bread, and by brushing my clothes myself, so that they should last longer."
An Imperial official once complained to him that he could not live on a salary of forty pounds a month. Said Napoleon:
"I know all about it, sir . . . . When I had the honour to be a sub-lieutenant I breakfasted off dry bread, but I bolted my door on my poverty. In public I did not disgrace my comrades."
One proof of the scrupulousness of his examination of his expenses is to be seen in a tailor's bill, still extant, on which he had obtained a reduction of twopence.
IV.
A YOUTHFUL CYNIC.
The period between Napoleon's earliest military days and his appearance at Toulon belongs to Corsica rather than to France. He spent nearly an entire year on furlough there. He was reprimanded, and at one time seemed likely permanently to lose his position in the regular army. A biographer who does not love him declares that he was guilty during this period of crimes of insubordination and want of discipline enough to have shot him a hundred
