A Start in Life [81]
obtained this promotion for her son
through the influence of Madame la Dauphine, granted to the Abbe
Gaudron, now rector of Saint-Pauls.
Although Oscar outwardly professed to be devoted to the Bourbons, in
the depths of his heart he was a liberal. Therefore, in the struggle
of 1830, he went over to the side of the people. This desertion, which
had an importance due to the crisis in which it took place, brought
him before the eyes of the public. During the excitement of triumph in
the month of August he was promoted lieutenant, received the cross of
the Legion of honor, and was attached as aide-de-camp to La Fayette,
who gave him the rank of captain in 1832. When the amateur of the best
of all possible republics was removed from the command of the National
guard, Oscar Husson, whose devotion to the new dynasty amounted to
fanaticism, was appointed major of a regiment sent to Africa at the
time of the first expedition undertaken by the Prince-royal. The
Vicomte de Serizy chanced to be the lieutenant-colonel of this
regiment. At the affair of the Makta, where the field had to be
abandoned to the Arabs, Monsieur de Serizy was left wounded under a
dead horse. Oscar, discovering this, called out to the squadron:
"Messieurs, it is going to death, but we cannot abandon our colonel."
He dashed upon the enemy, and his electrified soldiers followed him.
The Arabs, in their first astonishment at this furious and unlooked-
for return, allowed Oscar to seize the viscount, whom he flung across
his horse, and carried off at full gallop,--receiving, as he did so,
two slashes from yataghans on his left arm.
Oscar's conduct on this occasion was rewarded with the officer's cross
of the Legion of honor, and by his promotion to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. He took the most affectionate care of the Vicomte
de Serizy, whose mother came to meet him on the arrival of the
regiment at Toulon, where, as we know, the young man died of his
wounds.
The Comtesse de Serizy had not separated her son from the man who had
shown him such devotion. Oscar himself was so seriously wounded that
the surgeons whom the countess had brought with her from Paris thought
best to amputate his left arm.
Thus the Comte de Serizy was led not only to forgive Oscar for his
painful remarks on the journey to Presles, but to feel himself his
debtor on behalf of his son, now buried in the chapel of the chateau
de Serizy.
CHAPTER XI
OSCAR'S LAST BLUNDER
Some years after the affair at Makta, an old lady, dressed in black,
leaning on the arm of a man about thirty-four years of age, in whom
observers would recognize a retired officer, from the loss of an arm
and the rosette of the Legion of honor in his button-hole, was
standing, at eight o'clock, one morning in the month of May, under the
porte-cochere of the Lion d'Argent, rue de Faubourg Saint-Denis,
waiting, apparently, for the departure of a diligence. Undoubtedly
Pierrotin, the master of the line of coaches running through the
valley of the Oise (despatching one through Saint-Leu-Taverny and
Isle-Adam to Beaumont), would scarcely have recognized in this bronzed
and maimed officer the little Oscar Husson he had formerly taken to
Presles. Madame Husson, at last a widow, was as little recognizable as
her son. Clapart, a victim of Fieschi's machine, had served his wife
better by death than by all his previous life. The idle lounger was
hanging about, as usual, on the boulevard du Temple, gazing at the
show, when the explosion came. The poor widow was put upon the pension
list, made expressly for the families of the victim, at fifteen
hundred francs a year.
The coach, to which were harnessed four iron-gray horses that would
have done honor to the Messageries-royales, was divided into three
compartments, coupe, interieur, and rotonde, with an imperiale above.
It resembled those diligences called "Gondoles,"
through the influence of Madame la Dauphine, granted to the Abbe
Gaudron, now rector of Saint-Pauls.
Although Oscar outwardly professed to be devoted to the Bourbons, in
the depths of his heart he was a liberal. Therefore, in the struggle
of 1830, he went over to the side of the people. This desertion, which
had an importance due to the crisis in which it took place, brought
him before the eyes of the public. During the excitement of triumph in
the month of August he was promoted lieutenant, received the cross of
the Legion of honor, and was attached as aide-de-camp to La Fayette,
who gave him the rank of captain in 1832. When the amateur of the best
of all possible republics was removed from the command of the National
guard, Oscar Husson, whose devotion to the new dynasty amounted to
fanaticism, was appointed major of a regiment sent to Africa at the
time of the first expedition undertaken by the Prince-royal. The
Vicomte de Serizy chanced to be the lieutenant-colonel of this
regiment. At the affair of the Makta, where the field had to be
abandoned to the Arabs, Monsieur de Serizy was left wounded under a
dead horse. Oscar, discovering this, called out to the squadron:
"Messieurs, it is going to death, but we cannot abandon our colonel."
He dashed upon the enemy, and his electrified soldiers followed him.
The Arabs, in their first astonishment at this furious and unlooked-
for return, allowed Oscar to seize the viscount, whom he flung across
his horse, and carried off at full gallop,--receiving, as he did so,
two slashes from yataghans on his left arm.
Oscar's conduct on this occasion was rewarded with the officer's cross
of the Legion of honor, and by his promotion to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. He took the most affectionate care of the Vicomte
de Serizy, whose mother came to meet him on the arrival of the
regiment at Toulon, where, as we know, the young man died of his
wounds.
The Comtesse de Serizy had not separated her son from the man who had
shown him such devotion. Oscar himself was so seriously wounded that
the surgeons whom the countess had brought with her from Paris thought
best to amputate his left arm.
Thus the Comte de Serizy was led not only to forgive Oscar for his
painful remarks on the journey to Presles, but to feel himself his
debtor on behalf of his son, now buried in the chapel of the chateau
de Serizy.
CHAPTER XI
OSCAR'S LAST BLUNDER
Some years after the affair at Makta, an old lady, dressed in black,
leaning on the arm of a man about thirty-four years of age, in whom
observers would recognize a retired officer, from the loss of an arm
and the rosette of the Legion of honor in his button-hole, was
standing, at eight o'clock, one morning in the month of May, under the
porte-cochere of the Lion d'Argent, rue de Faubourg Saint-Denis,
waiting, apparently, for the departure of a diligence. Undoubtedly
Pierrotin, the master of the line of coaches running through the
valley of the Oise (despatching one through Saint-Leu-Taverny and
Isle-Adam to Beaumont), would scarcely have recognized in this bronzed
and maimed officer the little Oscar Husson he had formerly taken to
Presles. Madame Husson, at last a widow, was as little recognizable as
her son. Clapart, a victim of Fieschi's machine, had served his wife
better by death than by all his previous life. The idle lounger was
hanging about, as usual, on the boulevard du Temple, gazing at the
show, when the explosion came. The poor widow was put upon the pension
list, made expressly for the families of the victim, at fifteen
hundred francs a year.
The coach, to which were harnessed four iron-gray horses that would
have done honor to the Messageries-royales, was divided into three
compartments, coupe, interieur, and rotonde, with an imperiale above.
It resembled those diligences called "Gondoles,"