like me. If I can give him some good advice, why shouldn't I? And why shouldn't he follow it?
Hulin [jokingly]. And what have you to say to the King?
Hoche. I tell him to send his troops away from Paris, and to come himself to the city and start the revolution. [Hulin laughs uproariously. Hoche smiles.] Your reasons are excellent. Thank you for your advice, but that is not what I want.
Hulin. What, then?
Hoche [embarrassed]. The—the style, you see. And the spelling—I'm not quite sure.
Hulin. Do you imagine he is going to read it?
Hoche. That makes no difference.
Hulin. I'll see to it, then.
Hoche. How fortunate you are to have an education! Work as I will now, I can never make up for lost time.
Hulin. Are you really so simple as to think this letter will be read?
Hoche [good-humoredly]. To tell the truth, I don't think it will. And yet it would be very easy for all those fellows who run the government of Europe, to apply just a little common sense, ordinary everyday sense! So much the worse for them! If they don't, it will be done without them!
Hulin. Instead of trying to reform the world, you'd do much better to get yourself out of the fix you're in now. You are going to be reported—perhaps you have been already. Do you know what will be waiting for you when you return to the barracks?
