For the good of his
soul, he renounced the church, but for his own advantage, he kept his
abbacy. This was not difficult in days when secular abbes were common;
nothing would induce him to change his resolution of being a soldier.
Meantime he was perfecting his accomplishments as a fine gentleman, one
of the requisites for which was a knowledge of all sorts of games. No
matter that his mother was miserable at his decision. Had her son been
an abbe, she thought he would have become a saint: nevertheless, when he
returned home, with the air of a courtier and a man of the world, boy as
he was, and the very impersonation of what might then be termed _la
jeune France_, she was so enchanted with him that she consented to his
going to the wars, attended again by Brinon, his valet, equerry, and
Mentor in one. Next in De Grammont's narrative came his adventure at
Lyons, where he spent the 200 louis his mother had given Brinon for him,
in play, and very nearly broke the poor old servant's heart; where he
had duped a horse-dealer; and he ended by proposing plans, similarly
_honourable_, to be adopted for their present emergencies.
The first step was to go to head-quarters, to dine with a certain Count
de Cameran, a Savoyard, and invite him to supper.
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