Reverses of fortune
had befallen the major, and the banker out of regard for him paid him
five hundred francs a month. The soldier had become a cashier in the
year 1813, after his recovery from a wound received at Studzianka
during the Retreat from Moscow, followed by six months of enforced
idleness at Strasbourg, whither several officers had been transported
by order of the Emperor, that they might receive skilled attention.
This particular officer, Castanier by name, retired with the honorary
grade of colonel, and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs.
In ten years' time the cashier had completely effaced the soldier, and
Castanier inspired the banker with such trust in him, that he was
associated in the transactions that went on in the private office
behind his little counting-house. The baron himself had access to it
by means of a secret staircase. There, matters of business were
decided. It was the bolting-room where proposals were sifted; the
privy council chamber where the reports of the money market were
analyzed; circular notes issued thence; and finally, the private
ledger and the journal which summarized the work of all the
departments were kept there.
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