TO THE READER
It was in the winter of 1830 and three hundred leagues from Paris that
this tale was written; thus it contains no allusion to the events of 1839.
Many years before 1830, at the time when our Armies were overrunning
Europe, chance put me in possession of a billeting order on the
house of a Canon: this was at Padua, a charming town in Italy; my stay
being prolonged, we became friends.
It was in the winter of 1830 and three hundred leagues from Paris that
this tale was written; thus it contains no allusion to the events of 1839.
Many years before 1830, at the time when our Armies were overrunning
Europe, chance put me in possession of a billeting order on the
house of a Canon: this was at Padua, a charming town in Italy; my stay
being prolonged, we became friends.