This morning, Anning's first question upon waking was, "Has Lasalle returned?"
Yesterday, after dealing with Marquis Lamballe and several military officers, he had looked everywhere for Massena but had not found anyone by that name among the garrison in Savona. Therefore, he had placed his hopes on the troops stationed in Valaz.
He sent Lasalle to Valaz at a gallop to apprehend the officers and casually look for an Italian named Massena, intending to appoint him as a brigade commander directly if found.
As a result, Lasalle left last night and since then has been out of contact, with no one dispatched back to report all night.
Nevertheless, considering Lasalle's character, Anning felt it quite normal that no one had returned to report and reminded himself to always instruct Lasalle to "report promptly" whenever sending him out on tasks.
—But then again, the reminder might not be effective.
Maybe he got drunk and tossed the reminder to the back of his mind.
