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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II (of II), by
+Charles James Lever
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II (of II)
+
+Author: Charles James Lever
+
+Illustrator: Phiz.
+
+Release Date: April 6, 2010 [EBook #31902]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM BURKE II ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+TOM BURKE OF "OURS."
+
+By Charles Lever
+
+With Illustrations By Phiz.
+
+In Two Volumes, Vol. II.
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Two print editions have been used for this Project
+Gutenberg Edition of "Tom Burke of 'Ours'": The Little Brown edition
+(Boston) of 1913 with illustrations by Phiz; and the Chapman and Hall
+editon (London) of 1853 with illustrations by Browne. Illegible and
+missing pages were found in both print editions.
+
+DW
+
+
+
+
+TOM BURKE OF "OURS"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE SICK LEAVE.
+
+"What is it, Minette?" said I, for the third time, as I saw her lean her
+head from out the narrow casement, and look down into the valley beside
+the river; "what do you see there?"
+
+"I see a regiment of infantry coming along the road from Ulm," said she,
+after a pause; "and now I perceive the lancers are following them, and
+the artillery too. Ah! and farther again, I see a great cloud of dust.
+_Mere de Ciel!_ how tired and weary they all look! It surely cannot be a
+march in retreat; and, now that I think of it, they have no baggage, nor
+any wagons with them."
+
+"That was a bugle call, Minette! Did you not hear it?"
+
+"Yes, it's a halt for a few minutes. Poor fellows! they are sadly
+exhausted; they cannot even reach the side of the way, but are lying
+down on the very road. I can bear it no longer. I must find out what
+it all means." So saying, she threw round her a mantle which, Spanish
+fashion, she wore over her head, and hurried from the room.
+
+For some time I waited patiently for her return; but when half an
+hour elapsed, I arose and crept to the window. A succession of rocky
+precipices descended from the terrace on which the house stood, down
+to the very edge of the Danube, and from the point where I sat the view
+extended for miles in every direction. What, then, was my astonishment
+to see the wide plain, not marked by regular columns in marching array,
+but covered with straggling detachments, hurrying onward as if without
+order or discipline. Here was an infantry battalion mixed up with a
+cavalry corps, the foot-soldiers endeavoring to keep up with the ambling
+trot of the dragoons; there, the ammunition wagons were covered with
+weary soldiers, too tired to march. Most of the men were without their
+firelocks, which were piled in a confused heap on the limbers of the
+guns. No merry chant, no burst of warlike music, cheered them on. They
+seemed like the scattered fragments of a routed army hurrying onward in
+search of some place of refuge,-sad and spiritless.
+
+"Can he have been beaten?" was the fearful thought that flashed across
+me as I gazed. "Have the bold legions that were never vanquished
+succumbed at last? Oh, no, no! I'll not believe it." And while a glow of
+fever warmed my whole blood, I buckled on my sabre, and taking my shako,
+prepared to issue forth. Scarcely had I reached the door, with tottering
+limbs, when I saw Minette dashing up the steep street at the top speed
+of her pony, while she flourished above her head a great placard, and
+waved it to and fro.
+
+"The news! the news!" cried I, bursting with anxiety. "Are they
+advancing; or is it a retreat?"
+
+"Read that!" said she, throwing me a large sheet of paper, headed with
+the words, "Proclamation! la Grande Armee!" in huge letters,-"read that!
+for I've no breath left to tell you."
+
+Soldiers!--The campaign so gloriously begun will soon be completed.
+
+One victory, and the Austrian empire, so great but a week since, will be
+humbled in the dust. Hasten on, then! Forced marches, by day and night,
+will attest your eagerness to meet the enemy; and let the endeavor of
+each regiment be to arrive soonest on the field of battle.
+
+"Minette! dearest Minette!" said I, as I threw my arms around her
+neck, "this is indeed good news." "Gently, gently, Monsieur!" said she,
+smiling, while she disengaged herself from my sudden embrace. "Very good
+news, without doubt; but I don't think that there is any mention in the
+bulletin about embracing the vivandieres of the army."
+
+"At a moment like this, Minette--"
+
+"The best thing to do is, to make up one's baggage and join the march,"
+said she, very steadily, proceeding at the same time to put her plan
+into execution.
+
+While I gave her all assistance in my power, the doctor entered to
+inform us that all the wounded who were then not sufficiently restored
+to return to duty were to be conveyed to Munich, where general military
+hospitals had been established; and that he himself had received
+orders to repair thither with his sick detachment, in which my name was
+enrolled.
+
+"You'll keep your old friend, Francois, company, Lieutenant Burke; he is
+able to move at last."
+
+"Francois!" said I, in ecstasy; "and will he indeed recover?"
+
+"I have little doubt of it; though certainly he's not likely to
+practise as maitre d'armes again. You 've spoiled his tierce, though not
+before it cost the army some of the prettiest fellows I ever saw. But as
+to yourself--"
+
+"As for me, I 'll march with the army. I feel perfectly recovered; my
+arm--"
+
+"Oh! as for monsieur's arms," said mademoiselle, "I'll answer for it,
+they are quite at his Majesty's service."
+
+"Indeed!" said the doctor, knowingly; "I thought it would come to that.
+Well, well, Mademoiselle, don't look saucy; let us part good friends for
+once in our lives."
+
+"I hate being reconciled to a surgeon," said she, pettishly.
+
+"Why so, I pray?"
+
+"Oh, you know, when one quarrels with an officer, the poor fellow may be
+killed before one sees him again; and it's always a sad thought, that.
+But your doctor, nothing ever happens to him; you're sure to see him,
+with his white apron and his horrid weapons, a hundred times after, and
+one is always sorry for having forgiven such a cruel wretch."
+
+"Come, come, Mademoiselle, you bear us all an ill-will for the fault
+of one, and that's not fair. It was the hospital aide of the Sixth,
+Monsieur, (a handsome fellow, too), who did not fall in love with her
+after her wound,--a slight scratch."
+
+"A slight scratch, do you call it?" said I, indignantly, as I perceived
+the poor girl's eyes fill at the raillery of her tormentor.
+
+"Ah! monsieur has seen it, then?" said he, maliciously. "A thousand
+pardons. I have the honor to wish you both adieu." And with that, and a
+smile of the most impertinent meaning, he took his leave.
+
+"How silly to be vexed for so little, Minette!" said I, approaching and
+endeavoring to console her.
+
+"Well, but to call my wound a scratch!" said she. "Was it not too bad?
+and I the only vivandiere of the army that ever felt a bullet."
+
+And with that she turned away her head; but I could see, as she wiped
+her eyes, that she cared less for the sarcasm on her wounded shoulder
+than the insult to her wounded heart. Poor girl! she looked sick and
+pale the whole day after.
+
+We learned in the course of the day that some cavalry detachments would
+pass early on the morrow, thus allowing us sufficient time to provide
+ourselves with horses, and make our other arrangements for the march.
+These we succeeded in doing to our satisfaction; I being fortunate
+enough to secure the charger of an Austrian prisoner, mademoiselle being
+already admirably mounted with her palfrey. Occupied with these details,
+the day passed rapidly over, and the hour for supper drew near without
+my feeling how the time slipped past.
+
+[Illustration: BrowneMuratAndMinettePage003]
+
+At last the welcome meal made its appearance, and with it mademoiselle
+herself. I could not help remarking that her toilette displayed a more
+than common attention: her neat Parisian cap; her collar, with its deep
+Valenciennes lace; and her _tablier_, so coquettishly embroidered,--were
+all signs of an unusual degree of care; and though she was pale and in
+low spirits, I never saw her look so pretty. All my efforts to make her
+converse were, however, in vain. Some secret weight lay heavily on her
+spirits, and not even the stirring topics of the coming campaign could
+awaken one spark of her enthusiasm. She evaded, too, every allusion
+to the following day's march, or answered my questions about it with
+evident constraint. Tired at last with endeavoring to overcome her
+silent mood, I affected an air of chagrin, thinking to pique her by it;
+but she merely remarked that I appeared weary, and that, as I had a long
+journey before me, it were as well I should retire early.
+
+The marked coolness of her manner at this moment struck me so forcibly
+that I began really to feel some portion of the ill-temper I affected,
+and with the crossness of an over-petted child, I arose to withdraw at
+once.
+
+"Good-by, Monsieur; good-night, I mean," said she, blushing slightly.
+
+"Good-night, Mademoiselle," said I, taking her hand coldly as I spoke.
+"I trust I may find you in better spirits to-morrow."
+
+"Good-night,--adieu!" said she, hastily; and before I could add a word
+she was gone.
+
+"She is a strange girl," thought I, as I found myself alone, and
+tortured my mind to think whether anything I could have dropped had
+offended her. But no: we had parted a few hours before the best friends
+in the world; nothing had then occurred to which I could attribute
+this sudden change. I had often remarked the variable character of her
+disposition,--the flashes of gayety mingled with outbursts of sorrow;
+the playful moods of fancy alternating with moments of deep melancholy;
+and, after all, this might be one of them.
+
+With these thoughts I threw myself on my bed, but could not sleep. At
+one minute my brain went on puzzling about Minette and her sorrow; at
+the next I reproached myself for my own harsh, unfeeling manner to the
+poor girl, and was actually on the eve of arising to seek her and ask
+her pardon. At last sleep came, and dreams too; but, strange enough,
+they were of the distant land of my boyhood and the hours of my youth;
+of the old house in which I was born, and its well-remembered rooms. I
+thought I was standing before my father, while he scolded me for some
+youthful transgression; I heard his words as though they were really
+spoken, as he told me that I should be an outcast and a wanderer,
+without a friend, a house, or home; that while others reaped wealth and
+honors, I was destined to be a castaway: and in the torrent of my grief
+I awoke.
+
+It was night,--dark, silent night. A few stars were shining in the sky,
+but the earth was wrapped in shadow; and as I opened my window to let
+the fresh breeze calm my fevered forehead, the deep precipice beneath me
+seemed a vast gulf of yawning blackness. At a great distance off I could
+see the watchfires of some soldiers bivouacking in the plain; and even
+that much comforted my saddened heart, as it aroused me to the thoughts
+of the campaign before me. But again my thoughts recurred to my dream,
+which I could not help feeling as a sort of prediction.
+
+When our sleep leaves its strong track in our waking moments, we dread
+to sleep again for fear the whole vision should come back; and thus I
+sat down beside the window, and fell into a long train of thought. The
+images of my dream were uppermost in my mind; and every little incident
+of childhood, long lost to memory, came now fresh before me,--the
+sorrows of my schoolboy years, unrelieved by the sense of love awaiting
+me at home; the clinging to all who seemed to feel or care for me;
+and the heart-sickening sorrow when I found that what I mistook for
+affection was merely pity: all save one,--my mother! Her mild, sad
+looks, so seldom cheered by a ray of pleasure,--I remember well how they
+fell on me! with such a thrilling sensation at my heart, and such a gush
+of thankfulness, as I felt then! Oh! if they who live with children knew
+how needful it is to open their hearts to all the little sorrows and
+woes of infant life; to teach confidence and to feed hope; to train up
+the creeping tendrils of young desire, and not to suffer them to lie
+straggling and tangled on the earth,--what a happier destiny would fall
+to the lot of many whose misfortunes in late life date from the crushed
+spirit of childhood!
+
+My mother I--I thought of her as she would bend oyer me at night, her
+last kiss pressed on my brow,--the healing balm of some sorrow for which
+my sobs were still breaking,--her pale, worn cheek, her white dress, her
+hand so bloodless and transparent, the very emblem of her malady. The
+tears started to my eyes and rolled heavily along my cheek, my chest
+heaved, and my heart beat till I could hear it. At this moment a slight
+rustle stirred the leaves: I listened, for the night was calm and still;
+not a breeze moved. Again I heard it close beside the window, on the
+little terrace which ran along the building, and occupied the narrow
+space beside the edge of the rock. Before I could imagine what it meant,
+a figure in white glided from the shade of the trees and approached
+the window. So excited was my mind, so wrought up my imagination by the
+circumstances of my dream and the thoughts that followed, that I cried
+out, in a voice of ecstasy, "My mother!" Suddenly the apparition stood
+still, and then as rapidly retreated, and was lost to view in the dark
+foliage. Maddened with intense excitement, I sprang from the window, and
+leaped out on the terrace. I called aloud; I ran about wildly, unmindful
+of the fearful precipice that yawned beside me. I searched every bush,
+I crept beneath each tree, but nothing could I detect. The cold
+perspiration poured down my face; my limbs trembled with a strange dread
+of I knew not what. I felt as if madness was creeping over me, and I
+struggled with the thought and tried to calm my troubled brain. Wearied
+and faint, I gave up the pursuit at last, and, throwing myself on my
+bed, I sank exhausted into the heavy slumber which only tired nature
+knows.
+
+"The Sous-Lieutenant Burke," said a gruff voice, awakening me suddenly
+from my sleep, while by the light of a lantern he held in his hand I
+recognized the figure of an orderly sergeant in full equipment.
+
+"Yes. What then?" said I, in some amazement at the summons.
+
+"This is the order of march, sir, for the invalid detachment under your
+command."
+
+"How so? I have no orders."
+
+"They are here, sir."
+
+So saying, he presented me with a letter from the assistant-adjutant
+of the corps, with instructions for the conduct of forty men, invalided
+from different regiments, and now on their way to Lintz. The paper was
+perfectly regular, setting forth the names of the soldiers and
+their several corps, together with the daily marches, the halts, and
+distances. My only surprise was how this service so suddenly devolved on
+me, whose recovery could only have been reported a few hours before.
+
+"When shall I muster the detachment, sir?" said the sergeant,
+interrupting me in the midst of my speculations.
+
+"Now,--at once. It is past five o'clock. I see Langenau is mentioned as
+the first halting-place; we can reach it by eight."
+
+The moment the sergeant withdrew, I arose and dressed for the road,
+anxious to inform mademoiselle as early as possible of this sudden order
+of march. When I entered the _salon_, I found to my surprise that the
+breakfast table was all laid and everything ready. "What can this mean?"
+said I; "has she heard it already?" At the same instant I caught sight
+of the door of her chamber lying wide open. I approached, and looked in.
+The room was empty; the various trunks and boxes, the little relics
+of military glory I remembered to have seen with her, were all gone.
+Minette had departed; when or whither, I knew not. I hurried through the
+building, from room to room, without meeting any one. The door was open,
+and I passed out into the dark street, where all was still and silent
+as the grave. I hastened to the stable: my horse, ready equipped and
+saddled, was feeding; but the stall beside him was empty,--the pony of
+the vivandiere was gone. While many a thought flashed on my brain as to
+her fate, I tortured my mind to remember each circumstance of our last
+meeting,--every word and every look; and as I called to my memory the
+pettish anger of my manner towards her, I grew sick at heart, and hated
+myself for my own cold ingratitude. All her little acts of kindness, her
+tender care, her unwearying good-nature, were before me. I thought of
+her as I had seen her often in the silence of the night, when, waking
+from some sleep of pain, she sat beside my bed, her hand pressed on
+my heated forehead; her low, clear voice was in my ear; her soft,
+mild look, beaming with hope and tender pity. Poor Minette! had I then
+offended you? was such the return I made for all your kindness?
+
+"The men are ready, sir," said the sergeant, entering at the moment.
+
+"She is gone," said I, following out my own sad train of thought, and
+pointing to the vacant stall where her pony used to stand.
+
+"Mademoiselle Minette--"
+
+"Yes, what of her--where is she?"
+
+"Marched with the cuirassier brigade that passed here last night at
+twelve o'clock. She seemed very ill, sir, and the officer made her sit
+on one of the wagons."
+
+"Which road did they take? "
+
+"They crossed the river, and moved away towards the forest. I think I
+heard the troop-sergeant say something about Salzburg and the Tyrol."
+
+I made no answer, but stood mute and stupefied; when I was again
+recalled to thought by his asking if my baggage was ready for the
+wagons.
+
+With a sullen apathy I pointed out my trunks in silence, and throwing
+one last look on the room, the scene of my former suffering, and of much
+pleasure too, I mounted my horse, and gave the word to move forward.
+
+As we passed from the gate, I stopped to question the sous-officier as
+to the route of the cuirassier division. But he could only repeat
+what the sergeant had already told me; adding, there were several men
+slightly wounded in the squadrons, for they had been engaged twice
+within the week. The gates closed! and we were on the highroad.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. LINTZ
+
+As day was breaking, we came up with a strong detachment of the cavalry
+of the Guard proceeding to join Bessiere's division at Lintz. From them
+we learned that the main body of the army was already far in advance,
+several entire corps having marched from Lintz with the supposed
+intention of occupying Vienna. Ney's division, it was said, was also
+bearing down from the Tyrol; Davoust and Mortier were advancing by the
+left bank of the Danube; whilst Lannes and Murat, with an overwhelming
+force of light troops, had pushed forward two days' march in advance on
+their way to the capital. The fate of Ulm was already predicted for the
+Austrian city, and each day's intelligence seemed to make it only
+the more inevitable. Meanwhile the Emperor Francis had abandoned the
+capital, and retreated on Brunn, a fortified town in Moravia, there to
+await the arrival of his ally, Alexander, hourly expected from Berlin.
+
+As day after day we pressed forward, our numbers continued to increase.
+A motley force, indeed, did we present: cavalry of every sort, from the
+steel-clad cuirassier to the gay hussar, dragoons, chasseurs, guides,
+and light cavalry, all mixed up together, and all eagerly recounting
+the several experiences of the campaign as it fell under their eyes in
+different quarters. From none, however, could I learn any tidings of
+Minette; for though known to many there, the detachment she had joined
+had taken a southerly direction, and was not crossed by any of the
+others on their march. The General d'Auvergne, I heard, was with the
+headquarters of the Emperor, then established at the monastery of Molk,
+on the Danube.
+
+On the evening of the 13th of November we arrived at Lintz, the
+capital of Upper Austria, but at the time I speak of one vast barrack.
+Thirty-eight thousand troops of all arms were within its walls; not
+subject to the rigid discipline and regular command of a garrison town,
+but bivouacking in the open streets and squares. Tables were spread in
+the thoroughfares, at which the divisions as they arrived took their
+places, and after refreshing themselves, moved on to make way for
+others. The great churches were strewn with forage, and filled with the
+horses of the cavalry; there might be seen the lumbering steeds of
+the cuirassier, eating their corn from the richly-carved box of a
+confessional; here lay the travel-stained figure of a dragoon, stretched
+asleep across the steps of the altar. The little chapelries, where
+the foot of the penitent awoke no echo as it passed, now rung with the
+coarse jest and reckless ribaldry of the soldiers; parties caroused
+in the little sacristies; and the rude chorus of a drinking song now
+vibrated through the groined roof where only the sacred notes of
+the organ had been heard to peal. The Hotel de Ville was the
+quartier-general, where the generals of divisions were assembled, and
+from which the orderlies rode forth at every moment with despatches. The
+one cry, "Forward!" was heard everywhere. They who before had claimed
+leave for slight wounds or illness, were now seen among their comrades
+with bandaged arms and patched faces, eager to press on. Many whose
+regiments were in advance became incorporated for the time with other
+corps; and dismounted dragoons were often to be met with, marching with
+the infantry and mounting guard in turn. Everything bespoke haste. The
+regiments which arrived at night frequently moved off before day broke.
+The cavalry often were provided with fresh horses to press forward,
+leaving their own for the corps that were to follow. A great flotilla,
+provided with all the necessaries for an army on the march, moved
+along the Danube, and accompanied the troops each day. In a word, every
+expedient was practised which could hasten the movement of the army;
+justifying the remark so often repeated among the soldiers at the time,
+"Le Petit Caporal makes more use of our legs than our bayonets in this
+campaign."
+
+On the same evening we arrived came the news of the surprise of Vienna
+by Murat. Never was there such joy as this announcement spread through
+the army. The act itself was one of those daring feats which only such
+as he could venture on, and indeed at first seemed so miraculous that
+many refused to credit it. Prince Auersberg, to whom the great bridge of
+the Danube was intrusted, had prepared everything for its destruction
+in the event of attack. The whole line of woodwork was laid with
+combustibles; trains were set, the matches burning; a strong battery of
+twelve guns, posted to command the bridge, occupied the height on the
+right bank, and the Austrian gunners lay, match in hand, beside their
+pieces: but a word was needed, and the whole work was in a blaze.
+
+Such was the state of matters when Sebastiani pushed through the
+faubourg of the Leopoldstadt at the head of a strong cavalry detachment,
+supported by some grenadiers of the Guard, and by Murat's orders,
+concealed his force among the narrow streets which lead to the bridge
+from the left bank of the Danube. This done, Lannes and Murat advanced
+carelessly along the bridge, which, from the frequent passage of
+couriers between the two headquarters, had become a species of
+promenade, where the officers of either side met to converse on the
+fortunes of the campaign. Dressed simply as officers of the staff, they
+strolled along till they came actually beneath the Austrian battery; and
+then entered into conversation with the Austrian officers, assuring them
+that the armistice was signed, and peace already proclaimed between the
+two countries.
+
+The Austrians, trusting to their story, and much interested by what they
+heard, descended from the mound, and joining them, proceeded to walk
+backwards and forwards along the bridge, conversing on the probable
+consequences of the treaty; when suddenly turning round by chance, as
+they walked towards the right bank, they saw the head of a grenadier
+column approaching at the quick step. The thought of treachery crossed
+their minds; and one of them, rushing to the side of the bridge, called
+out to the artillerymen to fire. A movement was seen in the battery,
+the matches were uplifted, when Murat, dashing forward, cried aloud,
+"Reserve your fire; there is nothing to fear!"
+
+The same instant the Austrian officers were surrounded; the sappers
+rushing on the bridge cleared away the combustibles, and cut off the
+trains; and the cavalry, till now in concealment, pushing forward at a
+gallop, crossed the bridge, followed by the grenadiers in a run,--before
+the Austrians, who saw their own officers mingled with the French, could
+decide on what was to be done,--while Murat, springing on his horse,
+dashed forward at the head of the dragoons; and before five minutes
+elapsed the battery was stormed, the gunners captured, and Vienna won.
+
+Never was there a _coup de main_ more hardy than this, whether we look
+to the danger of the deed itself, or the insignificant force by which it
+was accomplished. A few horsemen and some companies of foot, led on
+by an heroic chief, thus turned the whole fortune of Europe; for, by
+securing this bridge, Napoleon enabled himself, as circumstances might
+warrant, to unite the different corps of his army on the right or
+left banks of the Danube, and either direct his operations against the
+Russians, or the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, as he pleased.
+
+The treachery by which the bold deed was made successful, was, alas!
+deemed no stain on the achievement. But one rule of judgment existed in
+the Imperial army: Was the advantage on the side of France, and to the
+honor of her arms? That covered every flaw, no matter whether inflicted
+by duplicity or breach of faith. The habit of healing all wounds of
+conscience by a bulletin had become so general, that men would not trust
+to the guidance of their own reason till confirmed by some Imperial
+proclamation; and when the Emperor declared a battle gained and glory
+achieved, who would gainsay him? If this blind, headlong confidence
+tended to lower the _morale_ of the nation, in an equal degree did it
+make them conquerors in the field; and thus--by a strange decree of
+Providence, would it seem--were they preparing for themselves the
+terrible reverse of fortune which, when the destinies of their leader
+became clouded and their confidence in him shaken, was to fall on a
+people who lived only in the mad intoxication of victory, and knew not
+the sterner virtues that can combat with defeat.
+
+But so was it. Napoleon commanded the legions and described their
+achievements; he led them to the charge and he apportioned their glory;
+the heroism of the soldier had no existence until acknowledged by
+the proclamation after the battle; the valor of the general wanted
+confirmation till sealed by his approval. To fight beneath his eyes was
+the greatest glory a regiment could wish for; to win one word from him
+was fame itself forever.
+
+If I dwell on these thoughts here, it is because I now felt for the
+first time the sad deception I had practised on myself; and how little
+could I hope to realize in my soldier's life the treasured aspirations
+of my boyhood I Was this, then, indeed the career I had pictured to
+my mind,--the chivalrous path of honor? Was this the bold assertion of
+freedom I so often dreamed of? How few of that armed host knew anything
+of the causes of the war,--how much fewer still cared for them! No
+sentiment of patriotism, no devotion to the interests of liberty or
+humanity, prompted us on. Yet these were the thoughts first led me to
+the career of arms; such ambitious promptings first made my heart glow
+with the enthusiasm of a soldier.
+
+This gloomy disappointment made me low-spirited and sad. Nor can I say
+where such reflections might not have led me, when suddenly a change
+came over my thoughts by seeing a wounded soldier, who had just arrived
+from Mortier's division, with news of a fierce encounter they had
+sustained against Kutusof's Russians. The poor fellow was carried
+past in a litter,--his arm had been amputated that same morning, and a
+frightful shot-wound had carried away part of his cheek; still, amid all
+his suffering, his eye was brilliant, and a smile of proud meaning was
+on his lips.
+
+"Lift it up, Guillaume; let me see it again," said he, as they bore him
+along the crowded street.
+
+"What is it he wishes?" said I. "The poor fellow is asking for
+something."
+
+"Yes, mon lieutenant. It is the _sabre d'honneur_ the Emperor gave him
+this morning. He likes to look at it every now and then; he says he
+doesn't mind the pain when he sees that before him. _And it is natural,
+too._"
+
+"Such is glory!" said I to myself; "and he who feels this in his heart
+has no room for other thoughts."
+
+"Oh, give to me the trumpet's blast, And the champ of the charger
+prancing; Or the whiz of the grape-shot flying past, That 'a music meet
+for dancing.
+
+"Tralararalal" sang a wild-looking voltigeur, as he capered along the
+street, keeping time to his rude song with the tramp of his feet.
+
+"Ha! there goes a fellow from the Faubourg!" said an officer near me.
+
+"The Faubourg?" repeated I, asking for explanation.
+
+"Yes, to be sure. The Faubourg St. Antoine supplies all the reckless
+devils of the army; one of them would corrupt a regiment, and so, the
+best thing to do is to keep them as much together as possible. The
+voltigeurs have little else; and proof is, they are the cleverest corps
+in the service, and if they could be kept from picking and stealing,
+lying, drinking, and gambling, there's not a man might not be a general
+of division in time. There goes another!"
+
+As he spoke, a fellow passed by with a goose under his arm, followed by
+a woman most vociferously demanding restitution; while he only amused
+himself by replying with a mock courtesy, deploring in sad terms the
+unhappy necessities of war and the cruel hardships of a campaign.
+
+"It's no use punishing those fellows," said the officer. "They desert in
+whole companies if you send one to the _salle de police_; and so we have
+only one resource, which is, to throw them pretty much in advance, and
+leave their chastisement to the enemy. And, sooth to say, they ask for
+nothing better themselves."
+
+Thus, even these fellows seemed to have their own sentiment of glory,--a
+problem which the more I reasoned over the more puzzled did I become.
+
+While a hundred conjectures were hourly in circulation, none save those
+immediately about the person of Napoleon could possibly divine the
+quarter where the great blow was to be struck, although all were in
+expectation of the orders to prepare for battle. News would reach us of
+marchings and counter-marchings; of smart skirmishes here, and prisoners
+taken there; yet could we not form the slightest conception of where the
+chief force of the enemy lay, nor what the direction to which our own
+army was pointed. Indeed, our troops seemed to scatter on every side.
+Marmont, with a strong force, was despatched towards Gratz, where it
+was said the Archduke Charles was at the head of a considerable army;
+Davoust moved on Hungary, and occupied Presburg; Bernadotte retraced his
+steps towards the Upper Danube, to hold the Archduke Frederick in check,
+who had escaped from Ulm with ten thousand men; Mortiers corps, harassed
+and broken by the engagement with Kutusof, were barely sufficient to
+garrison Vienna; while Soult, Lannes, and Murat pushed forward towards
+Moravia, with a strong cavalry force and some battalions of the Guard.
+In fact, the whole army was scattered like an exploded shell; nor could
+we see the means by which its wide extended fragments were to be united
+at a moment, much less divine the spot to which their combined force was
+to be directed.
+
+Had these Russians been fabulous creatures of a legend, instead of
+men of mortal mould, they could scarcely have been endowed with more
+attributes of ubiquity than we conferred on them. Sometimes we believed
+them at one side of the Danube, sometimes at the other; now we heard of
+them as retreating by forced marches into their native fastnesses, now
+as encamped in the mountain regions of Moravia. Yesterday came the news
+that they laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war;
+to-day we heard of them as having forced back our advanced posts and
+carried off several squadrons as prisoners.
+
+At length came the positive information that the allied armies were in
+cantonments around Olmutz; while Napoleon had pushed forward to Brunn,
+a place of considerable strength, communicating by the highroad with the
+Russian headquarters. It was no longer doubtful, then, where the great
+game was to be decided, and thither the various battalions were now
+directed by marches day and night.
+
+On the 29th of November our united detachments, now numbering
+several hundred men, arrived at Brunn. I lost no time in repairing to
+headquarters, where I found General d'Auvergne deeply engaged with the
+details of the force under his command: his brigade had been placed
+under the orders of Murat; and it was well known the prince gave little
+rest or respite to those under his command. From him I learned that
+three days of unsuccessful negotiation had just passed over, and that
+the Emperor had now resolved on a great battle. Indeed, every moment was
+critical. Russia had assumed a decidedly hostile aspect; the Swedes were
+moving to the south; the Archduke Charles, by a circuitous route, was
+on the march to join the Russian army, to whose aid fresh reinforcements
+were daily arriving, and Benningsen was hourly expected with more. Under
+these circumstances a battle was inevitable; and such a one, as, by its
+result, must conclude the war.
+
+This much did I learn from the old general as we rode over the field
+together; examining with caution the nature of the ground, and where it
+offered facilities, and where it presented obstacles, to the movement
+of cavalry. Such were the orders issued that morning by Napoleon to the
+generals of brigade, who might now be seen with their staffs traversing
+the plain in every direction. As we moved along we could discover in the
+distance the dark columns of the enemy marching, not towards us, but in
+a southerly direction towards our extreme right. This movement attracted
+the attention of several others, and more than one aide-de-camp was
+despatched to Brunn to carry the intelligence to the Emperor.
+
+The same evening couriers departed in every direction to Bernadotte
+and Davoust to hasten forward at once; even Mortier, with his mangled
+division, was ordered to abandon Vienna to a division of Marmont's army,
+and move on to Brunn. And now the great work of concentration began.
+
+Meanwhile the Russians advanced, and on the 30th drove in an advanced
+post, and compelled our cavalry to fall back behind our position. The
+following morning the allies resumed their flank movement. And now no
+doubt could be entertained of their plan; which was, by turning our
+right, to cut us off from our supporting columns resting at Vienna, and
+throw our retreat back upon the mountainous districts of Bohemia. In
+this way five massive columns moved past us scarce half a league distant
+from our advanced posts, numbering eighty thousand men, of which fifteen
+were cavalry in the most perfect condition.
+
+Our position was in advance of the fortress of Brunn; the headquarters
+of the Emperor occupied a rising piece of ground, at the base of which
+flowed a small stream, a tributary to some of the numerous ponds by
+which the field was intersected. The entire ground in our front was
+indeed a succession of these small lakes, with villages interspersed,
+and occasionally some stunted woods; great morasses extended around
+these ponds, through which led the highroads or such bypaths as
+conducted from one village to another. Here and there were plains where
+cavalry might act with safety, but rarely in large bodies.
+
+Our right rested on the lake of Moeritz, where Soult's division was
+stationed; behind which, thrown back in such a manner as to escape the
+observation of the enemy, was Davoust's corps, the reserve occupying a
+cliff of ground beside the convent of Eeygern. Our left, under Lannes,
+occupied the hill of Santon,--a wooded eminence, the last of a long
+chain of mountains running east and west. Above, and on the crest of the
+height, a powerful park of artillery was posted, and defended by strong
+intrenchments. A powerful cavalry corps was placed at the bottom of
+the mountain. Next came Bernadotte's division, separated by the highroad
+from Brunn to Olmutz from the division under Murat, which, besides his
+own cavalry, contained Oudinot's grenadiers and Bessiere's battalions
+of the Imperial Guard; the centre and right being formed of Soult's
+division, the strongest of all; the reserve, consisting of several
+battalions of the Guard and a strong force of artillery, being under
+the immediate orders of Napoleon, to be employed wherever circumstances
+demanded.
+
+These were the dispositions for the coming battle, made with all the
+precision of troops moving on parade; and such was the discipline of the
+army at Boulogne, and so perfectly arranged the plans of the Emperor,
+that the ground of every regiment was marked out, and each corps moved
+into its allotted space with the regularity of some piece of mechanism.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. AUSTERLITZ
+
+The dispositions for the battle of Austerlitz occupied the entire day.
+From sunrise Napoleon was on horse-back, visiting every position; he
+examined each battery with the skill of an old officer of artillery;
+and frequently dismounting from his horse, carefully noted the slightest
+peculiarities of the ground,--remarking to his staff, with an accuracy
+which the event showed to be prophetic, the nature of the struggle, as
+the various circumstances of the field indicated them to his practised
+mind.
+
+It was already late when he turned his horse's head towards the bivouac
+hut,--a rude shelter of straw,--and rode slowly through the midst of
+that great army. The _ordre du jour_, written at his own dictation, had
+just been distributed among the soldiers; and now around every watchfire
+the groups were kneeling to read the spirit-stirring lines by which he
+so well knew how to excite the enthusiasm of his followers. They were
+told that "the enemy were the same Russian battalions they had already
+beaten at Hollabrunn, and on whose flying traces they had been marching
+ever since." "They will endeavor," said the proclamation, "to turn our
+right, but in doing so they must open their flank to us: need I say what
+will be the result? Soldiers, so long as with your accustomed valor you
+deal death and destruction in their ranks, so long shall I remain
+beyond the reach of fire; but let the victory prove, even for a moment,
+doubtful, your Emperor shall be in the midst of you. This day must
+decide forever the honor of the infantry of France. Let no man leave his
+ranks to succor the wounded,--they shall be cared for by one who never
+forgets his soldiers,--and with this victory the campaign is ended!"
+
+Never were lines better calculated to stimulate the energy and flatter
+the pride of those to whom they were addressed. It was a novel thing in
+a general to communicate to his army the plan of his intended battle,
+and perhaps to any other than a French army the disclosure would not
+have been rated as such a favor; but their warlike spirit and military
+intelligence have ever been most remarkably united, and the men were
+delighted with such a proof of confidence and esteem.
+
+A dull roar, like the sound of the distant sea, swelled along the lines
+from the far right, where the Convent of Reygern stood, and growing
+louder by degrees, proclaimed that the Emperor was coming. It was
+already dark, but he was quickly recognized by the troops, and with one
+burst of enthusiasm they seized upon the straw of their bivouacs, and
+setting fire to it, held the blazing masses above their heads, waving
+them wildly to and fro, amid the cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" For above
+a league along the plain the red light flashed and glowed, marking out
+beneath it the dense squares and squadrons of armed warriors. It was
+the anniversary of Napoleon's coronation; and such was the fete by which
+they celebrated the day.
+
+The Emperor rode through the ranks uncovered. Never did a prouder smile
+light up his features, while thronging around him the veterans of the
+Guard struggled to catch even a passing glance at him. "Do but look
+at us tomorrow, and keep beyond the reach of shot," said a _grognard_,
+stepping forward; "we'll bring their cannon and their colors, and lay
+them at thy feet." The marshals themselves, the hardened veterans of
+so many fights, could not restrain their enthusiasm; and proffers of
+devotion unto death accompanied him as he went.
+
+At last all was silent in the encampment; the soldiers slept beside
+their watchfires, and save the tramp of a patrol or the _qui vive_? of
+the sentinels, all was still. The night was cold and sharp; a cutting
+wind blew across the plain, which gave way to a thick mist,--so thick,
+the sentries could scarcely see a dozen paces off.
+
+I sat in my little hovel of straw,--my mind far too much excited for
+sleep,--watching the stars as they peeped out one by one, piercing the
+gray mist, until at last the air became thin and clear, and a frosty
+atmosphere succeeded to the weighty fog; and now I could trace out
+the vast columns, as they lay thickly strewn along the plain. The old
+general, wrapped in his cloak, slept soundly on his straw couch; his
+deep-drawn breathing showed that his rest was unbroken. How slowly did
+the time seem to creep along! I thought it must be nigh morning, and it
+was only a little more than midnight.
+
+Our position was a small rising ground about a mile in front of the left
+centre, and communicating with the enemy's line by a narrow road between
+the marshes. This had been defended by a battery of four guns, with
+a stockade in front; and along it now, for a considerable distance, a
+chain of sentinels were placed, who should communicate any movement that
+they observed in the Russian lines, of which I was charged to convey
+the earliest intelligence to the quartier-general. This duty alone would
+have kept me in a state of anxiety, had not the frame of my mind already
+so disposed me; and I could not avoid creeping out from time to time, to
+peer through the gloom in the direction of the enemy's camp, and listen
+with an eager ear for any sounds from that quarter. At last I heard the
+sound of a voice at some distance off; then, a few minutes after, the
+hurried step of feet, and a voltigeur came up, breathless with haste:
+"The Russians were in motion towards the right. Our advanced posts could
+hear the roll of guns and tumbrels moving along the plain, and it was
+evident their columns were in march." I knelt down and placed my ear to
+the ground, and almost started at the distinctness with which I could
+hear the dull sound of the large guns as they were dragged along; the
+earth seemed to tremble beneath them.
+
+I awoke the general at once, who, resting on his arm, coolly heard my
+report; and having directed me to hasten to headquarters with the news,
+lay back again, and was asleep before I was in my saddle. At the top
+speed of my horse I galloped to the rear, winding my way between the
+battalions, till I came to a gentle rising ground, where, by the
+light of several large fires that blazed in a circle I could see the
+dismounted troopers of the _chasseurs a cheval_, who always formed the
+Imperial Bodyguard. Having given the word, I was desired by the officer
+of the watch to dismount, and following him, I passed forward to a space
+in the middle of the circle, where, under shelter of some sheaves of
+straw piled over each other, sat three officers, smoking beside a fire.
+
+"Ha! here comes news of some sort," said a voice I knew at once to be
+Murat's. "Well, sir, what is't?"
+
+"The Russian columns are in motion, Monsieur le Marechal; the artillery
+moving rapidly towards our right."
+
+"_Diantre!_ it's not much more than midnight! Davoust, shall we awake
+the Emperor?"
+
+"No, no," said a harsh voice, as a shrivelled, hard-featured man turned
+round from the blaze, and showing a head covered by a coarse woollen
+cap, looked far more like a pirate than a marshal of France; "they 'll
+not attack before day breaks. Go back," said he, addressing me; "observe
+the position well, and if there be any general movement towards the
+southward, you may report it."
+
+By the time I regained my post, all was in silence once more; either the
+Russians had arrested their march, or already their columns were out
+of hearing,--not a gleam of light could I perceive along their entire
+position. And now, worn out with watching, I threw myself down among the
+straw, and slept soundly.
+
+"There! there! that's the third!" said General d'Auvergne, shaking me by
+the shoulder; "there again! Don't you hear the guns?"
+
+I listened, and could just distinguish the faint booming sound of
+far-off artillery coming up from the extreme right of our position. It
+was still but three o'clock, and although the sky was thick with stars,
+perfectly dark in the valley. Meanwhile we could bear the galloping of
+cavalry quite distinctly in the same direction.
+
+"Mount, Burke, and back to the quartier-general! But you need not; here
+comes some of the staff."
+
+"So, D'Auvergne," cried a voice whose tones were strange to me, "they
+meditate a night attack, it would seem; or is it only trying the range
+of their guns?"
+
+"I think the latter, Monsieur le Marechal, for I heard no small arms;
+and, even now, all is quiet again."
+
+"I believe you are right," said he, moving slowly forward, while a
+number of officers followed at a little distance. "You see, D'Auvergne,
+how correctly the Emperor judged their intentions. The brunt of the
+battle will be about Reygern. But there! don't you hear bugles in the
+valley?"
+
+As he spoke, the music of our tirailleurs' bugles arose from the glen
+in front of our centre, where, in a thick beech-wood, the light infantry
+regiments were posted.
+
+"What is it, D'Esterre?" said he to an officer who galloped up at the
+moment.
+
+"They say the Russian Guard, sir, is moving to the front; our
+skirmishers have orders to fall back without firing."
+
+As he heard this, the Marshal Bernadotte--for it was he--turned his
+horse suddenly round, and rode back, followed by his staff. And now the
+drums beat to quarters along the line, and the hoarse trumpets of the
+cavalry might be heard summoning the squadrons throughout the field;
+while between the squares, and in the intervals of the battalions,
+single horsemen galloped past with orders. Soult's division, which
+extended for nearly a league to our right, was the first to move, and it
+seemed like one vast shadow creeping along the earth, as column beside
+column marched steadily onward. Our brigade had not as yet received
+orders, but the men were in readiness beside the horses, and only
+waiting for the word to mount.
+
+The suspense of the moment was fearful. All that I had ever dreamed
+or pictured to myself of a soldier's enthusiasm was faint and weak,
+compared to the rush of sensations I now experienced. There must be a
+magic power of ecstasy in the approach of danger,--some secret sense of
+bounding delight, mingled with the chances of a battle,--that renders
+one intoxicated with excitement. Each booming gun I heard sent a wild
+throb through me, and I panted for the word "Forward!"
+
+Column after column moved past us, and disappeared in the dip of ground
+beneath; and as we saw the close battalions filling the wide plain in
+front, we sighed to think that it was destined to be the day of glory
+peculiarly to the infantry. Wherever the nature of the field permitted
+shelter or the woods afforded cover, our troops were sent immediately
+to occupy. The great manoeuvre of the day was to be the piercing of the
+enemy's centre whenever he should weaken that point by the endeavor to
+turn our right flank.
+
+A faint streak of gray light was marking the horizon when the single
+guns which we had heard at intervals ceased; and then, after a short
+pause, a long, loud roll of artillery issued from the distant right,
+followed by the crackling din of small-arms, which increased at every
+moment, and now swelled into an uninterrupted noise, through which the
+large guns pealed from time to time. A red glare, obscured now and then
+by means of black smoke, lit up the sky in that quarter, where already
+the battle was raging fiercely.
+
+The narrow causeway between the two small lakes in our front conducted
+to an open space of ground, about a cannon-shot from the Russian line;
+and this we were now ordered to occupy, to be prepared to act as support
+to the infantry of Soult's left, whenever the attack began. As we
+debouched into the plain, I beheld a group of horsemen, who, wrapped up
+in their cloaks, sat motionless in their saddles, calmly regarding the
+squadrons as they issued from the wood: these were Murat and his staff,
+to whom was committed the attack on the Russian Guard. His division
+consisted of the hussars and chasseurs under Kellermann, the cuirassiers
+of D'Auvergne, and the heavy dragoons of Nansouty,--making a force of
+eight thousand sabres, supported by twenty pieces of field artillery.
+Again were we ordered to dismount, for although the battle continued
+to rage on the right, the whole of the centre and left were unengaged.
+
+Thus stood we as the sun arose,--that "Sun of Austerlitz!" so often
+appealed to and apostrophized by Napoleon as gilding the greatest of his
+glories. The mist from the lakes shut out the prospect of the enemy's
+lines at first; but gradually this moved away, and we could perceive the
+dark columns of the Russians, as they moved rapidly along the side of
+the Pratzen, and continued to pour their thousands towards Reygern.
+
+At last the roar of musketry swelled louder and nearer, and an officer
+galloping past told us that Soult's right had been called up to support
+Davoust's division. This did not look well; it proved the Russians had
+pressed our lines closely, and we waited impatiently to hear further
+intelligence. It was evident, too, that our right was suffering
+severely, otherwise the attack on the centre would not have been
+delayed. Just then a wild cheer to the front drew our attention
+thither, and we saw the heads of three immense columns--Soult's
+division--advancing at a run towards the enemy.
+
+"_Par Saint Louis_," cried General d'Auvergne, as he directed his
+telescope on the Russian line, "those fellows have lost their senses!
+See if they have not moved their artillery away from the Pratzen, and
+weakened their centre more and more! Soult sees it: mark how he presses
+his columns on! There they go, faster and faster! But look! there's a
+movement yonder,--the Russians perceive their mistake."
+
+"Mount!" was now heard from squadron to squadron; while dashing along
+the line like a thunderbolt, Murat rode far in advance of his staff, the
+men cheering him as he went.
+
+"There!" cried D'Auvergne, as he pointed with his finger, "that column
+with the yellow shoulder-knots,--that's Vandamme's brigade of light
+infantry; see how they rush on, eager to be first up with the enemy. But
+St. Hilaire's grenadiers have got the start of them, and are already at
+the foot of the hill. It is a race between them!"
+
+And so had it become. The two columns advanced, cheering wildly; while
+the officers, waving their caps, led them on, and others rode along the
+flanks urging the men forward.
+
+The order now came for our squadrons to form in charging sections,
+leaving spaces for the light artillery between. This done, we moved
+slowly forward at a walk, the guns keeping step by step beside us. A few
+minutes after, we lost sight of the attacking columns; but the crashing
+fire told us they were engaged, and that already the great struggle had
+begun.
+
+For above an hour we remained thus; every stir, every word loud spoken,
+seeming to our impatience like the order to move. At last, the squadrons
+to our right were seen to advance; and then a tremulous motion of
+the whole line showed that the horses themselves participated in the
+eagerness of the moment; and, at last, the word came for the cuirassiers
+to move up. In less than a hundred yards we were halted again; and
+I heard an aide-de-camp telling General d'Auvergne that Davoust had
+suffered immensely on the right; that his division, although reinforced,
+had fallen back behind Reygern, and all now depended on the attack of
+Soult's columns.
+
+I heard no more, for now the whole line advanced in trot, and as our
+formation showed an unbroken front, the word came,--"Faster!" and
+"Faster!" As we emerged from the low ground we saw Soult's column
+already half way up the ascent; they seemed like a great wedge driven
+into the enemy's centre, which, opening as they advanced, presented two
+surfaces of fire to their attack.
+
+"The battery yonder has opened its fire on our line," said D'Auvergne;
+"we cannot remain where we are."
+
+"Forward!--charge!" came the word from front to rear, and squadron after
+squadron dashed madly up the ascent. The one word only, "Charge!" kept
+ringing through my head; all else was drowned in the terrible din of the
+advance. An Austrian brigade of light cavalry issued forth as we came
+up, but soon fell back under the overwhelming pressure of our force.
+And now we came down upon the squares of the red-brown Russian infantry.
+Volley after volley sent back our leading squadrons, wounded and
+repulsed, when, unlimbering with the speed of lightning, the horse
+artillery poured in a discharge of grapeshot. The ranks wavered, and
+through their cleft spaces of dead and dying our cuirassiers dashed
+in, sabring all before them. In vain the infantry tried to form again:
+successive discharges of grape, followed by cavalry attacks, broke
+through their firmest ranks; and at last retreating, they fell back
+under cover of a tremendous battery of field-guns, which, opening their
+fire, compelled us to retire into the wood.
+
+Nor were we long inactive. Bernadotte's division was now engaged on our
+left, and a pressing demand came for cavalry to support them. Again we
+mounted the hill, and came in sight of the Russian Guard, led on by the
+Grand-Duke Constantino himself,--a splendid body of men, conspicuous for
+their size and the splendor of their equipment. Such, however, was the
+impetuous torrent of our attack that they were broken in an instant; and
+notwithstanding their courage and devotion, fresh masses of our dragoons
+kept pouring down upon them, and they were sabred, almost to a man.
+
+While we were thus engaged, the battle became general from left to
+right, and the earth shook beneath the thundering sounds of two hundred
+great guns. Our position, for a moment victorious, soon changed; for
+having followed the retreating squadrons too far, the waves closed
+behind us, and we now saw that a dense cloud of Austrian and Russian
+cavalry were forming in our rear. An instant of hesitation would have
+been fatal. It was then that a tall and splendidly-dressed horseman
+broke from the line, and with a cry to "Follow!" rode straight at
+the enemy. It was Murat himself, sabre in hand, who, clearing his way
+through the Russians, opened a path for us. A few minutes after we had
+gained the wood; but one third of our force had fallen.
+
+"Cavalry! cavalry!" cried a field-officer, riding down at headlong
+speed, his face covered with blood from a sabre-cut, "to the front!"
+
+The order was given to advance at a gallop; and we found ourselves next
+instant hand to hand with the Russian dragoons, who having swept along
+the flank of Bernadotte's division, were sabring them on all sides.
+On we went, reinforced by Nansouty and his carabineers, a body of nigh
+seven thousand men. It was a torrent no force could stem. The tide of
+victory was with us; and we swept along, wave after wave, the infantry
+advancing in line for miles at either side, while whole brigades of
+artillery kept up a murderous fire without ceasing. Entire columns of
+the enemy surrendered as prisoners; guns were captured at each instant;
+and only by a miracle did the Grand-Duke escape our hussars, who
+followed him till he was lost to view in the flying ranks of the allies.
+
+As we gained the crest of the hill, we were in time to see Soult's
+victorious columns driving the enemy before them; while the Imperial
+Guard, up to that moment unengaged, reinforced the grenadiers on the
+right, and broke through the Russians on every side.
+
+The attempt to outflank us on the right we had perfectly retorted on the
+left; where Lannes's division, overlapping the line, pressed them on two
+sides, and drove them back, still fighting, into the plain, which, with
+a lake, separated the allied armies from the village of Austerlitz. And
+here took place the most dreadful occurrence of the day.
+
+The two roads which led through the lake were soon so encumbered and
+blocked up by ammunition wagons and carts that they became impassable;
+and as the masses of the fugitives thickened, they spread over the lake,
+which happened to be frozen. It was at this time that the Emperor came
+up, and seeing the cavalry halted, and no longer in pursuit of the
+flying columns, ordered up twelve pieces of the artillery of the
+Imperial Guard, which, from the crest of the hill, opened a murderous
+fire on them. The slaughter was fearful as the discharges of grape and
+round shot cut channels through the jammed-up mass, and tore the dense
+columns, as it were, into fragments.
+
+Dreadful as the scene was, what followed far exceeded it in horror;
+for soon the shells began to explode beneath the ice, which now, with a
+succession of reports louder than thunder, gave way. In an instant
+whole regiments were ingulfed, and amid the wildest cries of despair,
+thousands sank never to appear again, while the deafening artillery
+mercilessly played upon them, till over that broad surface no living
+thing was seen to move, while beneath was the sepulchre of five thousand
+men. About seven thousand reached Austerlitz by another road to the
+northward; but even these had not escaped, save for a mistake of
+Bernadotte, who most unaccountably, as it was said, halted his division
+on the heights. Had it not been for this, not a soldier of the Russian
+right wing had been saved.
+
+The reserve cavalry and the dragoons of the Guard were now called up
+from the pursuit, and I saw my own regiment pass close by me, as I stood
+amid the staff round Murat. The men were fresh and eager for the fray;
+yet how many fell in that pursuit, even after the victory! The Russian
+batteries continued their fire to the last. The cannoneers were cut
+down beside their guns, and the cavalry made repeated charges on our
+advancing squadrons; nor was it till late in the day they fell back,
+leaving two thirds of their force dead or wounded on the field of
+battle.
+
+On every side now were to be seen the flying columns of the allies,
+hotly followed by the victorious French. The guns still thundered at
+intervals; but the loud roar of battle was subdued to the crashing din
+of charging squadrons, and the distant cries of the vanquishers and
+the vanquished. Around and about lay the wounded in all the fearful
+attitudes of suffering; and as we were fully a league in advance of our
+original position, no succor had yet arrived for the poor fellows whose
+courage had carried them into the very squares of the enemy.
+
+Most of the staff--myself among the number--were despatched to the rear
+for assistance. I remember, as I rode along at my fastest speed, between
+the columns of infantry and the fragments of artillery which covered
+the grounds, that a _peloton_ of dragoons came thundering past, while a
+voice shouted out "Place! place!" Supposing it was the Emperor himself,
+I drew up to one side, and uncovering my head, sat in patience till he
+had passed, when, with the speed of four horses urged to their utmost,
+a caleche flew by, two men dressed like couriers seated on the box.
+They made for the highroad towards Vienna, and soon disappeared in the
+distance.
+
+"What can it mean?" said I, to an officer beside me; "not his Majesty,
+surely?"
+
+"No, no," replied he, smiling: "it is General Lebrun on his way to Paris
+with the news of the victory. The Emperor is down at Reygern yonder,
+where he has just written the bulletin. I warrant you he follows that
+caleche with his eye; he'd rather see a battery of guns carried off by
+the enemy than an axle break there this moment."
+
+Thus closed the great day of Austerlitz--a hundred cannons, forty-three
+thousand prisoners, and thirty-two colors being the spoils of this the
+greatest of even Napoleon's victories.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE FIELD AT MIDNIGHT.
+
+We passed the night on the field of battle,--a night dark and starless.
+The heavens were, indeed, clothed with black, and a heavy atmosphere,
+lowering and gloomy, spread like a pall over the dead and the dying. Not
+a breath of air moved; and the groans of the wounded sighed through the
+stillness with a melancholy cadence no words can convey. Far away in the
+distance the moving lights marked where fatigue parties went in search
+of their comrades. The Emperor himself did not leave the saddle till
+nigh morning; he went, followed by an ambulance, hither and thither over
+the plain, recalling the names of the several regiments, enumerating
+their deeds of prowess, and even asking for many of the soldiers by
+name. He ordered large fires to be lighted throughout the field, and
+where medical assistance could not be procured, the officers of the
+staff might be seen covering the wounded with greatcoats and cloaks, and
+rendering them such aid as lay in their power.
+
+Dreadful as the picture was,--fearful reverse to the gorgeous splendor
+of the vast army the morning sun had shone upon, and in the pride of
+strength and spirit,--yet even here was there much to make one feel that
+war is not bereft of its humanizing influences. How many a soldier did I
+see that night, blackened with powder, his clothes torn and ragged with
+shot, sitting beside a wounded comrade--now wetting his lips with a
+cool draught, now cheering his heart with words of comfort! Many, though
+wounded, were tending others less able to assist themselves. Acts of
+kindness and self-devotion--not less in number than those of heroism and
+courage--were met with at every step; while among the sufferers there
+lived a spirit of enthusiasm that seemed to lighten the worst pang of
+their agony. Many would cry out, as I passed, to know the fate of the
+day, and what became of this regiment or of that battalion. Others could
+but articulate a faint "Vive l'Empereur!" which in the intervals of pain
+they kept repeating, as though it were a charm against suffering; while
+one question met me every instant,--"What says the Petit Caporal? Is he
+content with us?" None were insensible to the glorious issue of
+that day; nor amid all the agony of death, dealt out in every shape of
+horror and misery, did I hear one word of anger or rebuke to him for
+whose ambition they had shed their heart's blood.
+
+[Illustration: 050]
+
+Having secured a fresh horse, I rode forward in the direction of
+Austerlitz, where our cavalry, met by the chevaliers of the Russian
+Imperial Guard, sustained the greatest check and the most considerable
+loss of the day. The old dragoon who accompanied me warned me I should
+find few, if any, of our comrades living there.
+
+"_Ventrebleu!_ lieutenant, you can't expect it. The first four squadrons
+went down like one man; for when our fellows fell wounded from their
+horses, they always sabred or shot them as they lay."
+
+I found this information but too correct. Lines of dead men lay beside
+their horses, ranged as they stood in battle, while before them lay the
+bodies of the Russian Guard, their gorgeous uniform all slashed with
+gold, marking them out amid the dull russet costumes of their comrades.
+In many places were they intermingled, and showed where a hand-to-hand
+combat had been fought; and I saw two clasped rigidly in each other's
+grasp, who had evidently been shot by others while struggling for the
+mastery.
+
+"I told you, mon lieutenant, it was useless to come here; this was _a la
+mort_ while it lasted; and if it had continued much longer in the same
+fashion, it's hard to say which of us had been going over the field now
+with lanterns."
+
+Too true, indeed! Not one wounded man did we meet with, nor did one
+human voice break the silence around us. "Perhaps," said I, "they may
+have already carried up the wounded to the village yonder; I see a great
+blaze of light there. Bide forward, and learn if it be so."
+
+When I had dismissed the orderly, I dismounted from my horse, and walked
+carefully along the ridge of ground, anxious to ascertain if any poor
+fellow still remained alive amid that dreadful heap of dead. A low
+brushwood covered the ground in certain places; and here I perceived
+but few of the cavalry had penetrated, while the infantry were all
+tirailleurs of the Russian Guard, bayoneted by our advancing columns.
+As I approached the lake the ground became more rugged and uneven; and
+I was about to turn back, when my eye caught the faint glimmering of
+a light reflected in the water. Picketing my horse where he stood, I
+advanced alone towards the light, which I saw now was at the foot of a
+little rocky crag beside the lake. As I drew near, I stopped to listen,
+and could distinctly hear the deep tones of a man's voice, as if broken
+at intervals by pain, while in his accents I thought I could trace a
+tone of indignant passion rather than of bodily suffering.
+
+"Leave me, leave me where I am," cried he, peevishly. "I thought I might
+have had my last few moments tranquil, when I staggered thus far."
+
+"Come, come, Comrade!" said another, in a voice of comforting; "come,
+thou wert never faint-hearted before. Thou hast had thy share of
+bruises, and cared little about them too. Art dry?"
+
+"Yes; give me another drink. Ah!" cried he, in an excited tone, "they
+can't stand before the cuirassiers of the Guard. _Sacrebleu!_ how proud
+the Petit Caporal will be of this day!" Then, dropping his voice,
+he muttered, "What care I who's proud? I have my billet, and must be
+going."
+
+"Not so, _mon enfant_; thou'lt have the cross for thy day's work. He
+knows thee well; I saw him smile to-day when thou madest the salute in
+passing."
+
+"Didst thou that?" said the wounded man, with eagerness; "did he smile?
+Ah, villain! how you can allure men to shed their heart's blood by a
+smile! He knows me! That he ought, and, if he but knew how I lay here
+now, he 'd send the best surgeon of his staff to look after me."
+
+"That he would, and that he will; courage, and cheer up."
+
+"No, no; I don't care for it now. I'll never go back to the regiment
+again; I could n't do it!"
+
+As he spoke the last words his voice became fainter and fainter, and
+at last was lost in a hiccup; partly, as it seemed, from emotion, and
+partly from bodily suffering.
+
+"_Qui vive?_" cried his companion, as the clash of my sabre announced my
+approach.
+
+"An officer of the Eighth Hussars," said I, in a low voice, fearing to
+disturb the wounded man, as he lay with his head sunk on his knees.
+
+"Too late, Comrade! too late," said he, in a stifled tone; "the order of
+route has come. I must away."
+
+"A brave cuirassier of the Guard should never say so while he has a
+chance left to serve his Emperor in another field of battle."
+
+"Vive l'Empereur! vive l'Empereur!" shouted he, madly, as he lifted his
+helmet and tried to wave it above his head. But the exertion brought on
+a violent fit of coughing, which choked his utterance, while a torrent
+of red blood gushed from his mouth, and deluged his neck and chest.
+
+"Ah, _mon Dieu!_ that cry has been his death," said the other, wringing
+his hands in utter misery.
+
+"Where is he wounded?" said I, kneeling down beside the sick man, who
+now lay, half on his face, upon the grass.
+
+"In the chest, through the lung," whispered the other. "He doesn't know
+the doctor saw him; it was he told me there was no hope. 'You may leave
+him,' said he; 'an hour or two more are all that 's left him;' as if I
+could leave a comrade we all loved. My poor fellow, it is a sad day for
+the old Fourth when thou art taken from them!"
+
+"Ha! was he of the Fourth, then?" said I, remembering the regiment.
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_ and though but a corporal, he was well known throughout
+the army. Pioche--"
+
+"Pioche!" cried I, in agony; "is this Pioche?"
+
+"Here," said the wounded man, hearing the name, and answering as if on
+parade,--"here, mon commandant! but too faint, I 'm afraid, for duty.
+I feel weak to-day," said he, as he pressed his hand upon his side, and
+then slowly sank back against the rock, and dropped his arms at either
+side.
+
+"Come," said I, "we must lose no time. Let us carry him to the rear. If
+nothing else can be done, he 'll meet with care--"
+
+"Hush! mon lieutenant! don't let him hear you speak of that. He stormed
+and swore so much when the ambulance passed, and they wanted to bring
+him along, that it brought on a coughing fit, just like what you saw,
+and he lay in a faint for half an hour after. He vows he 'll never stir
+from where he is. Truth is, Commandant," said he, in the lowest whisper,
+"he is determined to die. When his squadron fell back from the Russian
+square, he rode on their bayonets, and cut at the men while the
+artillery was playing all about him. He told me this morning he 'd never
+leave the field."
+
+"Poor fellow! what was the meaning of this sad resolution?"
+
+"_Ma foi!_ a mere trifle, after all," said the other, shrugging his
+shoulders, and making a true French grimace of contempt. "You 'll smile
+when I tell you; but he takes it to heart, poor fellow. His mistress has
+been false to him,--no great matter that, you 'd say,--but so it is, and
+nothing more. See how still he lies now! is he sleeping?"
+
+"I fear not; he looks exhausted from loss of blood. Come, we must have
+him out of this; here comes my orderly to assist us. If we carry him to
+the road I 'll find a carriage of some sort."
+
+I said this in a tone of command, to silence any scruples he might
+still have about obeying his comrade in preference to the orders of an
+officer. He obeyed with the instinct of discipline, and proceeded to
+fold his cloak in such a manner that we could carry the wounded man
+between us.
+
+The poor corporal, too weak to resist us, faint from bleeding and
+semi-stupid, suffered himself to be lifted upon the cloak, and never
+uttered a word or a cry as we bore him along between us.
+
+We had not proceeded far when we came up with a convoy, conducting
+several carts with the wounded to the convent of Reygern, which had now
+been fitted up as an hospital. On one of these we secured a place for
+our poor friend, and walked along beside him towards the convent. As we
+went along I questioned his comrade closely on the point; and he told
+me that Pioche had resolved never to survive the battle, and had taken
+leave of his friends the evening before.
+
+"Ah, _parbleu!_" added he, with energy, "mademoiselle is pretty
+enough,--there 's no denying that; but her head is turned by flattery
+and soft speeches. All the gay young fellows of the hussar regiment,
+the aides-de-camp,--ay, and some of the generals, too,--have paid her
+so much attention that it could not be expected she'd care for a poor
+corporal. Not but that Pioche is a brave fellow and a fine soldier.
+_Sapristi!_ he 'd be no discredit to any girl's choice. But Minette--"
+
+"Minette, the vivandiere?"
+
+"Ay, to be sure, mon lieutenant; I'd warrant you must have known her."
+
+"What of her? where is she?" said I, burning with impatience.
+
+"She's with the wounded, up at Reygern yonder. They sent for her to
+Heilbrunn yesterday, where she was with the reserve battalions. _Ma
+foi!_ you don't think our fellows would do without Minette at the
+ambulance, where there was a battle to be fought. They say they'd hard
+work enough to make her come up. After all, she's a strange girl; that
+she is."
+
+"How was that? Has she taken offence with the Fourth?"
+
+"No, that is not it; she likes the old regiment in her heart. I'd never
+believe she didn't; but" (here he dropped his voice to a low whisper,
+as if dreading to be overheard by the wounded man), "but they say--who
+knows if it's true?--that when she was left behind at Ulm or Elchingen,
+or somewhere up there on the Danube, that there was a young fellow--I
+heard his name, too, but I forget it--who was brought in badly wounded,
+and that mademoiselle was left to watch and nurse him. He got well in
+time, for the thing was not so serious as they thought. And what do you
+think was the return he made the poor girl? He seduced her!"
+
+"It's false! false as hell!" cried I, bursting with passion. "Who has
+dared to spread such a calumny?"
+
+"Don't be angry, mon lieutenant; there are plenty to answer for the
+report. And if it was yourself--"
+
+"Yes; it was by _my_ bedside she watched; it was to _me_ she gave that
+care and kindness by which I recovered from a dangerous wound. But so
+far from this base requital--"
+
+"Why did she leave you, then, and march night and day with the chasseur
+brigade into the Tyrol? Why did she tell her friends that she'd never
+see the old Fourth again? Why did she fret herself into an illness--"
+
+"Did she do this, poor girl?"
+
+"Ay, that she did. But, mayhap, you never heard of all this. I can only
+say, mon lieutenant, that you'd be safer in a broken square, charged by
+a heavy squadron, than among the Fourth, after what you 've done."
+
+I turned indignantly from him without a reply; for while my pride
+revolted at answering an accusation from such a quarter, my mind was
+harassed by the sad fate of poor Minette, and perplexed how to account
+for her sudden departure. My silence at once arrested my companion's
+speech, and we walked along the remainder of the way without a word on
+either side.
+
+The day was just breaking when the first wagon of the convoy entered the
+gates of the convent. It was an enormous mass of building, originally
+destined for the reception of about three thousand persons; for, in
+addition to the priestly inhabitants, there were two great hospitals and
+several schools included within the walls. This, before the battle, had
+been tenanted by the staffs of many general officers and the corps of
+engineers and sappers, but now was entirely devoted to the wounded of
+either army; for Austrians and Russians were everywhere to be met with,
+receiving equal care and attention with our own troops.
+
+It was the first time I had witnessed a military hospital after a
+battle, and the impression was too fearful to be ever forgotten by me.
+
+The great chambers and spacious rooms of the convent were soon found
+inadequate for the numbers who arrived; and already the long corridors
+and passages of the building were crowded with beds, between which a
+narrow path scarcely permitted one person to pass. Here, promiscuously,
+without regard to rank, officers in command lay side by side with the
+meanest privates, awaiting the turn of medical aid, as no other order
+was observed than the necessities of each case demanded. A black
+mark above the bed, indicating that the patient's state was hopeless,
+proclaimed that no further attention need be bestowed; while the
+same mark, with a white bar across it, implied that it was a case for
+operation. In this way the surgeons who arrived at each moment from
+different corps of the army discovered, at a glance, where their
+services were required, and not a minute's time was lost.
+
+The dreadful operations of surgery--for which, in the events of
+every-day life, every provision of delicate secrecy, and every minute
+detail which can alleviate dread, are so rigidly studied,--were here
+going forward on every side; the horrible preparations moved from bed to
+bed with a rapidity which showed that where suffering so abounded
+there was no time for sympathy; and the surgeons, with arms bare to the
+shoulder and bedaubed with blood, toiled away as though life no longer
+moved in the creeping flesh beneath the knife, and human agony spoke not
+aloud with every motion of their hand.
+
+"Place there! move forward!" said an hospital surgeon, as they carried
+up the litter on which Pioche lay stretched and senseless.
+
+"What's this?" cried a surgeon, leaning forward, and placing his hand on
+the sick man's pulse. "Ah! take him back again; it 's all over there!"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried I, in agony, "it can scarcely be; they lifted him alive
+from the wagon."
+
+"He's not dead, sir," replied the surgeon, in a whisper, "but he will
+soon be; there's internal bleeding going on from that wound, and a few
+hours, or less perhaps must close the scene."
+
+"Can nothing be done? nothing?"
+
+"I fear not." He opened the jacket of the wounded man as he spoke, and
+slitting the inner clothes asunder with a quick stroke of his scissors,
+disclosed a tremendous sabre-wound in the side. "That is not the worst,"
+said he. "Look here," pointing to a small bluish mark of a bullet hole
+above it; "here lies the mischief."
+
+An hospital aid whispered something at the instant in the surgeon's ear,
+to which he quickly replied, "When?"
+
+"This instant, sir; the ligature slipped, and--"
+
+"Remove him," was the reply. "Now, sir, I have a bed for your poor
+fellow here; but I have little hope to give you. His pulse is stronger,
+otherwise the endeavor would be lost time."
+
+While they carried the litter forward, I perceived that another party
+were lifting from a bed near a figure, over whose face the sheet was
+carelessly thrown. I guessed from the gestures that the form they lifted
+was lifeless; the heavy sumph of the body upon the ground showed it
+beyond a doubt. The bearers replaced the dead man by the dying body of
+poor Pioche; and from a vague feeling of curiosity, I stooped down and
+drew back the sheet from the face of the corpse. As I did so, my limbs
+trembled, and I leaned back almost fainting against the wall. Pale with
+the pallor of death, but scarcely altered from life, I beheld the dead
+features of Amedee Pichot, the captain whose insolence had left an
+unsettled quarrel between us. The man for whose coming I waited to
+expiate an open insult, now lay cold and lifeless at my feet. What a
+rush of sensations passed through my mind as I gazed on that motionless
+mass! and oh, what gratitude my heart gushed to think that he did not
+fall by _my_ hand!
+
+"A brave soldier, but a quarrelsome friend," said the surgeon, stooping
+down to examine the wound, with all the indifference of a man who
+regarded life as a mere problem. "It was a cannon-shot carried it off."
+As he said this, he disclosed the mangled remains of a limb, torn from
+the trunk too high to permit of amputation. "Poor Amedee! it was the
+death he always wished for. It was a strange horror he had of falling
+by the hand of an adversary, rather than being carried off thus. And now
+for the cuirassier."
+
+So saying, he turned towards the bed on which Pioche lav, still as death
+itself. A few minutes' careful investigation of the case enabled him to
+pronounce that although the chances were many against recovery, yet it
+was not altogether hopeless.
+
+"All will depend on the care of whoever watches him," said the surgeon.
+"Symptoms will arise, requiring prompt attention and a change in
+treatment; and this is one of those cases where a nurse is worth a
+hundred doctors. Who takes charge of this bed?" he called aloud.
+
+"Minette, Monsieur," said a sergeant. "She has lain down to take a
+little rest, for she was quite worn out with fatigue."
+
+"Me voici!" said a silvery voice I knew at once to be hers. And the
+same instant she pierced the crowd around the bed, and approached the
+patient. No sooner had she beheld the features of the sick man than she
+reeled back, and grasped the arms of the persons on either side. For a
+few seconds she stood, with her hands pressed upon her face, and when
+she withdrew them, her features were almost ghastly in their hue, while,
+with a great effort over her emotion, she said, in a low voice, "Can he
+recover?"
+
+"Yes, Minette!" replied the surgeon, "and will, if care avail anything.
+Just hear me for a moment."
+
+With that he drew her to one side, and commenced to explain the
+treatment he proposed to adopt. As he spoke, her cloak, which up to this
+instant she wore, dropped from her shoulders, and she stood there in the
+dress of the vivandiere: a short frock coat, of light blue, with a thin
+gold braid upon the collar and the sleeve; loose trousers of white jean,
+strapped beneath her boots; a silk sash of scarlet and gold entwined was
+fastened round her waist, and fell in a long fringe at her side; while
+a cap of blue cloth, with a gold band and tassel, hung by a hook at her
+girdle. Simple as was the dress, it displayed to perfection the symmetry
+of her figure and her carriage, and suited the character of her air and
+gesture, which, abrupt and impatient at times, was almost boyish in the
+wayward freedom of her action.
+
+The surgeon soon finished his directions, the crowd separated, and
+Minette alone remained by the sick man's bed. For some minutes her cares
+did not permit her to look up; but when she did, a slight cry broke from
+her, and she sank down upon the seat at the bedside.
+
+"Minette, dear Minette, you are not angry with me?" said I, in a low and
+trembling tone. "I have not done aught to displease you,--have I so?"
+
+She answered not a word, but a blush of the deepest scarlet suffused her
+face and temples, and her bosom heaved almost convulsively.
+
+"To you I owe my life," continued I, with earnestness; "nay more, I owe
+the kindness which made of a sick-bed a place of pleasant thoughts and
+happy memories. Can I, then, have offended you, while my whole heart was
+bursting with gratitude?"
+
+A paleness, more striking than the blush that preceded it, now stole
+over her features, but she uttered not a word. Her eyes turned from
+me and fell upon her own figure, and I saw the tears till up and roll
+slowly along her cheeks.
+
+"Why did you leave me, Minette?" said I, wound up by her obstinate
+silence beyond further endurance. "Did the few words of impatience--"
+
+"No, no, no!" broke she in, "not that! not that!"
+
+"What then? Tell me, for Heaven's sake, how have I earned your
+displeasure? Believe me, I have met with too little kindness in my way
+through life, not to feel poignantly the loss of a friend. What was it,
+I beseech you?"
+
+"Oh, do not ask me!" cried she, with streaming eyes; "do not, I beg of
+you. Enough that you know--and this I swear to you,--that no fault of
+yours was in question. You were always good and always kind to me,--too
+kind, too good,--but not even your teaching could alter the waywardness
+of my nature. Speak of this no more, I ask you, as the greatest favor
+you can bestow on me. See here," cried she, while her lips trembled with
+emotion; "I have need of all my courage to be of use to him; and you
+will not, I am sure, render me unequal to my task."
+
+"But we are friends, Minette; friends as before," said I, taking her
+hand, and pressing it within mine.
+
+"Yes, friends!" muttered she, in a broken voice, while she turned her
+head from me. "Adieu! Monsieur, adieu!"
+
+"Adieu, then, since you wish it so, Minette! But whatever your secret
+reason for this change towards me, you never can alter the deep-rooted
+feeling of my heart, which makes me know myself your friend forever."
+
+The more I thought of Minette's conduct, the more puzzled I was. No
+jealousy on the part of Pioche could explain her abrupt departure from
+Elchingen, and her resolve never to rejoin the Fourth. She was, indeed,
+a strange girl, wayward and self-willed; but her impulses all had their
+source in high feelings of honor and exalted pride. It might have been
+that some chance expression had given her offence; yet she denied this.
+But still, her former frankness was gone, and a sense of coldness, if
+not distrust, had usurped its place. I could make nothing of it. One
+thing alone did I feel convinced of,--she did not love Pioche. Poor
+fellow! with all the fine traits of his honest nature, the manly
+simplicity and openness of his character, he had not those arts of
+pleasing which win their way with a woman's mind. Besides that, Minette,
+from habit and tone of voice, had imbibed feelings and ideas of a very
+different class in society, and with a feminine tact, had contrived to
+form acquaintance with, and a relish for, the tastes and pleasures of
+the cultivated World. The total subversion of all social order effected
+by the Revolution had opened the path of ambition in life equally to
+women as to men; and all the endeavors of the Consulate and the Empire
+had not sobered down the minds of France to their former condition.
+The sergeant to-day saw no reason why he might not wear his epaulettes
+to-morrow, and in time exchange his shako even for a crown; and so the
+vivandiere, whose life was passed in the intoxicating atmosphere of
+glory, might well dream of greatness which should be hers hereafter,
+and of the time when, as the wife of a marshal or a peer of France, she
+would walk the _salons_ of the Tuileries as proudly as the daughter of a
+Rohan or a Tavanne.
+
+There was, then, nothing vain or presumptuous in the boldest flight of
+ambition. However glittering the goal, it was beyond the reach of none;
+and the hopes which, in better-ordered communities, had been deemed
+absurd, seemed here but fair and reasonable. And from this element alone
+proceeded some of the greatest actions, and by far the greatest portion
+of the unhappiness, of the period. The mind of the nation was unfixed;
+men had not as yet resolved themselves into those grades and classes,
+by the means of which public opinion is brought to bear upon individuals
+from those of his own condition. Each was a law unto himself, suggesting
+his own means of advancement and estimating his own powers of success;
+and the result was, a general scramble for rank, dignity, and honors,
+the unfitness of the possessor for which, when attained, brought neither
+contempt nor derision. The epaulette was noblesse; the shako, a coronet.
+What wonder, then, if she, whose personal attractions were so great, and
+whose manners and tone of thought were so much above her condition, had
+felt the stirrings of that ambition within her heart which now appeared
+to be the moving spirit of the nation!
+
+Lost in such thoughts, I turned homewards towards my quarters, and was
+already some distance from the convent when a dragoon galloped up to my
+side, and asked eagerly if I were the surgeon of the Sixth Grenadiers.
+As I replied in the negative, he muttered something between his teeth,
+and added louder, "The poor general; it will be too late after all."
+
+So saying, and before I could question him further, he set spurs to
+his horse, and dashing onwards, soon disappeared in the darkness of the
+night. A few minutes afterwards I beheld a number of lanterns straight
+before me on the narrow road, and as I came nearer, a sentinel called
+out,--
+
+"Halt there! stand!"
+
+I gave my name and rank, when the man, advancing towards me, said in a
+half whisper,--
+
+"It is our general, sir; they say he cannot be brought any farther, and
+they must perform the operation here."
+
+The soldier's voice trembled at every word, and he could scarcely falter
+out, in reply to my question, the name of the wounded officer.
+
+"General St. Hilaire, sir, who led the grenadiers on the Pratzen," said
+the poor fellow, his sorrow struggling with his pride.
+
+I pressed forward; and there on a litter lay the figure of a large and
+singularly fine-looking man. His coat, which was covered with orders,
+lay open, and discovered a shirt stained and clotted with blood; but his
+most dangerous wound was from a grapeshot in the thigh, which shattered
+the bone, and necessitated amputation. A young staff surgeon, the
+only medical man present, was kneeling at his side, and occupied in
+compressing some wounded vessels to arrest the bleeding, which, at the
+slightest stir of the patient, broke out anew. The remainder of
+the group were grenadiers of his own regiment, in whose sad and
+sorrow-struck faces one might read the affection his men invariably bore
+him.
+
+"Is he coming? can you hear any one coming?" said the young surgeon, in
+an anxious whisper to the soldier beside him.
+
+"No, sir; but he cannot be far off now," replied the man.
+
+"Shall I ride back to Reygern for assistance?" said I, in a low voice,
+to the surgeon.
+
+"I thank you, sir," said the wounded man, in a low, calm tone,--for with
+the quick ear of suffering he had overheard my question,--"I thank you,
+but my orderly has already been sent thither. If you could relieve my
+young friend here from his fatiguing duty for a little, you would render
+us both a service. I am truly grieved to see him so much exhausted."
+
+"No, no, sir!" stammered the youth, as the tears ran fast down his
+cheeks; "this is my place. I will not leave it."
+
+"Kind fellow!" muttered the general, as he pressed his hand gently on
+the young man's arm; "I can bear this better than you can."
+
+"Ah, here he comes now," said the sentinel; and the same moment a man
+dismounted from his horse, and came forward towards us.
+
+It was Louis, the surgeon of the Emperor himself, despatched by Napoleon
+the moment he heard of the event. At any other moment, perhaps, the
+abrupt demeanor of this celebrated surgeon would have savored little
+of delicacy or feeling; nor even then could I forgive the sudden
+announcement in which he conveyed to the sufferer that immediate
+amputation must be performed.
+
+"No chance left but this, Louis?" said the general.
+
+"None, sir," replied the doctor, while he unlocked an instrument case,
+and busied himself in preparation for the operation.
+
+"Can you defer it a little; an hour or two, I mean?"
+
+"An hour, perhaps; not more, certainly."
+
+"But am I certain of your services then, Louis?" said the general,
+trying to smile. "You know I always promised myself your aid when this
+hour came."
+
+"I shall return in an hour," replied the doctor, pulling out his watch;
+"I am going to Rapp's quarters."
+
+"Poor Rapp! is he wounded?"
+
+"A mere sabre-cut; but Sebastiani has suffered more severely. Now then,
+Lanusse," said he, addressing the young surgeon, "you remain here.
+Continue as you are doing, and in an hour--"
+
+"In an hour," echoed the wounded man, with a shudder, as though the
+anticipation of the dreadful event had thrilled through his very heart.
+Nor was it till the retiring sounds of the surgeon's horse had died
+away in the distance that his features recovered their former calm and
+tranquil expression.
+
+"A prompt fellow is Louis," said he, after a pause; "and though one
+might like somewhat more courtesy in the Faubourg, yet on the field
+of battle it is all for the best; this is no place nor time for
+compliments."
+
+The young man answered not a word, either not daring to criticise too
+harshly his superior, or perhaps his emotion at the moment was too
+strong for utterance. In reply to my offer to remain with him, however,
+he thanked me heartily, and seemed gratified that he was not to be left
+alone in such a trying emergency.
+
+"Come," said St. Hilaire, after a pause, "I have asked for time, and
+am already forgetting how to employ it. Who can write here? Can you,
+Guilbert?"
+
+"Alas, no, sir!" said a dark grenadier, blushing to the very eyes.
+
+"If you will permit a stranger, sir," said I, "I will be but too proud
+and too happy to render you any assistance in my power. I am on the
+staff of General d'Auvergne, and--"
+
+"A French officer, sir," interrupted he; "quite enough. I ask for no
+other guerdon of your honor. Sit down here, then, and--But first try if
+you can discover a pocket-book in my sabretache; I hope it has not been
+lost."
+
+"Here it is, General," said a soldier, coming forward with it; "I found
+it on the ground beside you."
+
+"Well, then, I will ask you to write down from my dictation a few lines,
+which, should this affair,"--he faltered slightly here,--"this affair
+prove unfortunate, you will undertake to convey, by some means or other,
+to the address I shall give you in Paris. It is not a will, I assure
+you," continued he with a faint smile. "I have no wealth to leave; but
+I know his Majesty too well to fear anything on that score. But my
+children, I wish to give some few directions--" Here he stopped for
+several minutes, and then, in a calm voice, added, "Whenever you are
+ready."
+
+It was with a suffering spirit and a faltering hand I wrote down, from
+his dictation, some short sentences addressed to each member of his
+family. Of these it is not my intention to speak, save in one instance,
+where St. Hilaire himself evinced a wish that his sentiments should not
+be a matter of secrecy.
+
+"I desire," said he, in a firm tone of voice, as he turned round and
+addressed the soldiers on either side of him,--"I desire that my son,
+now at the Polytechnique, should serve the Emperor better than, and as
+faithfully as, his father has done, if his Majesty will graciously
+permit him to do so, in the grenadier battalion, which I have long
+commanded; it will be the greatest favor I can ask of him." A low murmur
+of grief, no longer repressible, ran through the little group around the
+litter. "The grenadiers of the Sixth," continued he, proudly, while for
+an instant his pale features flushed up, "will not love him the less for
+the name he bears. Come, come, men! do not give way thus; what will my
+kind young friend here say of us, when he joins the hussar brigade? This
+is not their ordinary mood, believe me," said he, addressing me. "The
+Russian Guard would give a very different account of them; they are
+stouter fellows at the _pas de charge_ than around the litter of a
+wounded comrade."
+
+While he was yet speaking, Louis returned, followed by two officers, one
+of whom, notwithstanding his efforts at concealment, I recognized to be
+Marshal Murat.
+
+"We must remove him, if it be possible," said the surgeon, in a whisper.
+"And yet the slightest motion is to be dreaded."
+
+"May I speak to him?" said Murat, in a low voice.
+
+"Yes, that you may," replied Louis, who now pushed his way forward and
+approached the litter.
+
+"Ah, so soon!" said the wounded man, looking up; "a man of your word,
+Louis. And how is Rapp? Nothing in this fashion, I hope," added he,
+pointing to his fractured limb with a sickly smile.
+
+"No, no," replied the surgeon. "But here is Marshal Murat come to
+inquire after you, from the Emperor."
+
+A flush of pride lit up St. Hilaire's features as he heard this, and he
+asked eagerly, "Where, where?"
+
+"We must remove you, St. Hilaire," said Murat, endeavoring to speak
+calmly, when it was evident his feelings were highly excited; "Louis
+says you must not remain here."
+
+"As you like, Marshal. What says his Majesty? Is the affair as decisive
+as he looked for?"
+
+"Far more so. The allied army is destroyed; the campaign is ended."
+
+"Come, then, this is not so bad as I deemed it," rejoined St. Hilaire,
+with a tone of almost gayety; "I can afford to be invalided if the
+Emperor has no further occasion for me."
+
+While these few words were interchanging, Louis had applied a tourniquet
+around the wounded limb, and having given the soldiers directions how
+they were to step, so as not to disturb or displace the shattered bones,
+he took his place beside the litter, and said,--
+
+"We are ready now, General."
+
+They lifted the litter as he spoke, and moved slowly forward. Murat
+pressed the hand St. Hilaire extended to him without a word; and then,
+turning his head away, suffered the party to pass on.
+
+Before we reached Beygern, the wounded general had fallen into a heavy
+sleep, from which he did not awake as they laid him on the bed in the
+hospital.
+
+"Good-night, sir,--or rather, good-morning," said Louis to me, as I
+turned to leave the spot. "We may chance to have better news for you
+than we anticipated, when you visit us here again."
+
+And so we parted.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. A MAITRE D'ARMES.
+
+The day after the battle of Austerlitz the Prince of Lichtenstein
+arrived in our camp, with, as it was rumored, proposals for a peace.
+The negotiations, whatever they were, were strictly secret, not even
+the marshals themselves being admitted to Napoleon's confidence on this
+occasion. Soon after mid-day, a great body of the Guard who had been in
+reserve the previous day were drawn up in order of battle, presenting an
+array of several thousand men, whose dress, look, and equipment, fresh
+as if on parade before the Tuileries, could not fail to strike the
+Austrian envoy with amazement. Everything that could indicate the
+appearance of suffering, or even fatigue, among the troops, was
+sedulously kept out of view. Such of the cavalry regiments as suffered
+least in the battle were under arms; while the generals of division
+received orders to have their respective staffs fully equipped and
+mounted, as if on a day of review.
+
+It was late in the afternoon when the word was passed along the lines
+to stand to arms; and the moment after a _caleche_, drawn by six horses,
+passed in full gallop, and took the road towards Austerlitz. The return
+of the Austrian envoy set a thousand conjectures in motion, and all were
+eager to find out what had been the result of his mission.
+
+[Illustration: BrowneBivwacAfterBattle027]
+
+"We must soon learn it all," said an old colonel of artillery near me.
+"If the game be war, we shall be called up to assist Davoust's movement
+on Goeding. The Russians have but one line of retreat, and that is
+already in our possession."
+
+"I cannot for the life of me understand the Emperor's inaction," said a
+younger officer; "here we remain just as if nothing had been done. One
+would suppose that a Russian army stood in full force before us, and
+that we had not gained a tremendous battle."
+
+"Depend on it, Auguste," said the old officer, smiling, "his Majesty is
+not the man to let slip his golden opportunities. If we don't advance,
+it is because it is safer to remain where we are."
+
+"Safer than pursue a flying enemy?"
+
+"Even so. It is not Russia, nor Austria, we have in the field against
+us; but Europe,--the world."
+
+"With all my heart," retorted the other, boldly; "nor do I think the
+odds unfair. All I would ask is, the General Bonaparte of Cairo or
+Marengo, and not the purple-clad Emperor of the Tuileries."
+
+"It is not while the plain is yet reeking with the blood of Austerlitz
+that such a reproach should be spoken," said I, indignantly. "Never was
+Bonaparte greater than Napoleon."
+
+"Monsieur has served in Egypt?" said the young man, contemptuously,
+while he measured me from head to foot.
+
+"Would that I had! Would that I could give whatever years I may have
+before me, for those whose every day shall live in history!"
+
+"You are right, young man," said the old colonel; "they were glorious
+times, and a worthy prelude to the greatness that followed them."
+
+"A bright promise of the future,--never to come," rejoined the younger,
+with a flash of anger on his cheek.
+
+"_Parbleu_, sir, you speak boldly!" said a harsh, low voice from behind.
+We turned: it was Napoleon, dressed in a gray coat, all covered with
+fur, and looking like one of the couriers of the army. "I did not know
+my measures were so freely canvassed as I find them. Who are you, sir?"
+
+"Legrange, Sire, chef d'escadron of the Second Voltigeurs," said the
+young man, trembling from head to foot while he uncovered his head, and
+stood, cap in hand, before him.
+
+"Since when, sir, have I called you into my counsels and asked your
+advice? or what is it in your position which entitles you to question
+one in mine? Duroc, come here. Your sword, sir!"
+
+The young man let fall his shako from his hand, and laid it on his
+sword-hilt.
+
+"Ah!" cried the Emperor, suddenly; "what became of your right arm?"
+
+"I left it at Aboukir, Sire."
+
+Napoleon muttered something between his teeth; then added, aloud,--
+
+"Come, sir, you are not the first whose hand has saved his head. Return
+to your duty, and, mark me! be satisfied with doing yours, and leave me
+to mine. And you, sir," said he, turning towards me, and using the same
+harsh tone of voice, "I should know your face."
+
+"Lieutenant Burke, of the Eighth Hussars."
+
+"Ah! I remember,--the Chouanist. So, sir, it seems that I stand somewhat
+higher in your esteem than when you kept company with Messieurs Georges
+and Pichegru, eh?"
+
+"No, Sire; your Majesty ever occupied the first place in my admiration
+and devotion."
+
+"_Sacristi!_ then you took a strange way to show it when first I had the
+pleasure of your acquaintance. You are on General St. Hilaire's staff?"
+
+"General d'Auvergne's, Sire."
+
+"True. D'Auvergne, a word with you."
+
+He turned and whispered something to the old general, who during the
+whole colloquy stood at his back, anxious but not daring to interpose a
+word.
+
+"Well, well," said Napoleon, in a voice of much kinder accent, "I
+am satisfied. Your general, sir, reports favorably of your zeal and
+capacity. I do not desire to let your former conduct prove any bar to
+your advancement; and on his recommendation, of which I trust you may
+prove yourself worthy, I name you to a troop in your own regiment."
+
+"And still to serve on my staff?" said the general, half questioning the
+Emperor.
+
+"As you wish it, D'Auvergne."
+
+With that he moved forward ere I could do more than express my gratitude
+by a respectful bow.
+
+"I told you, Burke, the time would come for this," said D'Auvergne, as
+he pressed my hand warmly, and followed the cortege of the Emperor.
+
+Hitherto I had lived an almost isolated life. My staff duties had so
+separated me from my brother officers that I only knew them by name;
+while the other aides-de-camp of the general were men much older than
+myself, and with none of them had I formed any intimacy whatever. It
+was not without a sense of this loneliness that I now thought over my
+promotion. The absence of those who sympathize with our moments of joy
+and sorrow reduces our enjoyment to a narrow limit indeed. The only one
+of all I knew who would really have felt happy in my advancement was
+poor Pioche. He was beyond every thought of pleasure or grief.
+
+Thus reflecting, I turned towards my quarters at Brunn. It was evening:
+the watchfires were lighted, and round them sat groups of soldiers at
+their supper, chatting away pleasantly, and recounting the events of the
+battle. Many had been slightly wounded, and by their bandaged foreheads
+and disabled arms claimed a marked pre-eminence above the rest. A
+straw bivouac, with its great blazing fire in front, would denote some
+officer's quarters; and here were generally some eight or ten assembled,
+while the savory odor of some smoking dish, and the merry laughter,
+proclaimed that feasting was not excluded from the life of a campaign.
+
+As I passed one of these I heard the tones of a voice which, well known,
+had somehow not been heard by me for many a day before. Who could it be?
+I listened, but in vain. I asked myself whose was it. I dismounted, and
+leading my horse by the bridle, passed before the hut. The strong light
+of the blazing wood lit up the interior, and showed me a party of
+about a dozen officers, seated and lying on a heap of straw, occupied
+in discussing a supper, which, however wanting in all the elegancies of
+table equipment, even where I stood had a most appetizing odor. Various
+drinking vessels, some of them silver, passed from hand to hand
+rapidly; and the clinking of cups proclaimed that, although of different
+regiments,--as I saw they were,--a kindly feeling united them.
+
+"Well, Francois," said the same voice, whose accents were so familiar to
+me without my being able to say why,--"well, Francois, you have not told
+us how it happened."
+
+"Easily enough," said another; "he broke my blade in his back, and
+gave point afterwards and ran me through the chest." It was the maitre
+d'armes of the Fourth, my old antagonist, who said this, and I drew near
+to hear the remainder. "You could not call the thing unfair," continued
+he; "but, after all, no one ever heard of such a _passe_."
+
+"I could have told you of it, though," rejoined the other; "for I
+remember once, in the fencing school at the Polytechnique, I saw him
+catch his antagonist's blade in his sleeve, and when he had it secure,
+snap it across, and then thrust home with his own. _Parbleu!_ he lost a
+coat by it; and I believe, at the time, poor fellow, he could ill spare
+it."
+
+This story, which was told of myself, was an incident which occurred in
+a school duel, and was only known to two or three others; and again was
+I puzzled to think which of my former companions the speaker could be.
+My curiosity was now stronger than aught else; and so, affecting to seek
+a light for my cigar, I approached the blaze.
+
+"Halloo, Comrade! a cup of wine with you," cried out a voice from
+within; "Melniker is no bad drinking--"
+
+"When Chambertin can't be had," said another, handing me a goblet of red
+wine.
+
+"_Par Saint Denis!_ it's the very man himself," shouted a third. "Why,
+Burke, my old comrade, do you forget Tascher?"
+
+"What!" said I, in amazement, turning from one to the other of the
+mustached faces, and unable to discover my former friend, while they
+laughed loud and long at my embarrassment.
+
+"Make way for him there; make way, lads! Come, Burke, here's your
+place," said he, stretching out his hand and pressing me down beside him
+on the straw. "So you did not remember me?"
+
+In truth, there was enough of change in his appearance since last I saw
+him to warrant my forgetfulness. A dark, bushy beard, worn cuirassier
+fashion, around the mouth and high on the cheeks, almost concealed his
+face, while in figure he had grown both taller and stouter.
+
+"Art colonel of the Eighth Regiment?" said he, laughing; "you know I
+promised you were to be, when we were to meet again."
+
+"No; but, if I mistake not," said a hussar officer opposite, "monsieur
+is in the way to become so. Were you not named to a troop, about half an
+hour ago, by the Emperor himself?"
+
+"Yes!" said I, with an effort to suppress my pride.
+
+"_Diantre bleu!_" exclaimed Tascher, "what good fortune you always have
+I I wish you joy of it, with all my heart. I say, Comrades, let us drown
+his commission for him."
+
+"Agreed! agreed!" cried they all in a breath. "Francois will make us a
+bowl of punch for the occasion."
+
+"Most willingly," said the little maitre d'armes. "Monsieur le
+Capitaine, I am sure, bears me no ill-will for our little affair. I
+thought not," added he, seizing my hand in both his. "_Ma foi!_ you
+spoiled my tierce for me; I shall never be the same man again. Now,
+gentlemen, pass down the brandy, and let the man with most credit go
+seek for sugar at the canteen."
+
+While Francois commenced his operations, Tascher proceeded to recount to
+me the miserable life he had spent in garrison towns, till the outbreak
+of the campaign had called him on active service.
+
+"It was no use that I asked the Empress to intercede for me, and get me
+appointed to another regiment; being the nephew of Napoleon seemed to
+set a complete bar to my advancement. Even now," said he, "my name has
+been sent forward by my colonel for promotion, and I wager you fifty
+Naps I shall be passed over."
+
+"And what if you be?" said a huge, heavy-browed major beside him; "what
+great hardship is it to be a lieutenant in the cuirassiers at two and
+twenty? I was a sergeant ten years later."
+
+"Ay, _parbleu!_" cried another, "I won my epaulettes at Cairo, when
+three officers were reported living, in a whole regiment."
+
+"To be sure," said Francois, looking up from his operation of
+lemon-squeezing; "here am I, a maitre d'armes, after twenty-six years'
+service; and there's Davoust, who never could stand before me, he's a
+general of brigade."
+
+The whole party laughed aloud at the grievances of Maitre Francois,
+whose seriousness on the subject was perfectly real.
+
+"Ah; you may laugh," said he, half in pique; "but what a mere
+accident can determine a man's fortune in life! Would Junot there be a
+major-general to-day if he did not measure six feet without his boots?
+We were at school together, and, _ma foi!_ he was always at the bottom
+of the class."
+
+"And so, Francois, it was your size, then, that stopped your promotion?"
+
+"Of course it was. When a man is but five feet--with high heels, too--he
+can only be advanced as a maitre d'armes. _Parbleu!_ what should I be
+now if I had only grown a little taller?"
+
+"It is all better as it is," growled out an old captain, between the
+puffs of his meerschaum. "If thou wert an inch bigger, there would be'
+no living in the same brigade with thee."
+
+"For all that," rejoined Maitre Francois, "I have put many a pretty
+fellow his full length on the grass."
+
+"How many duels, Francois, did you tell us, the other evening, that you
+fought in the Twenty-second?"
+
+"Seventy-eight!" said the little man; "not to speak of two affairs
+which, I am ashamed to confess, were with the broadsword; but they were
+fellows from Alsace, and they knew no better."
+
+"_Tonnerre de ciel!_" cried the major, "a little devil like that is
+a perfect plague in a regiment. I remember we had a fellow called
+Piccotin--"
+
+"Ah! Piccotin; poor Piccotin! We were foster-brothers," interrupted
+Francois; "we were both from Chalons-sur-Marne."
+
+"Egad! I 'd have sworn you were," rejoined the major. "One might have
+thought ye were twins."
+
+"People often said so," responded Francois, with as much composure as
+though a compliment had been intended. "We both had the same colored
+hair and eyes, the same military air, and gave the _passe en tierce_
+always outside the guard exactly in the same way."
+
+"What became of Piccotin?" asked the major. "He left us at Lyons."
+"You never heard, then, what became of him?" "No. We knew he joined
+the _chasseurs a pied_." "I can tell you, then," said Francois; "no one
+knows better. I parted from Piccotin when we were ordered to Egypt. We
+did our best to obtain service in the same brigade, for we were like
+brothers, but we could not manage it; and so, with sad hearts, we
+separated,--he to return to France, I to sail for Alexandria. This
+was in the spring of 1798, or, as we called it, the year Six of the
+Republic. For three years we never met; but when the eighth demi-brigade
+returned from Egypt, we went into garrison at Bayonne, and the first man
+I saw on the ramparts was Piccotin himself. There was no mistaking him;
+you know the way he had of walking with a long stride, rising on his
+instep at every step, squaring his elbows, and turning his head from
+side to side, just to see if any one was pleased to smile, or even so
+much as to look closely at him. Ah, _ma foi!_ little Piccotin knew how
+to treat such as well as any one. Methinks I see him approaching his man
+with a slide and a bow, and then, taking off his cap, I hear him say, in
+his mildest tone, 'Monsieur assuredly did not intend that stare and that
+grimace for me. I know I must have deceived myself. Monsieur is only a
+fool; he never meant to be impertinent.' Then, _parbleu!_ what a
+storm would come on, and how cool was Piccotin the whole time! How
+scrupulously timid he would be of misspelling the gentleman's name,
+or misplacing an accent over it! How delicately he would inquire his
+address, as if the curiosity was only pardonable I And then with what
+courtesy he would take his leave, retiring half a dozen paces before
+he ventured to turn his back on the man he was determined to kill next
+morning!"
+
+"Quite true; perfectly true, Francois," said the major; "Piccotin did
+the thing with the most admirable temper and good-breeding."
+
+"That was the tone of Chalons when we were both boys," said Francois,
+proudly; "he and I were reared together."
+
+He finished a bumper of wine as he made this satisfactory explanation,
+and looked round at the company with the air of a conqueror.
+
+"Piccotin saw me as quickly as I perceived him, and the minute after we
+were in each other's arms. 'Ah! _mon cher!_ how many?' said he to me, as
+soon as the first burst of enthusiasm had subsided.
+
+"'Only eighteen,' said I, sadly; 'but two were Mamelukes of the Guard.'
+
+"'Thou wert ever fortunate, Francois,' he replied, wiping his eyes with
+emotion; 'I have never pinked any but Christians.'
+
+"'Come, come,' said I, 'don't be down-hearted; good times are coming.
+They say Le Petit Caporal will have us in England soon.'
+
+"'Mayhap,' said he, sorrowfully, for he could not get over my Turks.
+Well, in order to cheer him up a little, I proposed that we should go
+and sup together at the 'Grenadier Rouge;' and away we went accordingly.
+
+"It would amuse you, perhaps," said Maitre Francois, "were I to tell
+some of the stories we related to each other at night. We both had
+had our share of adventure since we met, and some droll ones among the
+number. However, that is not the question at present. We sat late; so
+late that they came to close the cafe at last, and we were obliged to
+depart. You know the 'Grenadier Rouge,' don't you?"
+
+"Yes, I know it well," replied the major; "it's over the glacis, about a
+mile outside the barrier."
+
+"Just so; and there's a pleasant walk across the glacis to the gate. As
+Piccotin and I set out together on our way to the town, the night was
+calm and mild; a soft moonlight shed a silvery tint over every object,
+and left the stately poplars to throw a still longer shadow on the
+smooth grass. For some time we walked along without speaking; the
+silence of the night, the fragrant air, the mellow light, were all
+soft and tranquillizing influences, and we sank each into his own
+reflections.
+
+"When we reached the middle of the plain,--you know the spot, I'm sure;
+there's a little bronze fountain, with four cedars round it," (the major
+nodded, and he resumed),--"Piccotin came to a sudden halt, and seizing
+my hand in both of his, said, 'Francois, canst thou guess what I 'm
+thinking of?'
+
+"I looked at him, and I looked around me, and after a few seconds' pause
+I answered, 'Yes, Piccotin, I know it; it is a lovely spot.'
+
+"'Never was anything like it!' cried he, in a rapture; 'look at the
+turf, smooth as velvet, and yet soft to the foot; see the trees, how
+they fall back to give the light admittance; and there, that little
+fountain, if one felt thirsty, eh! What say you?'
+
+"'Agreed,' said I, grasping him by both hands; 'for this once; once
+only, Piccotin.'
+
+"'Only once, Francois; a few passes, and no more.'
+
+"'Just so; the first touch.'
+
+"'Exactly; the first touch,' said he, as, taking off his cloak, and
+folding it neatly, he laid it on the grass.
+
+"It was a strange thing, but in all our lives, from earliest boyhood up,
+we never had measured swords together; and though we were both maitres
+d'armes, we never crossed blades, even in jest. Often and often had our
+comrades pitted us against each other, and laid wagers on the result,
+but we never would consent to meet; I cannot say why. It was not fear; I
+know not how to account for it, but such was the fact.
+
+"'What blade do you wear, Francois?' said he, approaching me, as I
+arranged my jacket and vest, with my cap, on the ground.
+
+"'A Rouen steel,' said I; 'too limber for most men, but I am so
+accustomed to it, I prefer it.'
+
+"'Ah! a pretty weapon indeed,' said he, drawing it from the scabbard,
+and making one or two passes with it against an elder trunk. 'Was this
+the blade you had with you in Egypt?'
+
+"'Yes; I have worn none other for eight years.'
+
+"'Ah, _ma foi!_ those Mamelukes. How I envy you those Mamelukes!' he
+muttered to himself, as he walked back to his place.
+
+"'Move a little, a very little, to the left; there's a shadow from that
+tree. Can you see me well?' said I.
+
+"'Perfectly; are you ready? Well; _en garde!_'
+
+"Piccotin's forte, I soon saw, lay in the long meditated attack, where
+each movement was part of an artfully devised series; and I perceived
+that he suffered his adversary to gain several trifling advantages, by
+way of giving him a false confidence, biding his own time to play off
+the scores. In this description of fence he was more than my equal.
+_My_ strength was in the skirmishing passages, where most men lunge at
+random; then, no matter how confused the rally, I was as cool as in the
+salute.
+
+"For some time I permitted him to play his game out; and certainly
+nothing could be more beautiful than his passes over the hilt. Twice he
+planted his point within an inch of my bosom; and nothing but a spring
+backwards would have saved me.
+
+"At length, after a long-contested struggle, he made a feint within, and
+then without, the guard, and succeeded in touching my sword-arm, above
+the wrist.
+
+"'A touch, I believe,' said he.
+
+"'A mere nothing,' said I; for although I felt the blood running down
+my sleeve, and oozing between my fingers, I was annoyed to think he had
+made the first hit.
+
+"'Ah, Francois, these Mamelukes were not of the premiere
+force, after all. I have only been jesting all this time; see here.'
+With that he closed on me, in a very different style from his former
+attack. Pushing and parrying with the rapidity of lightning, he evinced
+a skill in 'skirmish' I did not believe him possessed of. In this,
+however, I was his master; and in a few seconds gave him my point
+sharply, but not deeply, in the shoulder. Instead of dropping his
+weapon when he received mine, he returned the thrust. I parried it,
+and touched him again, a little lower down. He winced this time, and
+muttered something I could not catch. 'You shall have it now,' said he,
+aloud; 'I owe you this,--and this.' True to his word, he twice pierced
+me in the back, outside the guard. Encouraged by success, he again
+closed on me; while I, piqued by his last assault, advanced to meet him.
+
+"Our tempers were both excited; but his far more than mine. The struggle
+was a severe one. Three several times his blade passed between my arm
+and my body; and at last after a desperate rally, he dropped on one
+knee, and gave me the point here, beneath the chest. Before he could
+extricate his blade, I plunged mine into his chest, and pushed till I
+heard the hilt come clink against his ribs. The blood spurted upwards,
+over my face and breast, as he fell backwards. I wiped it hurriedly from
+my eyes, and bent over him. He gave a shudder and a little faint moan,
+and all was still."
+
+"You killed him?" cried out three or four of us together.
+
+"_Ma foi!_ yes. The 'coup' was mortal; he never stirred after. As for
+me," continued Francois, "I surrendered myself a prisoner to the
+officer on guard at the gate. I was tried ten days after by a military
+commission, and acquitted. My own evidence was my accusation
+and my defence."
+
+"_Ventrebleu!_ had I been on the court-martial, you had not been here
+to tell the story," said the old major, as his face became almost purple
+with passion.
+
+"Nonsense!" said Tascher, jeeringly. "What signifies a maitre d'armes
+the more or the less?"
+
+"Monsieur will probably explain himself," said Francois, with one of his
+cold smiles of excessive deference.
+
+"It is exactly what I mean to do, Francois."
+
+"Come, sirs, none of this," broke in the major. "Lieutenant Tascher,
+you may not fancy being placed under an arrest when the enemy is in the
+field. Master Francois, do you forget the sentence of a court-martial is
+hanging over your head for an affair at Elchingen, where you insulted a
+young officer of the hussars?"
+
+"In that case I must be permitted to say that Maitre Francois conducted
+himself like a man of honor," said I.
+
+"_Parbleu!_ and got the worst of it besides," cried he, placing his hand
+on his hip. The tone of his voice as he said this, and the grimace he
+made, restored the party once more to good-humor, and we chatted away
+pleasantly till day was breaking.
+
+As Tascher strolled along with me towards my quarters, I was rejoiced
+to discover that he had never heard of my name as being mixed up in the
+Chouan conspiracy; nor was he aware with how little reason he believed
+me to be favored by fortune.
+
+I received, however, all his congratulations without any desire to
+undeceive him. Already had I learned the worldly lesson, that while
+friends cling closer in adversity, your mere acquaintance deems your
+popularity your greatest merit; and I at length perceived that, however
+ungenial in many respects the companionship, the life of isolation I
+led had rendered me suspected by others, and in a career, too, where
+frankness was considered the first of virtues.
+
+I assented at once with pleasure to the prospect of our meeting
+frequently while in camp. My own regiment had joined Davoust's corps,
+and I was glad to have the society of some others of my own age, if only
+to wean myself from my habits of solitude. While I formed these plans
+for the future, I little anticipated what events were in store for
+me, nor how soon I should be thrown among scenes and people totally
+different from those with which I had ever mixed before.
+
+"You mess with us, then, Burke,--that's agreed," said Tascher. "They 're
+excellent fellows, these cuirassiers of ours, and I know you 'll like
+them."
+
+With this promise we parted, hoping to meet on the morrow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE MILL ON THE HOLITSCH ROAD
+
+At an early hour on the morning of the 4th came orders for the "Garde
+a Cheval" to hold themselves in readiness, with two squadrons of the
+carabineers, on the road to Holitsch; part of this force being under the
+command of General d'Auvergne. We found ourselves fully equipped and in
+waiting soon after eight o'clock. From the "tenue" and appearance of
+the troops, it was evident that no measure of active service was
+contemplated; yet, if a review were intended, we could not guess why
+so small a force had been selected. As usual on such occasions,
+many conjectures were hazarded, and a hundred explanations passed
+current,--one scarcely a whit better than the other, when at last we
+perceived a peloton of dragoons advancing towards us at a brisk trot.
+
+The word was passed to close up and draw swords; and scarcely was it
+obeyed when the staff of the Emperor came up. They were all in the full
+blaze of their gala uniforms, brilliant with crosses and decorations.
+Napoleon alone wore the simple costume of the "Chasseurs of the Garde,"
+with the decoration of the Legion; but his proud look and his flashing
+eye made him conspicuous above them all. He was mounted on his favorite
+charger "Marengo," and seemed to enjoy the high spirit of the mettled
+animal, as he tossed his long mane about, and lashed his sides with his
+great silken tail.
+
+As the cortege passed we closed up the rear, and followed at a sharp
+pace, more than ever puzzled to divine what was going forward. After
+about two hours' riding, during which we never drew bridle, we saw a
+party of staff-officers in front, who, saluting the Emperor, joined the
+cortege. At the same instant General d'Auvergne passed close beside me,
+and whispered in my ear. "Bernadotte has just come up, and been most
+coldly received." I wished to ask him what was the object of the whole
+movement, but he was gone before I could do so. In less than a quarter
+of an hour afterwards we left the highroad, and entered upon a large
+plain, where the only object I could perceive was an old mill, ruined
+and dilapidated. Towards this the imperial staff rode forward, while the
+peloton in front wheeled about, and rode to the rear of our squadrons.
+The next moment we were halted, and drawn up in order of battle.
+
+While these movements were going forward, I remarked that the Emperor
+had dismounted from his horse and dismissed his staff, all save Marshal
+Berthier, who stood at a little distance from him. Several dismounted
+dragoons were employed in lighting two immense fires,--a process which
+Napoleon appeared to watch with great interest for a second or two; and
+then, taking out his glass, he remained for several minutes intently
+surveying the great road to Holitsch.
+
+In this direction at once every eye was turned; but nothing could we
+see. The road led through a wide open country for some miles, and at
+last disappeared in the recesses of a dark pine wood, that covered the
+horizon for miles on either side. Meanwhile Napoleon, with his hands
+clasped behind his back, walked hurriedly backwards and forwards beside
+the blazing fires, stopping at intervals to look along the road, and
+then resuming his walk as before. He was not more than two hundred paces
+from where we stood, and I could mark well his gesture of impatience, as
+he closed his glass each time, after looking in vain towards Holitsch.
+
+"I say, Burke," whispered one of my brother officers beside me, "I
+should not fancy being the man who keeps him waiting in that fashion.
+Look at Berthier, how he keeps aloof; he knows that something is
+brewing."
+
+"What can it all mean?" said I. "Who can he be expecting here?"
+
+"They say now," whispered my companion, "that Davoust cannot hold the
+bridge of Goding, and must fall back before the Russian column; and
+that Napoleon has invited Alexander to a conference here to gain time to
+reinforce Davoust."
+
+"Exactly; but the Czar is too wily an enemy for that to succeed; and
+probably hence the delay, which appears to irritate him now."
+
+The supposition, more plausible than most of those I heard before, was
+still contradicted by the account of the Emperor Alexander's retreat;
+and again was I at a loss to reconcile these discrepancies, when I
+beheld Napoleon, with his glass to his eye, motion with his hand for
+Berthier to come forward. I turned towards the road, and now could
+distinguish in the distance a dark object moving towards us. A few
+minutes after the sun shone out, and I remarked the glitter of arms,
+stretching in a long line; while my companion, with the aid of a glass,
+called out,--
+
+"I see them plainly; they are lancers. The escort are Hungarians, and
+there's a _caleche_, with four horses in front."
+
+The Emperor stood motionless, his arms folded on his breast, and his
+head a little leaned forward, exactly as I have seen him represented in
+so many pictures and statues. His eyes were thrown downwards; and as he
+stirred the blazing wood with his foot, one could easily perceive how
+intensely his mind was occupied with deep thought.
+
+The clattering sound of cavalry now turned my attention to another
+quarter; and I saw, exactly in front of us, and about five hundred paces
+off, a regiment of Hungarian Hussars, and some squadrons of Hulans drawn
+up. I had little time to mark their gorgeous equipment and splendid
+uniform, for already the _caleche_ had drawn up at the roadside, and
+Prince John of Lichtenstein, descending, took off his chapeau, and
+offered his arm to assist another to alight. Slowly, and, as it seemed,
+with effort, a tall thin figure, in the white uniform of the Austrian
+Guard, stepped from the carriage to the ground. The same instant the
+officers of the staff fell back, and I saw Napoleon advance with
+open arms to embrace him. The Austrian emperor--for it was Francis
+himself--seemed scarcely able to control the emotion he felt at this
+moment; and we could see that his head rested for several seconds on
+Napoleon's shoulder. And what a moment must that have been! How deeply
+must the pride of the descendant of the Caesars have felt the humiliation
+which made him thus a suppliant before one he deemed a mere Corsican
+adventurer! What a pang it must have cost his haughty spirit as he
+uttered the words, _Mon frere!_
+
+As they walked side by side towards the plateau, where the fires were
+lighted, it was easy to mark that Napoleon was the speaker, while
+Francis merely bowed from time to time, or made a gesture of seeming
+assent.
+
+As the Emperor arrived at the place of conference, we fell back some
+fifty yards; and although the air was still and frosty, and the silence
+was perfect around, we could not catch a word on either side. After
+about an hour the conversation appeared to assume a tone of gayety and
+good-humor, and we could hear the sovereigns laughing repeatedly.
+
+The conference lasted for above two hours, when once more the emperors
+embraced, and, as we thought, with more cordiality, and separated; the
+Emperor of Austria returning, accompanied by Prince Lichtenstein; while
+Napoleon stood for some minutes beside the fire as if musing, and then,
+beckoning his staff to follow, he walked towards the highroad.
+
+Scarcely had the Austrian emperor reached his carriage, when Savary,
+bareheaded and breathless, stood beside the door of it. He was the
+bearer of a message from Napoleon. The next moment the _caleche_
+started, accompanied by Savary, who, with a single aide-de-camp, took
+the road towards the Austrian headquarters.
+
+As Napoleon was about to mount his horse, I saw General d'Auvergne
+move forward towards him. A few words passed between them; and then the
+general, riding up to where I stood, said,--
+
+"Burke, you are to remain here, and if any orders arrive from General
+Savary, hasten with them to the headquarters of his Majesty. In twelve
+hours you will be relieved."
+
+So saying, he galloped back to the imperial staff; and soon after the
+squadrons defiled into the road, the cortege dashed forward, and all
+that remained of that memorable scene was the dying embers of the fires
+beside which the fate of Europe was decided.
+
+The old mill of Holitsch had been deserted when the Austrian and Russian
+columns took up their position before Austerlitz. The miller and his
+household fled at the first news of the advance, and had not dared to
+return. It was a solitary spot at best: a wild heath, without shelter of
+any kind, stretched away for miles on all sides; but now, in its
+utter loneliness, it was the most miserable-looking place that can be
+conceived. While, therefore, I contented myself with the hope that my
+stay there might not be long, I resolved to do what I could to render my
+quarters more comfortable.
+
+My first care was my horse, which I picketed in the kitchen, where I was
+happy to find an abundant supply of firewood; my next, was to explore
+the remainder of the concern, in which I discovered traces of its having
+been already occupied by the allied troops,--rude caricatures of the
+French army in full _deroute_, before terrible-looking dragoons in
+Austrian and Russian uniforms, ornamented the walls in many parts; whole
+columns of French prisoners were depicted begging their lives from a
+single Austrian grenadier; and one figure, which it could be easily
+discovered was intended for Napoleon himself, was about to be hanged
+upon a tree, to the very marked satisfaction, as it would seem, of a
+group of Russian officers, who stood by, laughing. It is easy to smile
+at the ridicule of which fortune has thwarted the application and so I
+amused myself a good while by contemplating these grotesque frescos.
+
+But a more welcome sight still awaited me, in a small chamber at the
+top of the building, where, in large letters, written with chalk on
+the door, I read, "Rittmeister von Oxenhausen's quarters." Here, to my
+exceeding delight, I discovered a neatly-furnished chamber, with a
+bed, sofa, and, better still, a table, on which the remains of the
+Rittmeister's sapper yet stood,--a goodly ham, the greater part of a
+capon, a loaf of wheaten bread, and an earthenware crock, with a lid
+of brass, containing about two bottles of Austrian red wine. This was a
+most agreeable surprise to me,--a pleasant exchange from the meagre
+meal of bread and cheese I had but time to procure from a sergeant of
+my troop at parting. It need not be supposed that I hesitated long about
+becoming the Rittmeister's successor; and so I drew the chair to the
+table, and the table nearer to the fire,--for, singularly enough, the
+embers of a wood fire still slumbered on the hearth. Having taken the
+keen edge off an appetite the cold air had whetted to the sharpest, I
+began an inspection of my quarters, first having replenished the fire
+with some logs of wood.
+
+The chamber was an octagon, with five windows in as many of the faces,
+a fireplace and two doors occupying the other three. One of the
+doors--that by which I entered,--opened from the stairs; the other
+led into a granary, or something of that nature,--at least, so I
+conjectured, from a heap of sacks which littered the floor, and filled
+one corner completely. As I could not discover any corn, I resolved on
+sharing my loaf with my horse,--a meal every campaigning steed is well
+accustomed to make. And now, returning to my little chamber, I resumed
+my supper with all the satisfaction of one who felt he had made his
+rounds of duty, and might enjoy repose.
+
+As I knew the Chateau de Holitsch, where the Emperor Francis held his
+quarters, was some six leagues distant, I guessed that General Savary
+was not likely to return from his mission before morning at very
+soonest; and so it behooved me to make my arrangements for passing the
+night where I was. Having, then, looked to my horse, for whose bedding I
+made free with some dozen of the corn-sacks in the granary, I brought up
+to my own quarters a supply of wood; and having fastened the door, and
+secured the windows as well as I was able, I lit my meerschaum, and lay
+down before the fire in as happy a frame of mind as need be.
+
+Indeed, I began to fancy that fortune had done tormenting, and was now
+about to treat me more kindly. The notice of the Emperor had relieved my
+heart of a load which never ceased to press on it, and I could not help
+feeling that a fairer prospect was opening before me. It is true, time
+and misfortune had both blunted the ardor of enthusiasm with which I
+started in life; the daring aspirations after liberty, the high-souled
+desire for personal distinction, had subsided into calmer hopes and less
+ambitious yearnings. Young as I yet was, I experienced in myself that
+change of sentiment and feeling which comes upon other men later on in
+life; and I was gradually reconciling myself to that sense of duty
+which teaches a man well to play his part, in whatever station he may
+be called to act, rather than indulge in those overweening wishes for
+pre-eminence, which in their accomplishment are so often disappointing,
+and in their failure a source of regret and unhappiness. These feelings
+were impressed on me more by the force of events than by any process of
+my own reasoning. The career in which I first started as a boy had led
+to nothing but misfortune. The affection I conceived for one,--the only
+one I ever loved,--was destined equally to end unhappily. The passion
+for liberty, in which all my first aspirations were centred, had met the
+rude shocks which my own convictions suggested; and now I perceived
+that I must begin life anew, endeavoring to forget the influences whose
+shadows darkened my early days, and carve out my destiny in a very
+different path from what I once intended.
+
+These were my last waking thoughts, as my head sank on my arm, and I
+fell into a deep sleep. The falling of a log from the fire awoke me
+suddenly. I rubbed my eyes, and for a second or two could not remember
+where I was. At length I became clearer in mind, and looking at my
+watch, perceived it was but two o'clock. As the flame of the replenished
+fire threw its light through the room, I remarked that the door into
+the granary stood ajar. This struck me as strange. I thought I could
+remember shutting it before I went to sleep. Yes,--I recollected
+perfectly placing a chair against it, as the latch was bad, and a
+draught of cold air came in that way; and now the chair was pushed back
+into the room, and the door lay open. A vague feeling, half suspicion,
+half curiosity, kept me thinking of the circumstance, when by
+chance--the merest chance--my eyes fell upon the table where I had left
+my sabre and my pistols. What was my amazement to find that one of the
+latter--that which lay nearest the door--was missing!
+
+In an instant I was on my feet. Nothing can combat drowsiness like the
+sense of fear; and I became perfectly awake in a moment. Examining the
+room with caution, I found everything in the same state as I had left
+it, save the door and the missing pistol. The granary alone, then, could
+be the shelter of the invader, whoever he might be. What was to be done?
+I was totally unprovided with light, save what the fire afforded; and
+even were it otherwise, I should expose myself by carrying one, long
+before I could hope to detect a concealed enemy. The best plan I could
+hit upon seemed to secure the door once more; and then, placing myself
+in such a position as not to be commanded by it again, to wait for
+morning patiently. This then, I did at once; and having examined my
+remaining pistol, and found the charge and priming all safe, I drew
+my sabre, and sat down between the door and the window, but so that it
+should open against me.
+
+Few sensations are more acutely painful than the exercise of the hearing
+when pushed to intensity. The unceasing effort to catch the slightest
+sound soon becomes fatigue, and as the organ grows weary, the mental
+anxiety grows more acute; and then begins a struggle between the failing
+sense and the excited brain. The spectral images of the eye in fever are
+not one half so terrible as the strange discordant tones that jar
+upon the tympanum in such a state as this. Each inanimate object seems
+endowed with its own power of voice, and whispering noises come stealing
+through the dead silence of midnight.
+
+In this state of almost frenzied anxiety I sat long,--my eyes turned
+towards the door, which oftentimes I fancied I could perceive to move.
+At length the thought occurred to me, that by affecting sleep, if any
+one lay concealed within whose object was to enter the room, this would
+probably induce him.
+
+[Illustration: 089]
+
+[Illustration: BrowneLocomotiveChair055]
+
+I had not long to wait for the success of my scheme. The long-drawn
+breathing of my seeming slumber was not continued for more than a few
+minutes, when I saw the door slowly, almost imperceptibly, move. At
+first it stirred inch by inch; then gradually it opened wider and wider
+till it met the obstacle of the chair. There now came a pause of several
+seconds, during which it demanded all my efforts to sustain my
+part,--the throbbing at my throat and temples increasing almost beyond
+endurance, and the impulse to dash forward, and flinging wide the door,
+confront my enemy, being nearly too much for my resistance. Again it
+moved noiselessly as before; and then a hand stole out, and, laying hold
+of the chair, pushed it slowly backwards. The gray light of the breaking
+day fell upon the spot, and I could see that the cuff of the coat was
+laced with gold.
+
+This time my anxiety became intense. Another second or two and I should
+be engaged in the conflict,--I knew not against how many. I clutched my
+sabre more fairly in my grasp, as my breathing grew thicker and shorter.
+The chair still continued to slide silently into the room, and already
+the arm of the man within protruded. Now was the moment, or never; and
+with a spring, I threw myself on it, and, pinioning the wrist in my
+hands, held it down upon the floor while I opposed my weight against the
+door.
+
+[Illustration: 090]
+
+Quick as lightning the other hand appeared, armed with a pistol; and I
+had but a moment to crouch my head nearly to the ground when a bullet
+whizzed past and smashed through the window behind me, while with
+a crash the frail door gave way to a strong push, and a man sprang
+fiercely forward to seize me by the throat. Jumping backward, I
+recovered my feet; but before I could raise my pistol he made a spring
+at me, and we both rolled together on the floor. On the pistol both our
+hands met, and the struggle was for the weapon.
+
+Twice was it pointed at my heart; but my hand held the lock, and not
+all his efforts could unclasp it. At last I freed my right hand from the
+sword-knot of my sabre, and striking him with my clenched knuckles on
+the forehead, threw him back. His grasp relaxed at the instant, and I
+wrenched the pistol from his fingers, and placed the muzzle against his
+chest.
+
+Another second and he would have rolled a corpse before me, when, to my
+horror and amazement, I saw in my antagonist my once friend, _Henri de
+Beauvais_. I flung the weapon from me, as I cried out, "De Beauvais,
+forgive me! forgive me!"
+
+A deathly paleness came over his features; his eyes grew glazed and
+filmy, and with a low groan he fell fainting on the floor. I bathed
+his temples with water; I moistened his pale lips; I rubbed his clammy
+fingers. But it was long before he rallied; and when he did come to
+himself and looked up, he closed his eyes again, as though the sight of
+me was worse than death itself.
+
+"Come, Henri!" said I, "a cup of wine, my friend, and you will be better
+presently. Thank God, this has not ended as it might."
+
+He raised his eyes towards me, but with a look of proud and unforgiving
+sternness, while he uttered not a word.
+
+"It is unfair to blame me, De Beauvais, for this," said I. "Once more I
+say, forgive me!"
+
+His lips moved, and some sounds came forth, but I could not hear the
+words.
+
+"There, there," cried I; "it's past and over now. Here is my hand."
+
+"You struck me with that hand," said he, in a deep, distinct voice, as
+though every word came from the very bottom of his chest.
+
+"And if I did, Henri, my own life was on the blow."
+
+"Oh that you had taken mine with it!" said he, with a bitterness I can
+never forget. "I am the first of my name that ever received a blow;
+would I were to be the last!"
+
+"You forget, De Beauvais--"
+
+"No, sir; I forget nothing. Be assured, too, I never shall forget
+this night. With any other than yourself I should not despair of that
+atonement for an injury which alone can wash out such a stain; but
+_you_,--I know you well,--_you_ will not give me this."
+
+"You are right, De Beauvais; I will not," said I, calmly. "Sorry am I
+that even an accident should have brought us into collision. It is a
+mischance I feel deeply, and shall for many a day."
+
+"And I, sir," cried he, as, starting up, his eyes flashed with passion
+and his cheek grew scarlet,--"and I, sir!--what are to be my feelings?
+Think you, that because I am an exile and an outcast,--forced
+by misfortune to wear the livery of one who is not my rightful
+sovereign,--that my sense of personal honor is the less, and that the
+mark of an insult is not as blood-stained on my conscience as ever it
+was?"
+
+"Nothing but passion could blind you to the fact that there can be no
+insult where no intention could exist."
+
+"Spare me your casuistry, sir," replied he, with an insolent wave of his
+hand, while he sank into a chair, and laid his head upon the table.
+
+For an instant my temper, provoked beyond endurance, was about to give
+way, when I perceived that a handkerchief was bound tightly around his
+leg above the knee, where a great stain of blood marked his trouser. The
+thought of his being wounded banished every particle of resentment, and
+laying my hand on his shoulder, I said,--
+
+"De Beauvais, I know not one but yourself to whom I would three times
+say, forgive me. But we were friends once, when we were both happier.
+For the sake of him who is no more,--poor Charles de Meudon--"
+
+"A traitor, sir,--a base traitor to the king of his fathers!"
+
+"This I will not endure!" said I, passionately. "No one shall dare--"
+
+"Dare!"
+
+"Ay, dare, sir!--such was the word. To asperse the memory of one like
+him is to dare that which no man can, with truth and honor."
+
+"Come, sir, I'm ready," said Be Beauvais, rising, and pointing to the
+door, "Sortons!"
+
+No one who has not heard that one word pronounced by the lips of a
+Frenchman can conceive how much of savage enmity and deadly purpose
+it implies. It is the challenge which, if unaccepted, stamps cowardice
+forever on the man who declines it: from that hour all equality ceases
+between those whom a combat had placed on the same footing.
+
+"Sortons!" The word rang in my ears, and tingled through my very heart,
+while a host of different impulses swayed me,--shame, sorrow, wounded
+pride, all struggling for the mastery: but above them all, a better
+and a higher spirit,--the firm resolve, come what would, to suffer no
+provocation De Beauvais could offer, to make me stand opposite to him as
+an enemy.
+
+"What am I to think, sir?" said he, with a voice scarcely articulate
+from passion,--"what am I to think of your hesitation? or why do you
+stand inactive here? Is it that you are meditating what new insult can
+be added to those you have heaped on me?"
+
+"No, sir," I replied, firmly; "so far from thinking of offence, I am but
+too sorry for the words I have already spoken. I should have remembered,
+and remembering, should have made allowance for, the strength of
+partisan feelings, which have their origin in a noble, but, as I
+believe, a mistaken source."
+
+"Indeed!" interrupted he, in mockery. "Is it, then, come to this? Am
+I, a Frenchman born, to be lectured on my loyalty and allegiance by a
+foreign mercenary?"
+
+"Not even that taunt, De Beauvais, shall avail you anything. I am firm
+in my resolve."
+
+"_Pardieu!_ then," cried he, with savage energy, "there remains but
+this!"
+
+As he spoke, he leaped from his chair, and sprang towards me. In so
+doing, however, his knee struck the table, and with a groan of agony,
+he reeled back and fell on the floor, while from his reopened wound a
+torrent of blood gushed out and deluged the room.
+
+For a second or two he motioned me away with his hand; but as his
+weakness increased, he lay passive and unresisting, and suffered me to
+arrest the bleeding by such means as I was able to practise.
+
+It was a long time ere I could stanch the gaping orifice, which had been
+inflicted by a sabre, and cut clean through the high boot and deep into
+the thigh. Fortunately for his recovery, he had himself succeeded in
+getting off the boot before, and the wound lay open to my surgical
+skill. Lifting him cautiously in my arms, I laid him on the bed, and
+moistened his lips with a little wine. Still the debility continued,--no
+signs of returning strength were there; but his features, pale and
+fallen, were glazed with a cold sweat that hung in heavy drops upon his
+brow and forehead.
+
+Never was agony like mine. I saw his life was ebbing fast; the
+respiration was growing fainter and more irregular; his pulse could
+scarce be felt; yet dare I not leave my post to seek for assistance. A
+hundred thoughts whirled through my puzzled brain, and among the rest,
+the self-accusing one that I was the cause of his death. "Yes," thought
+I, "better far to have stood before his pistol, at all the hazard of my
+life, than see him thus."
+
+In an instant all his angry speeches and his insulting gestures were
+forgotten. He looked so like what I once knew him, that my mind was
+wandering back again to former scenes and times, and all resentment was
+lost in the flood of memory. Poor fellow! what a sad destiny was his!
+fighting against the arms of his country,--a mourner over the triumphs
+of his native land! Alien that I was, this pang at least was spared me.
+
+As these thoughts crossed my mind, I felt him press my hand. Overjoyed,
+I knelt down and whispered some words in his ear.
+
+"No, no," muttered he, in a low, plaintive tone; "not all lost,--not
+all! La Vendee yet remains!" He was dreaming.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE ARMISTICE.
+
+As I sat thus watching with steadfast gaze the features of the sleeping
+man, I heard the clattering of a horse's hoofs on the pavement beneath,
+and the next moment the heavy step of some one ascending the stairs.
+Suddenly the door was flung wide open, and an officer in the handsome
+uniform of the Austrian Imperial Guard entered.
+
+"Excuse this scant ceremony, Monsieur," said he, bowing with much
+courtesy, "but I almost despaired of finding you out. I come from
+Holitsch with despatches for your Emperor; they are most pressing, as I
+believe this note will inform you."
+
+While I threw my eye over the few lines addressed by General Savary to
+the officer in waiting at Holitsch, and commanding the utmost speed in
+forwarding the despatch that accompanied them, the officer drew near the
+bed where De Beauvais was lying.
+
+"_Mere de ciel_, it is the count!" cried he, starting back with
+astonishment.
+
+"Yes," said I, interrupting him; "I found him here on my arrival. He is
+badly wounded, and should be removed at once. How can this be done?"
+
+"Easily. I 'll despatch my orderly at once to Holitsch, and remain here
+till he return."
+
+"But if our troops advance?"
+
+"No, no! we're all safe on that score; the armistice is signed. The very
+despatch in your hands, I believe, concludes the treaty."
+
+This warned me that I was delaying too long the important duty intrusted
+to me, and with a hurried entreaty to the Austrian not to leave De
+Beauvais, I hastened down the stairs, and proceeded to saddle for the
+road.
+
+"One word, Monsieur," said the officer, as I was in the act of mounting.
+"May I ask the name of him to whom my brother officers owe the life of a
+comrade much beloved?"
+
+"My name is Burke; and yours, Monsieur?"
+
+"Berghausen, _chef d'escadron_ of the Imperial Guard. If ever you should
+come to Vienna--" But I lost the words that followed, as, spurring my
+horse to a gallop, I set out towards the headquarters of the Emperor.
+
+As I rode forward, my eyes were ever anxiously bent in the direction of
+our camp, not knowing at what moment I might see the advance of a column
+along the road, and dreading lest, before the despatches should reach
+the Emperor's house, the advanced vedettes should capture the little
+party at Holitsch. At no period of his career was Napoleon more incensed
+against the adherents of the Bourbons; and if De Beauvais should fall
+into his hands, I was well aware that nothing could save him. The
+Emperor always connected in his mind--and with good reason, too--the
+machinations of the Royalists with the plans of the English Government.
+He knew that the land which afforded the asylum to their king was
+the refuge of the others also; and many of the heaviest denunciations
+against the "perfide Albion" had no other source than the dread, of
+which he could never divest himself, that the legitimate monarch would
+one day be restored to France.
+
+While such were Napoleon's feelings, the death of the Duc d'Enghien had
+heightened the hatred of the Bourbonists to a pitch little short of
+madness. My own unhappy experience made me more than ever fearful of
+being in any way implicated with the members of this party, and I
+rode on as though life itself depended on my reaching the imperial
+headquarters some few minutes earlier.
+
+As I approached the camp, I was overjoyed to find that no movement
+was in contemplation. The men were engaged in cleaning their arms
+and accoutrements, restoring the broken wagons and gun-carriages, and
+repairing, as far as might be, the disorders of the day of battle. The
+officers stood in groups here and there, chatting at their ease; while
+the only men under arms were the new conscript? just arrived from
+France,--a force of some thousands,--brought by forced marches from the
+banks of the Rhine.
+
+The crowd of officers near the headquarters of the Emperor pressed
+closely about me as I descended from my horse, eager to learn what
+information I brought from Holitsch; for they were not aware that I had
+been stationed nearly half-way on the road.
+
+"Well, Burke," said General d'Auvergne, as he drew his arm within mine,
+"your coming has been anxiously looked for this morning. I trust the
+despatches you carry may, if not Contradict, at least explain what has
+occurred."
+
+"Is this the officer from Holitsch?" said the aide-decamp of the
+Emperor, coming hurriedly forward. "The despatch, sir!" cried he; and
+the next moment hastened to the little hut which Napoleon occupied as
+his bivouac.
+
+The only other person in the open space where I stood was an officer of
+the lancers, whose splashed and travel-stained dress seemed to say he
+had been employed like myself.
+
+"I fancy, Monsieur," said he, bowing, "that you have had a sharp ride
+also this morning. I have just arrived from Goeding--four leagues--in
+less than an hour; and with all that, too late, I believe, to remedy
+what has occurred."
+
+"What, then, has happened?"
+
+"Davoust has been tricked into an armistice, and suffered the Russians
+to pass the bridge. The Emperor Alexander has taken advantage of the
+negotiations with Austria, and got his army clear through; so, at least,
+it would seem. I saw Napoleon tear the despatch into fragments, and
+stamp his foot upon them. But here he comes."
+
+The words were scarcely spoken when the Emperor came rapidly up,
+followed by his staff. He wore a gray surtout, trimmed with dark fur,
+and had his hands clasped within the cuffs of the coat. His face was
+pale as death, and save a slight contraction of his brows, there was
+nothing to show any appearance of displeasure.
+
+"Who brought the despatch from Goeding?"
+
+"I did, Sire," said the officer.
+
+"How are the roads, sir?"
+
+"Much cut up, and in one place a torrent has carried away part of a
+bridge."
+
+"I knew it,--I knew it," said he, bitterly; "it is too late. Duroc,"
+cried he, while the words seemed to come forth with a hissing sound,
+"did I not tell you, 'Grattez le Russe, et vous trouverez le Tartare!'"
+
+The words were graven in my memory from that hour; even yet, I can
+recall the very accents as when I heard them.
+
+"And you, sir," said he, turning suddenly towards me, "you came from
+General Savary. Return to him with this letter. Have you written, Duroc?
+Well, you'll deliver this to General Savary at Holitsch. He may require
+you to proceed to Goeding. Are you well mounted?"
+
+"Yes, Sire."
+
+"Come, then, sir. I made you a captain yesterday; let us see if you can
+win your spurs to-day."
+
+From the time I received the despatch to that in which I was in the
+saddle not more than five minutes elapsed. The idea of being chosen by
+the Emperor himself for a service was a proud one, and I resolved to
+acquit myself with credit. With what concert does one's heart beat to
+the free stride of a mettled charger! how does each bold plunge warm
+the blood and stir up the spirits! and as, careering free over hill and
+valley, we pass in our flight the clouds that drift above, how does the
+sense of freedom, realized as it is, impart a feeling of ecstasy to
+our minds! Our thoughts, revelling on the wayward liberty our course
+suggests, rise free and untrammelled from the doubts and cares of
+every-day life.
+
+Onward I went, and soon the old mill came in sight, rearing its ruined
+head amid the black desolation of the plain. I could not resist the
+impulse to see what had become of De Beauvais; and leading my horse into
+the kitchen, I hastened up the stairs and through the rooms. But all
+were deserted; the little chamber lay open, the granary too; but no one
+was there.
+
+With a mind relieved, in a great measure, from anxiety, I remounted
+and continued my way; and soon entered the dark woods of Holitsch. The
+chateau and demesne were a private estate of the Emperor Francis,
+and once formed a favorite resort of Joseph the Second in his hunting
+excursions. The chateau itself was a large, irregular mass of building,
+but still, with all its incongruity of architecture, not devoid of
+picturesque effect,--and the older portion of it was even handsome.
+While I stood in front of a long terrace, on which several windows
+opened from a gallery that ran along one side of the chateau, I was
+somewhat surprised that no guard was to be seen, nor even a single
+sentinel on duty. I dismounted, and leading my horse, approached the
+avenue that led up between a double range of statues to the door. An
+old man, dressed in the slouched hat and light blue jacket of a Bohemian
+peasant, was busily engaged in wrapping matting around some shrubs,
+to protect them from the frost. A little boy--his second self in
+costume--stood beside him with his pruning-knife, and stared at me with
+a kind of stupid wonder as I approached. With some difficulty I made out
+from the old man that the Emperor occupied a smaller building called
+the Kaiser-Lust, about half a league distant in the forest, having given
+strict orders that no one was to approach the chateau nor its immediate
+grounds. It was his favorite retreat, and perhaps he did not wish it
+should be associated in his mind with a period of such misfortune. The
+old peasant continued his occupation while he spoke, never lifting his
+head from his work, and seeming all absorbed in the necessity of what he
+was engaged in. As I inquired the nearest road to the imperial quarters,
+he employed me to assist him for a moment in his task by holding one end
+of the matting, with which he was now about to envelop a marble statue
+of Maria Theresa.
+
+I could not refuse a request so naturally proffered; and while I did
+so, a little wicket opened at a short distance off, and a tall man, in a
+gray surtout and a plain cocked hat without a feather, came forward. He
+held a riding-whip in his hand, and seemed, from his splashed equipment,
+to have just descended from the saddle.
+
+"Well, Fritz," said he, "I hope the frost has done us no mischief?"
+
+The old gardener turned round at the words, and, touching his hat
+respectfully, continued his work, while he replied,--
+
+"No, Mein Herr; it was but a white hoar, and everything has escaped
+well."
+
+"And whom have you got here for an assistant, may I ask?" said he,
+pointing to me, whom he now saw for the first time.
+
+As the question was asked in German, although I understood it I left the
+reply to the gardener.
+
+"God knows!" said the old fellow, in a tone of easy indifference; "I
+think he must be a soldier of some sort."
+
+The other smiled at the remark, and, turning towards me, said, in
+French,--
+
+"You are, perhaps, unaware, sir, being a stranger, that it is the
+Emperor of Austria's desire this chateau should not be intruded on."
+
+"My offending, sir," interrupted I, "was purely accidental. I am the
+bearer of despatches for General Savary; and having stopped to inquire
+from this honest man--"
+
+"The general has taken his departure for Goeding," he broke in, without
+paying further attention to my explanation.
+
+"For Goding! and may I ask what distance that may be?"
+
+"Scarcely a league, if you can hit upon the right path; the road lies
+yonder, where you see that dead fir-tree."
+
+"I thank you, sir," said I, touching my hat; "and must now ask my friend
+here to release me,--my orders are of moment."
+
+"You may find some difficulty in the wood, after all," said he; "I 'll
+send my groom part of the way with you."
+
+Before I could proffer my thanks suitably for such an unexpected
+politeness, he had disappeared in the garden through which he entered a
+few minutes before.
+
+"I say, my worthy friend, tell me the name of that gentleman; he's one
+of the Emperor's staff, if I mistake not. I 'm certain I 've seen the
+face before."
+
+"If you had," said the old fellow, laughing, "you could scarcely forget
+him; old Frantzerl is just the same these twenty years."
+
+"Whom did you say?"
+
+Before he could reply, the other was at my side.
+
+"Now, sir," said he, "he will conduct you to the highroad. I wish you a
+good journey."
+
+These words were uttered in a tone somewhat more haughty than his
+previous ones; and contenting myself with a civil acknowledgment of his
+attention, I bowed and returned to my horse, which the little peasant
+child had been holding.
+
+"This way, Monsieur," said the groom, who, dressed in a plain dark brown
+livery, was mounted on a horse of great size and symmetry.
+
+As he spoke, he dashed forward at a gallop which all my efforts could
+not succeed in overtaking. In less than ten minutes the man halted,
+and, waiting till I came up, he pointed to a gentle acclivity before me,
+across which the highroad led.
+
+"There lies the road, sir; continue your speed, and in twenty minutes
+you reach Goeding."
+
+"One word," said I, drawing forth my purse as I spoke,--"one word. Tell
+me, who is your master?"
+
+The groom smiled, slightly touched his hat, and without uttering a word,
+wheeled round his horse, and before I could repeat my question, was far
+on his road back to the chateau.
+
+Before me lay the river, and the little bridge of Goeding, across which
+now the Russian columns were marching in rapid but compact order. Their
+cavalry had nearly all passed, and was drawn with some field-guns along
+the bank; while at half-cannon-shot distance, the corps of Davoust were
+drawn up in order of battle, and standing spectators of the scene. On an
+eminence of the field a splendid staff were assembled, accompanied by a
+troop of Tartar horsemen, whose gay colors and strange equipment were
+a remarkable feature of the picture; and here, I learned, the Emperor
+Alexander then was, accompanied by General Savary.
+
+As I drew near, my French uniform caught the eye of the latter, and he
+cantered forward to meet me. Tearing open the despatch with eagerness,
+he rapidly perused the few lines it contained; then, seizing me by the
+arm in his-strong grasp, he exclaimed,--
+
+"Look yonder, sir! You see their columns extending to Serritz. Go back
+and tell his Majesty. But no; my own mission here is ended. You may
+return to Austerlitz."
+
+So saying, he rode back to the group around the Emperor, where I saw
+him a few minutes after addressing his Majesty; and then, after a formal
+leave-taking, turn his horse's head and set out towards Brunn.
+
+As I retraced my steps towards the camp, I began to muse over the events
+which had just occurred; and even by the imperfect glimpses I
+could catch of the negotiations, could perceive that the Czar had
+out-manoeuvred Napoleon. It is true, I was not aware by what means
+the success had been obtained; nor was it for many a year after that I
+became cognizant of the few autograph lines by which Alexander induced
+Davoust to suspend his operations, under the pretence that the Austrian
+armistice included the Russian army. It was an unworthy act and ill
+befitting one whose high personal courage and chivalrous bearing gave
+promise of better things.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE COMPAGNIE D'ELITE
+
+With whatever triumphant feelings the Emperor Napoleon may have
+witnessed the glorious termination of this brief campaign, to the young
+officers of the army it brought anything rather than satisfaction,
+and the news of the armistice was received in the camp with gloom and
+discontent. The brilliant action at Elchingen, and the great victory at
+Austerlitz, were hailed as a glorious presage of future successes, for
+which the high-sounding phrases of a bulletin were deemed but a poor
+requital. A great proportion of the army were new levies, who had not
+seen service, and felt proportionably desirous for opportunities of
+distinction; and to them the promise of a triumphant return to France
+was a miserable exchange for those battlefields on which they dreamed
+they should win honor and fame, and from whence they hoped to date their
+rise of fortune. Little did we guess, that while words of peace and
+avowals of moderation were on his lips, Napoleon was at that very moment
+meditating on the opening of that great campaign, which, beginning at
+Jena, was to end in the most bloody and long sustained of all his wars.
+
+Nothing, however, was now talked of but the fetes which awaited us on
+our return to Paris,--while liberal grants of money were made to all the
+wounded, and no effort was spared which should mark that feeling of the
+Emperor's, which so conspicuously opened his bulletin, in the emphatic
+words, "Soldiers, I am content with you!"
+
+Napoleon well understood, and indeed appeared to have anticipated, the
+disappointment the army would experience at this sudden cessation
+of hostilities; and endeavored now to divert the torrent of their
+enthusiasm into another and a safer channel. The bulk of the army were
+cantoned around Brunn and Olmutz; some picked regiments were recalled
+to Vienna, where the Emperor was soon expected to establish his
+headquarters; while many of those who had suffered most severely
+from forced marches and fatigues were formed into corps of escort to
+accompany the Russian prisoners--sixteen thousand in number--on their
+way to France; and lastly, a _compagnie d'elite_, as it was called,
+was selected to carry to the Senate the glorious spoils of
+victory,--forty-five standards taken on the field of Austerlitz, and now
+destined to grace the Palace of the Luxembourg.
+
+I had scarcely seated myself to the humble supper of my bivouac, when an
+orderly came to command me to General d'Auvergne's quarters. The little
+sitting-room he occupied, in a peasant hut, was so filled with officers
+that it was some time before I could approach him; and my impatience
+was not lessened by more than once hearing my name mentioned aloud,--a
+circumstance not a little trying to a young man in the presence of his
+superiors in station.
+
+"But here he is," said the general, beckoning to me to come forward.
+"Burke, his Majesty has most graciously permitted me to include your
+name in the _compagnie d'elite_,--a testimony of his satisfaction you've
+every reason to be proud of. And just at the moment I was about to
+communicate the fact to you, I have received a message from Marshal
+Murat, requesting that I may permit you to serve on his own staff."
+
+"Yes, Captain," said an officer in the uniform of a colonel,--it was the
+first time I had been addressed by my new title, and I cannot express
+what a thrill of pleasure the word gave me,--"Marshal Murat witnessed
+with pleasure the alacrity and steadiness of your conduct on the 2d, and
+has sent me with an offer which I fancy few officers would not deem a
+flattering one."
+
+"Unquestionably it is, Colonel," said General d'Auvergne; "nay, more, I
+will say I regard it as the making of a young man's fortune, thus early
+in his career to have attracted such high notice. But I must be passive
+here; Captain Burke shall decide for himself."
+
+"In that case, sir, I shall cause you but little delay, if you will
+still permit me to serve on your own staff."
+
+"But stay, my boy, do not be rash in this affair. I will not insult your
+better feeling by dwelling on the little power I possess, and the very
+great enjoyed by Marshal Murat, of serving your interests; but I
+must say, that with him, and on his personal staff, opportunities of
+distinction--"
+
+"And here I must interpose," said the colonel, smiling courteously:
+"with no officer in this army can a man expect to see service, in its
+boldest and most heroic colors, rather than with General d'Auvergne."
+
+"I know it,--I feel it, too; and with him, if he will allow me--"
+
+"Enough, my dear boy," said the old man, grasping my hand in his.
+"Colonel, you must explain to the marshal how stands this matter; and he
+is too kind of heart and too noble of soul to think the worse of any of
+us for our obstinacy. And now, my young friend, make your arrangements
+to join the _compagnie d'elite_; they march to-morrow afternoon,--and
+this is a service you cannot decline. Leave me to make your
+acknowledgments to the marshal, and lose no more time here."
+
+Short as had been my absence from my quarters, when I re-entered, I
+descried Tascher seated at the table, and busily employed in discussing
+the last fragments of my supper.
+
+"You see, my dear friend," said he, speaking with his mouth full,--"you
+see what it is to have a _salmi_ for supper. I sat eating a confounded
+mess of black bread, and blacker veal, for fifteen minutes, when the
+breeze brought me the odor of your delicious _plat_. It was in vain I
+summoned all my virtue to resist it; if there ever was a dish made to
+seduce a subaltern on service, it is this. But, I say, won't you eat
+something?"
+
+"I fear not," said I, half angrily.
+
+"And why?" replied he. "See what a capital wing that is,--a little bare,
+to be sure; and there's the back of a pigeon. _Ma foi!_ you have no
+reason to complain. I say, is it true you are named among the _compagnie
+d'elite_?"
+
+I nodded, and ate on.
+
+"_Diable!_ there never was such fortune. What a glorious exchange
+for this confounded swamp, with its everlasting drill from morning to
+night,--shivering under arms for four hours, and shaking with the ague
+the rest of the day after,--marching, mid-leg in water, half frozen, and
+trying quick movements, when the very blood is in icicles! And then
+you 'll be enjoying Paris,--delightful Paris!--dining at the 'Rocher,'
+supping at the 'Cadran,' lounging into the _salons_, at the very time we
+shall be hiding ourselves amidst the straw of our bivouacs. I go mad to
+think of it. And, what's worse than all, there you sit, as little
+elated as if the whole thing were only the most natural in the world. I
+believe, on my word, you 'd not condescend to be surprised if you were
+gazetted Marechal de France in to-morrow's gazette."
+
+"When I can bear, without testifying too much astonishment, to see my
+supper eaten by the man who does nothing but rate me into the bargain,
+perhaps I may plume myself on some equanimity of temper."
+
+"Confound your equanimity! It's very easy to be satisfied when one has
+everything his own way."
+
+"And so, Tascher, you deem me such a fortunate fellow?"
+
+"That I do," replied he, quickly. "You have had more good luck, and made
+less of it, than any one I ever knew. What a career you had before you
+when we met first! There was that pretty girl at the Tuileries quite
+ready to fall in love with you; I know it, because she rather took an
+air of coldness with me. Well, you let her be carried off by an old
+general, with a white head and a queue,--unquestionably a bit of pique
+on her part. Then, somehow or other, you contrived to pink the best
+swordsman of the army, little Francois there; and I never heard that the
+circumstance gained you a single conquest."
+
+"Quite true, my friend," said I, laughing; "I confess it all. And, what
+is far worse, I acknowledge that until this moment I did not even know
+the advantages I was wilfully wasting."
+
+"And even now," continued he, not minding my interruption,--"even now,
+you are about to return to Paris as one of the _elite_. Well, I 'll
+wager twenty Naps that the only civil speeches you 'll hear will be from
+some musty old senators at the Luxembourg. Oh dear! if my amiable aunt,
+the Empress, would only induce my most benevolent uncle, the Emperor,
+to put me on that same list, depend upon it you 'd hear of Lieutenant
+Tascher in the 'Faubourg St. Honore.'"
+
+"But you seem to forget," said I, half piqued at last by the
+impertinence of his tone, "that I have neither friends nor
+acquaintances; that, although a Frenchman by service, I am not so by
+birth."
+
+"And I,--what am I?" interrupted he. "A Creole, come from Heaven knows
+what far-away place beyond seas; that there never was a man with
+more expensive tastes, and smaller means to supply them,--with worse
+prospects, and better connections; in short, a kind of live antithesis.
+And yet, with all that, exchange places with me now, and see if, before
+a fortnight elapse, I have not more dinner invitations than any officer
+of the same grade within the Boulevards; watch if the prettiest girl
+at Paris is not at my side in the Opera. But here comes your official
+appointment, I take it."
+
+As he said this, an orderly of the "Garde" delivered a sealed packet
+into my hands, which, on opening, I discovered was a letter from General
+Duroc, wherein I read, that "it was the wish of his Majesty, Emperor and
+King, that I, his well-beloved Thomas Burke, in conformity with certain
+instructions to be afterwards made known to me, should proceed with the
+_compagnie d'elite_ to Paris, then and there--"
+
+As I read thus far aloud, Tascher interrupted me, snatching the paper
+from my hands, and continued thus:--
+
+"Then and there to mope, muse, and be _ennuye_ until such time as active
+service may again recall him to the army. My dear Burke, I am really
+sorry for you. Wars and campaigning may be--indeed they are--very fine
+things; but as the means, not the end. His Majesty, my uncle,--whom may
+Heaven preserve and soften his heart to his relations!--loves them for
+their own sake; but we,--you and I, for instance,--what possible reason
+can we have for risking our bones, and getting our flesh mangled, save
+the hope of promotion? And to what end that same promotion, if not for
+a wider sphere of pleasure and enjoyment? Think what a career a colonel,
+at our age, would have in Paris!"
+
+"Come, Tascher, I will not believe you in all this. If there were
+not something higher to reward one for the fatigues and dangers of a
+campaign than the mere sensual delights you allude to, I, for one, would
+soon doff the epaulettes."
+
+"You are impracticable," said he, half angrily; "but it is as much from
+the isolation in which you have lived as any conviction on the subject.
+You must let me introduce you to some relatives of mine in Paris. They
+will be delighted to know you; for, as one of the _compagnie d'elite_,
+you might figure as a very respectable 'lion' for two, nay, three entire
+evenings. And you will have the _entree_ to the pleasantest house in
+Paris; they receive every evening, and all the best people resort there.
+I only exact one condition."
+
+"And that is--"
+
+"You must not make love to Pauline. That you will fall in love with her
+yourself is a fact I can't help,--nor you either. But no advance on your
+part; promise me that."
+
+"In such case, Tascher, it were best for all parties I should not know
+the lady. I have no fancy, believe me, for being smitten whether I will
+or no."
+
+"I see, Master Burke, there is a bit of impertinence in all this. You
+sneer at my warnings about _la belle cousine_; now, I am determined
+you shall see her at least. Besides, you must do me a service with the
+countess I have had the bad luck to be for some time out of favor with
+my aunt Josephine,--some trumpery debts of mine they make a work
+about at the Tuileries. Well, perhaps you could persuade Madame de
+Lacostellerie to take up my cause; she has great influence with the
+Empress, and can make her do what she pleases. And, if I must confess
+it, it was this brought me over to your quarters tonight; and I ate
+your supper just to pass away time till you came back again. You 'll not
+refuse me?"
+
+"Certainly not. But reflect for a moment, Tascher, and you will see that
+no man was ever less intended for a diplomate. It is only a few minutes
+since you laughed at my solitary habits and hermit propensities."
+
+"I've thought of all that, Burke, and am not a whit discouraged. On the
+contrary, you are the more likely to think of my affairs because you
+have none of your own; and I don't know any one but yourself I should
+fancy to meet Pauline frequently and on terms of intimacy."
+
+"This, at least, is not a compliment," said I, laughing.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, and threw up his eyebrows with a French
+expression, as though to say, it can't be helped; and then continued:--
+
+"And now remember, Burke, I count on you. Get me out of this confounded
+place; I 'd rather be back at Toulon again, if need be. And as I shall
+not see you again before you leave, farewell. I 'll send the letter for
+the countess early to-morrow."
+
+We shook hands warmly and parted: he to return to his quarters; and I
+to sit down beside my fire, and muse over the events that had just
+occurred, and think of Tascher himself, whose character had never been
+so plainly exposed to me before.
+
+If De Beauvais, with his hot-headed impetuosity, his mad devotion to the
+cause of the Legitimists, was a type of the followers of the Bourbons;
+so, in all the easy indifference and quiet selfishness of his nature,
+was Tascher a specimen of another class of his countrymen,--a class
+which, wrapped up in its own circle of egotistical enjoyments, believed
+Paris the only habitable spot of the whole globe. Without any striking
+traits of character, or any very decided vices, they led a life of
+pleasure and amusement, rendering every one and everything around them,
+so far as they were able, subservient to their own plane and wishes;
+and perfectly unconscious the while how glaring their selfishness
+had become, and how palpable, even to the least observant, was the
+self-indulgence they practised on every occasion. Without cleverness
+or tact enough to conceal their failings, they believed they imposed
+on others because they imposed on themselves,--just as the child deems
+himself unseen when he closes his eyes.
+
+Josephine's followers were, many of them, like this, and formed a
+striking contrast to the young men of the Napoleonite party, who,
+infatuated by the glorious successes of their chief, deemed the
+career of arms alone honorable. St. Cyr and the Polytechnique were the
+nurseries of these,--the principles instilled there were perpetuated
+in after life; and however exaggerated their ideas of France and her
+destiny, their undoubted heroism and devotion might well have palliated
+even heavier errors.
+
+It was in ruminating thus over the different characters of the few I
+had ever known intimately, that I came to think seriously on my own
+condition, which, for many a day before, I had rather avoided than
+sought to reflect on. I felt,--as how many must have done!--that the
+bond of a common country, the inborn patriotism of the native of the
+soil, is the great resource on which men fall back when they devote
+themselves to the career of arms; that the alien's position, disguise it
+how he will, is that of the mere mercenary. How can he identify himself
+with interests on which he is but half-informed, or feel attachment to
+a land wherein he has neither hearth nor home? In the very glory he wins
+he can scarce participate. In a word, his is a false position, which no
+events nor accidents of fortune can turn to good account, and he must
+rest satisfied with a life of isolation and estrangement.
+
+I felt how readily, if I had been a Frenchman born, I could have excused
+and palliated to my conscience many things which now were matters of
+reproach. Aggressive war had lost its horrors in the glory of enlarged
+dominions; the greatness of France and the honor of her arms had made
+me readily forget the miseries entailed on other nations by her lust of
+conquest. But I--the stranger, the alien--had no part in the inheritance
+of glory; and personal ambition,--what means it, save to stand high
+amongst those we once looked up to as superiors? For me there were
+no traditions of a childhood passed amid great names, revered and
+worshipped; no early teachings of illustrious examples beside the
+paternal hearth. And yet there was one, although lost to me forever,
+before whose eyes I would gladly seem to hold a high place. Yes! could
+I but think that she had not forgotten me,--would hear my name with
+interest, or feel one throb of pleasure if I were spoken of with
+honor,--I asked no more!
+
+"A letter, Monsieur le Capitaine," said my servant, as he deposited
+a package on my table. Supposing it was the epistle of which Tascher
+spoke, I paid but slight attention to it, when by chance I remarked it
+was in General d'Auvergne's handwriting. I opened it at once, and read
+as follows:--
+
+      Bivouac, 11 o'clock.
+
+      My dear Burke,--No one ever set off for Paris without being
+      troubled with commissions for his country friends, and you
+      must not escape the ills of common humanity. Happily for
+      you, however, the debt is easily acquitted; I have neither
+      undiscovered shades of silk to be matched, nor impossible
+      bargains to be effected. I shall simply beg of you to
+      deliver with your own hand the enclosed letter to its
+      address at the Tuileries; adding, if you think fit, the
+      civil attentions of a visit.
+
+      We shall both, in all likelihood, be much hurried when we
+      meet to-morrow,--for I also have received orders to march,--
+      so that I take the present opportunity to enclose you a
+      check on Paris for a trifle in advance of your pay;
+      remembering too well, in my own aide-de-camp days, the
+      dilatory habits of the War Office with new captains.
+
+      Yours ever, dear Burke,
+
+      D'Auvergne, Lieut-General.
+
+The letter of which he spoke had fallen on the table, where I now read
+the address,--"A Madame la Comtesse d'Auvergne, nee Comtesse de Meudon,
+dame d'honneur de S. M. l'Imperatrice." As I read these lines, I felt my
+face grow burning hot, my cheeks flushed up, and I could scarcely have
+been more excited were I actually in her presence to whom the letter
+was destined. The poor general's kind note, his check for eight thousand
+francs, lay there: I forgot them both, and sat still, spelling over
+the letters of that name so woven in my destiny. I thought of the first
+night I had ever heard it, when, a mere boy, I wept over her sorrows,
+and grieved for her whose fate was so soon to throw its shadow over my
+own. But in a moment all gave way before the one thought,--I should see
+her again, speak to her and hear her voice. It is true, she was the wife
+of another: but as Marie de Meudon, our destinies were as wide apart;
+under no circumstances could she have been mine, nor did I ever dare
+to hope it. My love to her--for it was such, ardent and passionate--was
+more the devotion of some worshipper at a shrine than an affection that
+sought return. The friendless soldier of fortune, poor, unknown, uncared
+for,--how could he raise his thoughts to one for whose hand the noblest
+and the bravest were suitors in vain? Yet, with all this, how my heart
+throbbed to think that we should meet again! Nor was the thought less
+stirring that I felt, that even in the short interval of absence I had
+won praise from him for whom her admiration was equal to my own. With
+all the turmoil of my hopes and fears I felt a rush of pleasure at my
+heart; and when I slept, it was to dream of happy days to come, and a
+future far brighter than the past.
+
+My first thought when morning broke was to ride over to Beygern, to
+learn the fate of my wounded friends. On my way thither I fell in with
+several officers bound on a similar errand, for already the convent had
+become the great hospital to which the sufferers were brought from every
+part of the camp. As we went along, I was much struck by the depression
+of spirit so remarkable everywhere. The battle over, all the martial
+enthusiasm seemed to have evaporated: many grumbled at the tiresome
+prospect of a winter in country quarters, or cantoned in the field; some
+regretted the briefness of the campaign; while others again complained
+that to return to France after so little of active service would only
+expose them to ridicule from their companions who had seen Italy and
+Egypt.
+
+"Spare your sorrows on that score, my young friends," said a colonel,
+who listened patiently to the complaints around him; "we shall not
+see the dome of the Invalides for some time yet. Except the _compagnie
+d'elite_, I fancy few of us will figure on the Boulevards."
+
+"There, again," cried another: "I never heard anything so unfair as that
+_compagnie d'elite_; they have been, with two solitary exceptions, taken
+from the cavalry. Austerlitz was to be the day of honor for the infantry
+of France, said the bulletin."
+
+"And so it was," interrupted a little dark-eyed major; "and I suppose
+his Majesty thought we had enough of it on the field, and did not wish
+to surfeit us with glory. But I ask pardon," said he, turning towards
+me; "monsieur is, if I mistake not, named one of the _elite_?"
+
+As I replied in the affirmative, I observed all eyes turned towards me;
+but not with any kindly expression,--far from it. I saw that there was a
+deliberate canvass of me, as though to see by my outward man how I could
+possibly deserve such a favor.
+
+"Can you explain to us, Monsieur," said the little major to me, "on what
+principle the _elite_ were chosen? For we have a thousand contradictory
+reports in the camp: some say by ballot; some, that it was only those
+who never soiled their jackets in the affair of the other day, and
+looked fresh and smart."
+
+A burst of laughter from the rest interrupted the major's speech, for
+its impertinence was quite sufficient to secure it many admirers.
+
+"I believe, sir," said I, angrily, "I can show you some reasons against
+the selection of certain persons."
+
+As I got thus far, an officer whispered something into the major's ear,
+who, with a roar of laughing, exclaimed,--
+
+"A thousand pardons! ten thousand, _parbleu!_ I did n't know you. It was
+monsieur pinked Francois, the maitre d'armes? Yes, yes; don't deny it,"
+said he, as I made no reply whatever to a question I believed quite
+irrelevant to the occasion,--"don't deny it. That lunge over the guard
+was a thing to be proud of; and, by Jove! you shall not practise it at
+my expense."
+
+This speech excited great amusement among the party, who seemed to
+coincide perfectly with the reasoning of the speaker; while I myself
+remained silent, unable to decide whether I ought to be annoyed or the
+reverse.
+
+"Come, Monsieur," resumed the major, addressing me with courtesy, "I
+ask-pardon for the liberty of my speech. By Saint Denis! if all the
+_compagnie d'elite_ have the same skill of fence, I 'll not question
+their appointment."
+
+The candor of the avowal was too much for my gravity, and I now joined
+in the mirth of his companions.
+
+If I have mentioned so trivial an incident as this here, it is because I
+wish to mark, even thus passingly, a trait of French military life. The
+singular confession of a man who regretted his impertinence because he
+discovered his adversary was a better swordsman, would, under any other
+code or in any other country, have argued poltroonery. Not so here;
+no one for a moment suspected his comrade's courage, nor could any
+circumstance arise to make it doubtful save an actual instance of
+cowardice. The inequality of the combat was reason enough for not
+engaging in it: the odds were unfair, because duelling was like a game
+where each party was to have an equal chance; and hence no shame was
+felt at declining a contest where this inequality existed.
+
+Such a system, it is obvious, could not have prevailed in communities
+where duelling was only resorted to in extreme cases; but here it was
+an every-day occurrence, and often formed but a brief interval, scarce
+interrupting the current of an old friendship. Any resentful spirit,
+any long-continued dislike to the party with whom you once fought, would
+have been denounced as unofficer-like and ungenerous; and every day saw
+men walking arm-inarm in closest intimacy, who but the morning before
+stood opposed to each other's weapons. I now perceived the truth of
+what Minette had once said, and which at the time I but imperfectly
+comprehended. "Maitre Francois will be less troublesome in future; and
+you, Lieutenant, will have an easier life also."
+
+"Halt there!" shouted a sentry, as we approached the narrow causeway
+that led up to the convent. We now discovered, that by a general order
+no one was permitted to approach the hospital save such as were provided
+with a leave from the medical staff. A bulletin of the deaths was daily
+published on the guard-house, except which no other information was
+afforded of the condition of the wounded; and to this we turned eagerly,
+and with anxious hearts, lest we might read the name of some friend
+lost forever. I ran over with a rapid glance the list, where neither St.
+Hilaire nor poor Pioche occurred; and then, setting spurs to my horse,
+hurried back to my quarters at the top of my speed. When I arrived, the
+preparations for the departure of the _elite_ were already in progress,
+and I had but time to make my few arrangements for the road when the
+order came to join my comrades.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. PARIS IN 1800
+
+A portion of the Luxembourg was devoted to the reception of the
+_compagnie d'elite_ for whom a household on the most liberal scale was
+provided, a splendid table maintained, and all that wealth and the taste
+of a voluptuous age could suggest, procured, to make their life one of
+daily magnificence and pleasure. Daru himself, the especial favorite
+of the Emperor, took the head of the table each day, to which generally
+some of the ministers were invited; while the "Moniteur" of every
+morning chronicled the festivities, giving _eclat_ to the most minute
+circumstance, and making Paris re-echo to the glories of him of
+whose fame they were but the messengers. The most costly equipages,
+saddle-horses of great price, grooms in gorgeous liveries, all that
+could attract notice and admiration, were put in requisition; while
+ceremonies of pomp went forward day by day, and the deputation received
+in state the congratulatory visits of different departments of the
+Government.
+
+While thus this homage was paid to the semblance of Napoleon's glory,
+his progress through Germany was one grand triumphal procession. One day
+we read of his arrival at Munich, whither the Empress had gone to meet
+him. There he was welcomed with the most frantic enthusiasm: he had
+restored to them their army almost without loss, and covered with
+laurels; he had elevated their elector to a throne; while he cemented
+the friendship between the two nations by the marriage of Eugene
+Beauharnais with the Princess of Bavaria. Another account would tell
+us of sixteen thousand Russian prisoners on their way to France,
+accompanied by two thousand cannon taken from the Austrians. All
+that could excite national enthusiasm and gratify national vanity was
+detailed by the Government press, and popular excitement raised to a
+higher pitch than in the wildest periods of the Revolution.
+
+Hourly was his arrival looked forward to with anxiety and impatience.
+Fetes on the most splendid scale of magnificence were in preparation,
+and the public bodies of Paris held meetings to concert measures for
+his triumphal reception. At last a telegraphic despatch announced his
+arrival at Strasburg. He crossed the Rhine at the very place where,
+exactly one hundred days before, he passed over on his march against
+the Austrians; one hundred days of such glory as not even his career had
+equalled,--Ulm and Austerlitz, vanquished Russia, and ruined Austria the
+trophies of this brief space! Never had his genius shone with greater
+splendor; never had Fortune shown herself 'more the companion of his
+destiny.
+
+Each hour was now counted, and every thought turned to the day when he
+might be expected to arrive; and on the 24th came the intelligence that
+the Emperor was approaching Paris. He had halted part of a day at Nancy
+to review some regiments of cavalry, and now might be expected in less
+than twenty-four hours. The next morning all Paris awoke at an early
+hour; when what was the surprise and disappointment to see the great
+flag floating from the pavilion of the Tuileries! His Majesty had
+arrived during the night, when, at once sending for the Minister of
+Finance, he proceeded, without taking a moment's repose, to examine into
+the dreadful crisis which threatened the Bank of France and the very
+existence of the Government.
+
+At eleven, the Council of State were assembled at the Tuileries; and
+at twelve, a proclamation, dispersed through Paris, announced that M.
+Molien was appointed minister, and M. Marbois was dismissed from his
+office. The rapidity of these changes, and the avoidance of all public
+homage by the Emperor, threw for several days a cast of gloom over the
+whole city; which was soon dissipated by the reappearance of Napoleon,
+and the publication of that celebrated report by M. Champagny in which
+the glories of France--her victories, her acquisitions in wealth,
+territory, and influence--were recited in terms whose adulation it would
+be now difficult to digest.
+
+From that moment the festivities of Paris commenced, and with a splendor
+unsurpassed by any period of the Empire. It was the Augustan era of
+Napoleon's life in all that concerned the fine arts; for literature,
+unhappily, did not flourish at any time beneath his reign. Gerard and
+Gros, David, Ingres, and Isabey committed to canvas the glories of the
+German campaigns; and the capitulation of Ulm, the taking of Vienna,
+the passage of the Danube, and the field of Austerlitz still live in the
+genius of these great painters.
+
+The Opera, too, under the direction of Gimerosa, had attained to an
+unwonted excellence; while Spontini and Boieldieu, in their separate
+walks, gave origin to the school so distinctly that of the Comic Opera.
+Still, the voluptuous tastes of the day prevailed above all; and the
+ballet, and the strange conceptions of Nicolo, a Maltese composer,--in
+which music, dancing, romance, and scenery all figured,--were the
+passion of the time.
+
+Dancing was, indeed, the great art of the era. Vestris and Trenis were
+the great names in every _salon_; and all the extravagant graces and
+voluptuous groupings of the ballet were introduced into the amusements
+of society: even the taste in dress was made subordinate to this
+passion,--the light and floating materials, which mark the figure and
+display symmetry, replacing the heavier and more costly robes of former
+times. The reaction to the stern puritanism of the Republican age had
+set in, and secretly was favored by Napoleon himself; who saw in all
+this extravagance and abandonment to pleasure the basis of that new
+social state on which he purposed to found his dynasty.
+
+Never were the entertainments at the Tuileries more costly; never was
+a greater magnificence displayed in all the ceremonial of state. The
+marshals of the Empire were enjoined to maintain a style corresponding
+to their exalted position; and the reports of the police were actually
+studied respecting such persons as lived in what was deemed a manner
+unbefitting their means of expense. Cambaceres and Fouche, Talleyrand
+and Murat, all maintained splendid establishments. Their dinners were
+given twice each week, and their receptions were almost every evening.
+If the Emperor conferred wealth with a liberal hand, so did he expect to
+see it freely expended. He knew well the importance of conciliating the
+affections of the _bourgeoisie_ of Paris; and that by no other means
+could such an end be accomplished more readily than by a lavish
+expenditure of money throughout all classes of society. This was alone
+wanting to efface every trace of the old Republican spirit. The simple
+habits and uncostly tastes of the Jacobins were at once regarded as
+meannesses; their frugal and unpretending modes of life pronounced low
+and vulgar; and many, who could have opposed a stout heart against
+the current of popular feeling on stronger grounds, yielded to the
+insinuations and mockeries of their own class, and conformed to tastes
+which eventually engendered opinions and even principles.
+
+I ask pardon of my reader for digressing from the immediate subject of
+my own career, to speak of topics which are rather the province of the
+historian than a mere story-teller like myself; still, I should not be
+able to present to his view the picture of manners I desired, without
+thus recalling some features of that time, so pregnant with the fate of
+Europe and the future destiny of France. And now to return.
+
+Immediately on the Emperor's arrival, the Empress and her suite took
+their departure for Versailles; from whence it was understood they were
+not to return before the end of the month, for which time a splendid
+ball was announced at the Tuileries. Unwilling to detain General
+d'Auvergne's letter so long, and unable from the position I occupied
+to obtain leave of absence from Paris, I forwarded the letter to the
+comtesse, and abandoned the only hope of meeting her once more. The
+disappointment from this source; the novelty of the circumstances in
+which I found myself; the fascinations of a world altogether strange
+to me,--all conspired to confuse and excite me, and I entered into the
+dissipation of those around me, if not with all their zest, at least
+with as headlong a resolution to drown all reflection in a life of
+voluptuous enjoyment.
+
+The only person of my own standing among the _compagnie d'elite_ was a
+captain of the Chasseurs of the Guard, who, although but a few years
+my senior, had seen service in the Italian campaign. By family a
+Bour-bonist, he joined the revolutionary armies when his relatives fled
+from France, and slowly won his steps to his present rank. A certain
+_hauteur_ in his manner with men--an air of distance he always wore--had
+made him as little liked by them as it usually succeeds in making a man
+popular with women, to whom the opposite seems at once a compliment.
+He was a man who had seen much of the world, and in the best society;
+gifted with the most fascinating address, whenever he pleased to exert
+it, and singularly good-looking, he was the _beau ideal_ of the French
+officer of the highest class.
+
+The Chevalier Duchesne and myself had travelled together for some
+days without exchanging more than the ordinary civilities of distant
+acquaintance, when some accident of the road threw us more closely
+together, and ended by forming an intimacy which, in our Paris life,
+brought us every hour into each other's society.
+
+Stranger as I was in the capital, to me the acquaintance was a boon of
+great price. He knew it thoroughly: in the gorgeous and stately _salons_
+of the Faubourg; in the _guingettes_ of the Rue St. Denis; in the costly
+mansion of the modern banker (the new aristocracy of the land); or in
+the homely _menage_ of the shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honore,--he was
+equally at home, and by some strange charm had the _entree_ too.
+
+The same "sesame" opened to him the _coulisse_ of the Opera and the
+penetralia of the Francais. In fact, he seemed one of those privileged
+people who are met with occasionally in life in places the most
+incongruous and with acquaintances the most opposite, yet never carrying
+the prestige of the one or the other an inch beyond the precincts it
+belongs to. Had he been wealthy I could have accounted for much of this,
+for never was there a period when riches more abounded nor when their
+power was more absolute: but he did not seem so; although in no want of
+money, his retinue and simple style of living betrayed nothing beyond
+fair competence. Neither, as far as I could perceive, did he incline to
+habits of extravagance; on the contrary, he was too apt to connect every
+display with vulgarity, and condemn in his fastidiousness the gorgeous
+splendor that characterized the period.
+
+Such, without going further, did Duchesne appear to be, as we took up
+our quarters at the Luxembourg, and commenced an intimacy which each day
+served to increase.
+
+"Well, thank Heaven, this vaudeville is over at last!" said he, as he
+threw himself into a large chair at my fire, and pitched his chapeau,
+all covered with gold and embroidery, into a far corner of the room.
+
+We had just returned from Notre Dame, where the grand ceremonial of
+receiving the standards was held by the Senate with all the solemnity of
+a high mass and the most imposing observances.
+
+"Vaudeville?" said I, turning round rapidly.
+
+"Yes; what else can you call it? What, I ask you, had those poor
+decrepit senators, those effeminate priests in the costumes of
+_beguines_, to do with the eagles of a brave but unfortunate army? In
+what way can you connect that incense and that organ with the smoke of
+artillery and the crash of mitraille? And, lastly, was it like old
+Daru himself to stand there, half crouching, beside some wretched
+half-palsied priest? But I feel heartily ashamed of myself, though I
+played but the smallest part in the whole drama."
+
+"Is it thus you can speak of the triumph of our army? the glories--"
+
+"You mistake me much. I only speak of that miserable mockery which
+converts our hard-won laurels into chap-lets of artificial flowers.
+These displays are far beneath us, and would only become the victories
+of some national guard."
+
+"So, then," said I, half laughingly, "it is your Republican gorge that
+rises against all this useless ceremonial?"
+
+"You are the very first ever detected me in that guise," said he,
+bursting into a hearty laugh. "But come, I'd wager you agree with me
+all this while. This was a very contemptible exhibition; and, for my own
+part, I 'd rather see the colors back again with those poor fellows we
+chased at Austerlitz, than fluttering in the imbecile hands of dotage
+and bigotry."
+
+"Then I must say we differ totally. I like to think of the warlike
+spirit nourished in a nation by the contemplation of such glorious
+spoils. I am young enough to remember how the Invalides affected me--"
+
+"When you took your Sunday walk there from the Poly-technique, two and
+two, with a blue ribbon round your neck for being a good boy during the
+week. Oh, I know it all; delicious times they were, with their souvenirs
+of wooden legs and plum-pudding. Happy fellow you must be, if the
+delusion can last this while!"
+
+"You are determined it shall not continue much longer," said I,
+laughing; "that is quite evident."
+
+"No; on the contrary, I shall be but too happy to be your convert,
+instead of making you mine. But unfortunately, Sa Majeste, Empereur et
+Roi, has taught me some smart lessons since I gave up mathematics; and I
+have acquired a smattering of his own policy, which is to look after
+the substance, and leave the shadow--or the _drapeau_, if you like it
+better--to whoever pleases."
+
+"I confess, however," said I, "I don't well understand your enthusiasm
+about war and your indifference about its trophies. To me the
+associations they suggest are pleasurable beyond anything."
+
+"I think I remember something of that kind in myself formerly," said he,
+musing. "There was a time when the blast of a trumpet, or even the clank
+of a sabre, used to set my heart thumping. Happily, however, the organ
+has grown steeled against even more stirring sounds; and I listened to
+the salute to-day, fired as it was by that imposing body, the artillery
+of the 'Garde Nationale,' with an equanimity truly wonderful. Apropos,
+my dear Burke; talk of heroism and self-devotion as you will, but show
+me anything to compare with the gallantry of those fellows we saw to-day
+on the Quai Voltaire,--a set of grocers, periwig-makers, umbrella and
+sausage men, with portly paunches and spectacles,--ramming down charges,
+sponging, loading, and firing real cannon. On my word of honor, it was
+fearful."
+
+"They say his Majesty is very proud indeed of the National Guard of
+Paris."
+
+"Of course he is. Look at them, and just think what must be the
+enthusiasm of men who will adopt a career so repugnant, not only to
+their fancy, but their very formation. Remember that he who runs
+yonder with a twenty-four pounder never handled anything heavier than a
+wig-block, and that the only charges of the little man beside him have
+been made in his day-book. By Saint Denis! the dromedary guard we had
+in Egypt were more at home in their saddles than the squadron who rode
+beside the archbishop's carriage."
+
+"It is scarcely fair, after all," said I, half laughing, "to
+criticise them so severely; and the more, as I think you had some old
+acquaintances among them."
+
+"Ha! you saw that, did you?" said he, smiling. "No, by Jove! I never met
+them before. But that _confrerie_ of soldiers--you understand--soon made
+us acquainted; and I saw one old fellow speaking to a very pretty girl I
+guessed to be his daughter, and soon cemented a small friendship with
+him: here's his card."
+
+"His card! Why, are you to visit him?"
+
+"Better again; I shall dine there on Monday next. Let us see how he
+calls himself: 'Hippolyte Pierrot, stay and corset-maker to her Majesty
+the Empress, No. 22 Rue du Bac,--third floor above the _entresol._'
+_Diable!_ we 're high up. Unfortunately, I am scarcely intimate enough
+to bring a friend."
+
+"Oh, make no excuses on that head," said I, laughing; "I really have no
+desire to see Monsieur Hippolyte Pierrot's _menage_. And now, what are
+your engagements for this evening? Are you for the Opera?"
+
+"I don't well know," said he, pausing. "Madame Caulaincourt receives,
+and of course expects to see our gay jackets in her _salon_ any time
+before or after supper. Then there's the Comtesse de Nevers: I never go
+there without meeting my tailor; the fellow's a spy of the police, and
+a confectioner to boot, and he serves the ices, and reports the
+conversations in the Place Vendome and that side of the Rue St.
+Honore,--I couldn't take a glass of lemonade without being dunned. Then,
+in the Faubourg I must go in plain clothes,--they would not let the
+'livery of the Usurper' pass the porter's lodge; besides, they worry one
+with their enthusiastic joy or grief,--as the last letter from England
+mentions whether the Comte d'Artois has eaten too many oysters, or found
+London beer too strong for him."
+
+"From all which I guess that you are indisposed to stir."
+
+"I believe that is about the fact. Truth is, Burke, there is only one
+soiree in all Paris I 'd take the trouble to dress for this evening;
+and, strange enough, it's the only house where I don't know the people.
+He is a commissary-general, or a 'fournisseur' of some kind or other of
+the army; always from home, they say; with a wife who was once, and a
+daughter who is now, exceeding pretty; keeps a splendid house; and, like
+an honest man, makes restitution of all he can cheat in the campaign by
+giving good dinners in the capital. His Majesty, at the solicitation of
+the Empress, I believe, made him a count,--God's mercy it was not a
+king!--and as they come from Guadaloupe, or Otaheite, no one disputes
+their right. Besides, this is not a time for such punctilio. This is all
+I know of them, for unfortunately they settled here since I joined the
+army."
+
+"And the name?"
+
+"Oh, a very plausible name, I assure you. Lacostellerie,--Madame la
+Comtesse de Lacostellerie."
+
+"By Jove! you remind me I have letters for her,--a circumstance I had
+totally forgotten, though it was coupled with a commission."
+
+"A letter! Why, nothing was ever so fortunate. Don't lose a moment; you
+have just time to leave it, with your card, before dinner. You'll have
+an invitation for this evening at once."
+
+"But I have not the slightest wish."
+
+"No matter, _I_ have; and you shall bring me."
+
+"You forget," said I, mimicking his own words, "I am unfortunately not
+intimate enough."
+
+"As to that," replied he, "there is a vast difference between the
+etiquette Rue du Bac, No. 22, three floors above the _entresol_, and the
+gorgeous _salons_ of the Hotel Clichy, Rue Faubourg St. Honore; ceremony
+has the advantage in the former by a height of three pair of stairs, not
+to speak of the _entresol_."
+
+"But I don't know the people."
+
+"Nor I."
+
+"But how am I to present you?"
+
+"Easily enough,--'Captain Duchesne, Imperial Guard;' or, if you prefer
+it, I 'll do the honors for _you_."
+
+"With all my heart, then," said I, laughing; and pre-pared to pay the
+visit in question.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE HOTEL DE CLICHY
+
+Duchesne was correct in all his calculations. I had scarcely reached the
+Luxembourg when a valet brought me a card for the comtesse's soiree
+for that evening. It was accordingly agreed upon that we were to go
+together; I as the invited, he as my friend.
+
+"All your finery, Burke, remember that," said he, as we separated to
+dress. "The uniform of the _compagnie d'elite_ is as much a decoration
+in a _salon_ as a camellia or a geranium."
+
+When he re-entered my room half an hour later, I was struck by the blaze
+of orders and decorations with which his jacket was covered; while at
+his side there hung a magnificent _sabre d'honneur_, such as the Emperor
+was accustomed to confer on his most distinguished officers.
+
+"You smile at all this bravery," said he, wilfully misinterpreting
+my look of admiration; "but remember where we are going."
+
+"On the contrary," interrupted I; "but it is the first time I knew you
+had the cross of the Legion."
+
+"_Parbleu!_" said he, with an insolent shrug of his shoulders, "I had
+lent it to my hairdresser for a ball at the 'Cirque.' But here comes the
+carriage."
+
+While we drove along towards the Faubourg I had time to learn some
+further particulars of the people to whose house we were proceeding;
+and for my reader's information may as well impart them here, with such
+other facts as I subsequently collected myself.
+
+Like most of the _salons_ of the new aristocracy, Madame Lacostellerie
+received people of every section of party and every class of political
+opinion. Standing equally aloof from the old regime and the members
+of the Jacobin party, her receptions were a kind of neutral territory,
+where each could come without compromise of dignity: for already, except
+among the most starched adherents of the Bourbons, few of whom remained
+in France, there was a growing spirit to side with the Napoleonists
+in preference to the revolutionary section; while the latter, with all
+their pretensions to simplicity and primitive tastes, felt no little
+pride in mixing with the very aristocracy they so loudly inveighed
+against. Besides all this, wealth had its prestige. Never, in the
+palmiest days of the royalty, were entertainments of greater splendor;
+and the Legitimists, however disposed to be critical on the company,
+could afford to be just regarding the cuisine,--the luxury of these
+modern dinners eclipsing the most costly displays of former times, where
+hereditary rank and ancient nobility contributed to adorn the scene.
+And, lastly, the admixture of every grade and class extended the field
+of conversational agreeability, throwing in new elements and eliciting
+new features in a society where peers, actors, poets, bankers, painters,
+soldiers, speculators, journalists, and adventurers were confusedly
+mixed together; making, as it were, a common fund of their principles
+and their prejudices, and starting anew in life with what they could
+seize in the scramble.
+
+After following the long line of carriages for above an hour, we at last
+turned into a large courtyard, lit up almost to the brightness of day.
+Here the equipages of many of the ministers were standing,--a privilege
+accorded to them above the other guests. I recognized among the number
+the splendid liveries of Decres; and the stately carriage of Talleyrand,
+whose household always proclaimed itself as belonging to a "seigneur"
+of the oldest blood of France,--the most perfect type of a highbred
+gentleman. Our progress from the vestibule to the stairs was a slow one.
+The double current of those pressing upwards and downwards delayed us
+long; and at last we reached a spacious antechamber, where even greater
+numbers stood awaiting their turn, if happily it should come, to move
+forward.
+
+While here, the names of those announced conveyed tous a fair impression
+of the whole company. Among the first was Le General Junot, Berthollet
+(the celebrated chemist), Lafayette, Monges, Daru, Comte de Mailles (a
+Legitimist noble), David (the regicide), the Ambassador of Prussia,
+M. Pasquier, Talma. Such were the names we heard following in quick
+succession; when suddenly an avenue was opened by a master of the
+ceremonies before me, who read from my card the words, "Le Capitaine
+Burke, officier d'elite; le Chevalier Duchesne, presente par lui." And
+advancing within the doorway, I found myself opposite a very handsome
+woman, whose brilliant dress and blaze of diamonds concealed any ravages
+time might have made upon her beauty.
+
+She was conversing with the Arch-Chancellor, Cambaceres, when my name
+was announced; and turning rapidly round, touched my arm with her
+bouquet, as she said, with a most gracious smile,--
+
+"I am but too much flattered to see you on so short an invitation; but
+M. de Tascher's note led me to hope I might presume so far. Your friend,
+I believe?"
+
+"I have taken the great liberty--"
+
+"Indeed, Madame la Comtesse," said Duchesne, interrupting, "I must
+exculpate my friend here. This intrusion rests on my own head, and has
+no other apology than my long cherished wish to pay my homage to the
+most distinguished ornament of the Parisian world."
+
+As he spoke, the quiet flow of his words, and the low deferential bow
+with which he accompanied them, completely divested his speech of its
+tone of gross flattery, and merely made it seem a very fitting and
+appropriate expression.
+
+"This would be a very high compliment, indeed," replied Madame de
+Lacostellerie, with a flush of evident pleasure on her cheek, "had it
+even come from one less known than the Chevalier Duchesne. I hope the
+Duchesse de Montserrat is well,--your aunt, if I mistake not?" "Yes,
+Madame," said he, "in excellent health; it will afford her great
+pleasure when I inform her of your polite inquiry."
+
+Another announcement now compelled us to follow the current in front,
+which I was well content to do, and escape from an interchange of fine
+speeches, of whose sincerity, on one side at least, I had very strong
+misgivings.
+
+"So, then, the comtesse is acquainted with your family?" said I, in a
+whisper.
+
+"Who said so?" replied he, laughing.
+
+"Did she not ask after the Duchesse de Montserrat?"
+
+"And then?"
+
+"And didn't you promise to convey her very kind message?"
+
+"To be sure I did. But are you simple enough to think that either of us
+were serious in what we said? Why, my dear friend, she never saw my
+aunt in her life; nor, if I were to hint at her inquiry for her to
+the duchesse, am I certain it would not cost me something like a half
+million of francs the old lady has left me in her will,--on my word, I
+firmly believe she'd never forgive it. You know little what these people
+of the _vieille roche_, as they call themselves, are like. Do you see
+that handsome fellow yonder, with a star on a blue cordon?"
+
+"I don't know him; but I see he's a Marshal of France."
+
+"Well, I saw that same aunt of mine rise up and leave the room because
+_he_ sat down in her presence!"
+
+"Oh! that was intolerable."
+
+"So she deemed his insolence. Come, move on; they 're dancing in the
+next _salon_." And without saying more, we pushed through the crowd in
+the direction of the music.
+
+It is only by referring to the sensations experienced by those who see
+a ballet at the Opera for the first time that I can at all convey my own
+on entering the _salle de danse_. My first feeling was that of absolute
+shame. Never before had I seen that affectation of stage costume which
+then was the rage in society. The short and floating jupe--formed of
+some light and gauzy texture, which, even where it covered the figure,
+betrayed the form and proportions of the wearer--was worn low on the
+bosom and shoulders, and attached at the waist by a ribbon, whose knot
+hung negligently down in seeming disorder. The hair fell in long and
+floating masses loose upon the neck, waving in free tresses with every
+motion of the figure, and adding to that air of abandon which seemed so
+studiously aimed at. But more than anything in mere costume was the
+look and expression, in which a character of languid voluptuousness
+was written, and made to harmonize with the easy grace of floating
+movements, and sympathize with gestures full of passionate fascination.
+
+[Illustration: The Dance 134]
+
+"Now, Burke," said Duchesne, as he threw his eyes over the room, "shall
+I find a partner for you? for I believe I know most of the people here.
+That pretty blonde yonder, with the diamond buckles in her shoes, is
+Mademoiselle de Rancy, with a dowry of some millions of francs; what say
+you to pushing your fortune there? Don't forget the _officier d'elite_
+is a trump card just now; and there's no time to lose, for there will
+soon be a new deal."
+
+"Not if she had the throne of France in reversion," said I; turning away
+in disgust from a figure which, though perfectly beautiful, outraged at
+every movement that greatest charm of womanhood,--her inborn modesty.
+
+"Ah, then, you don't fancy a blonde!" said he, carelessly, whether
+wilfully misunderstanding me or not I could not say. "Nor I either,"
+added he. "There, now, is something far more to my taste; is she not a
+lovely girl?"
+
+She to whom he now directed my attention was standing at the side of
+the room, and leaning on her partner's arm; her head slightly turned,
+so that we could not see her features, but her figure was actually
+faultless. Hers was not one of those gossamer shapes which flitted
+around and about us, balancing on tiptoe, or gracefully floating with
+extending arms. Rather strongly built than otherwise, she stood with
+the firm foot and the straight ankle of a marble statue; her arms, well
+rounded, hung easily from her full, wide shoulders; while her head,
+slightly thrown back, was balanced on her neck with an air at once
+dignified and easy. Her dress well suited the character of her figure:
+it was entirely of black, covered with a profusion of deep lace,--the
+jupe looped up in Andalusian fashion to display the leg, whose symmetry
+was perfect. Even her costume, however, had something about it too
+theatrical for my taste; but there was a stamp of firmness, _fierte_
+even, in her carriage and her attitude, that at once showed hers was
+no vulgar desire of being remarkable, but the womanly consciousness of
+being dressed as became her. She suddenly turned her head around, and
+we both exclaimed in the same breath, "How lovely!" Her features were of
+that brilliant character only seen in Southern blood: eyes large, black,
+and lustrous, fringed with lashes that threw their shadow on the very
+cheek; full lips, curled with an air of almost saucy expression; while
+the rich olive tint of her transparent skin was scarce colored with the
+pink flush of exercise, and harmonized perfectly with the proud repose
+of her countenance.
+
+"She must be Spanish,--that's certain," said Duchesne. "No one ever saw
+such an instep come from this side the Pyrenees; and those eyes have got
+their look of sleepy wickedness from Moorish blood. But here comes one
+will tell us all about her."
+
+This was the Baron de Treve,--a withered-looking, dried-up old man,
+rouged to the eyes, and dressed in the extravagance of the last fashion;
+the high collar of his coat rising nearly to the back of his head, as
+his deep cravat in front entirely concealed his mouth, and formed a kind
+of barrier around his features.
+
+As Duchesne addressed him, he stopped short, and assuming an attitude
+of great intended grace, raised his glass slowly to his eye, and looked
+towards the lady.
+
+"Ah! the senorina. Don't you know _her?_ Why, where have you been, my
+dear chevalier? Oh! I forgot. You've been in Austria, or Russia, or some
+barbarous place or other. She is the belle, _par excellence_; nothing
+else is talked of in Paris."
+
+"But her name? Who is she?" said Duchesne, impatiently.
+
+"Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie, the daughter of the house," said the
+baron, completely overcome with astonishment at our ignorance. "And you
+not to know this!--you, of all men living! Why," he continued, dropping
+his voice to a lower key, "there never was such a fortune. Mines of
+rubies and emeralds; continents of coffee, rice, and sandal-wood; spice
+islands and sugar plantations, to make one's mouth water."
+
+"By Jove, Baron! you seem somewhat susceptible yourself."
+
+"I had my thoughts on the subject," said he, with a half sigh. "But,
+_helas!_ there are so many ties to be broken! so many tender chains one
+must snap asunder!"
+
+"I understand," said Duchesne, with an air of well-assumed seriousness;
+"the thing was impossible. Now, then, what say you to assist a friend?"
+
+"You,--yourself, do you mean?"
+
+"Of course, Baron; no other."
+
+"Come this way," said the old man, taking him by the arm, and leading
+him along to another part of the room, while Duchesne, with a sly look
+at me, followed.
+
+While I stood awaiting his return, my thoughts became fixed on Duchesne
+himself, of whose character I never felt free from my misgivings. The
+cold indifference he manifested on ordinary occasions to everything and
+everybody, I now saw could give way to strong impetuosity; but even this
+might be assumed also. As I pondered thus, I had not remarked that the
+dance was concluded; and already the dancers were proceeding towards
+their seats, when I heard my name uttered beside me,--"Capitaine
+Burke." I turned; it was the countess herself, leaning on the arm of her
+daughter.
+
+"I wish to present you to my daughter," said she, with a courteous
+smile. "The college friend and brother officer of your cousin Tascher,
+Pauline."
+
+The young lady courtesied with an air of cold reserve; I bowed deeply
+before her; while the countess continued,--
+
+"We hope to have the pleasure of seeing you frequently during your
+stay in Paris, when we shall have a better opportunity of making your
+acquaintance."
+
+As I expressed my sense of this politeness, I turned to address a few
+words to mademoiselle; and requesting to have the honor of dancing
+with her, she looked at me with an air of surprise, as though not
+understanding my words, when suddenly the countess interposed,--
+
+"I fear that my daughter's engagements have been made long since; but
+another night--"
+
+"I will hope--"
+
+But before I could say more, the countess addressed another person near
+her, and mademoiselle, turning her head superciliously away, did not
+deign me any further attention; so that, abashed and awkward at so
+unfavorable a _debut_ in the gay world, I fell back, and mixed with the
+crowd.
+
+As I did so, I found myself among a group of officers, one of whom was
+relating an anecdote just then current in Paris, and which I mention
+merely as illustrating in some measure the habits of the period.
+
+At the levee of the Emperor on the morning before, an old general of
+brigade advanced to pay his respects, when Napoleon observed some drops
+of rain glistening on the embroidery of his uniform. He immediately
+turned towards one of his suite, and gave orders to ascertain by what
+carriage the general had arrived. The answer was, that he had come in
+a _fiacre_,--a hired vehicle, which by the rules of the Court was not
+admitted within the court of the Tuileries, and thus he was obliged to
+walk above one hundred yards before he could obtain shelter. The old
+officer, who knew nothing of the tender solicitude of the Emperor, was
+confounded with astonishment to observe at his departure a handsome
+_caleche_ and two splendid horses at his service.
+
+"Whose carriage is this?" said he.
+
+"Yours, Monsieur le General."
+
+"And the servant, and the horses?"
+
+"Yours, also. His Majesty has graciously been pleased to order them for
+you; and desires you will remember that the sum of six thousand francs
+will be deducted from your pay to meet the cost of the equipage which
+the Emperor deems befitting your rank in the service."
+
+"It is thus," said the narrator, "the Emperor would enforce that
+liberality on others he so eminently displays himself. The spoils of
+Italy and Austria are destined, not to found a new _noblesse_, but to
+enrich the _bourgeoisie_ of this good city of Paris. I say, Edward,
+is not that Duchesne yonder? I thought he was above patronizing the
+_salons_ of a mere commissary-general."
+
+"You don't know the chevalier," replied the other; "no game flies
+too high or too low for his mark. Depend upon it, he's not here for
+nothing."
+
+"If mademoiselle be the object," said a third, "I'll swear he shall have
+no rivalry on my side. By Jove I I 'd rather face a charge of Hulans
+than speak to her."
+
+"If thou wert a Marshal of France, Claude, thou wouldst think
+differently."
+
+"If I were a Marshal of France," repeated he, with energy, "I'd rather
+marry Minette, the vivandiere of ours."
+
+"And no bad choice either," broke in a large! heavy-looking officer.
+"There is but one objection to such an arrangement."
+
+"And that, if I might ask--"
+
+"Simple enough. She would n't have you."
+
+The young man endeavored to join in the laugh this speech excited among
+the rest, though it was evident he felt ill at ease from the ridicule.
+
+"A thousand pardons, my dear Burke," said Duchesne, at this moment, as
+he slipped his arm through mine; "but I thought I should have been in
+need of your services a few minutes ago."
+
+"Ah! how?"
+
+"Move a little aside, and I 'll tell you. I wished to ask mademoiselle
+to dance, and approached her for the purpose. She was standing with
+a number of people, all strangers to me, at the doorway
+yonder,--Dobretski, that Russian prince, the only man I knew amongst
+them. A very chilling 'Engaged, sir,' was the answer of the lady to my
+first request. The same reply met my second and third; when the Russian,
+as if desirous to increase the awkwardness of my position, interposed
+with, 'And the fourth set mademoiselle dances with me.'
+
+"'In that case,' said I, 'I may fairly claim the fifth.'
+
+"'On what grounds, sir?' said she, with a look of easy impertinence.
+
+"'The Emperor's orders, Mademoiselle,' said I, proudly.
+
+"'Indeed, sir! May I ask how and when?'
+
+"'Austerlitz, December 2. The order of four o'clock, dated from Reygern,
+says, "The Imperial Guard will follow closely on the track of the
+Russians." (Signed) "Napoleon."'
+
+"'In that case, sir,' said she, 'I cannot dispute his Majesty's orders.
+I shall dance the fifth with you.'"
+
+"And the Russian,--what said he?"
+
+"_Ma foi!_ I paid no attention to him; for as mademoiselle moved off
+with her partner, I strolled away in search of you."
+
+If I was amused at this recital of the chevalier, I could not avoid
+feeling piqued at the greater success he had than myself; for still the
+chilling reception I had met with was rankling in my mind.
+
+"Let us move away from this quarter," said Duchesne. "Here we have got
+ourselves among a knot of old campaigners, with their stupid stories
+of Cairo and Acre, Alexandria and the Adige. By Jove! if anything would
+make me a Legitimist, it is my disgust at those confounded narratives
+about Kleber and Desaix; the Emperor himself does not despise the time
+of the Revolution more heartily than I do. Come, there's _bouillotte_
+yonder; let us go and win some pieces. I feel I'm in vein; and even
+to lose would be better than listen to these people. It was only a few
+minutes ago I was hunted, away from Madame de Muraire by old Berthollet,
+who is persuading her that her diamonds are but charcoal, and that a
+necklace is only fit to roast an ortolan. This comes of letting savants
+into society; decidedly, they had much better taste in the time of the
+Monarchy."
+
+It was with some difficulty we succeeded in approaching the _bouillotte_
+table, where, to judge from the stakes, very high play was going
+forward. Duchesne was quickly recognized among the players, who made
+place for him among them. I soon saw that he was not mistaken in
+supposing he was in luck; every _coup_ was successful, and, while he
+continued to win time after time, the heap of gold grew greater, till it
+covered the part of the table before him.
+
+"Most certainly, Burke," said he, in a whisper, "this is a strong turn
+of Fortune, who, being a woman, won't long be of the same mind. Five
+thousand francs," cried he, throwing the _billet de banque_ carelessly
+before him, while he turned to resume what he was saying to me. "Were I
+in action now, I 'd win the _baton de marechal_. I feel it; there's an
+innate sense of luck when it means to be steady."
+
+"The Chevalier Duchesne! the Chevalier Duchesne!" was repeated from
+voice to voice, outside the circle; "Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie is
+waiting to waltz with you."
+
+"A thousand pardons," said he, rising. "Burke, continue my game, while
+I try if I can't push fortune the whole way." So saying, and without
+listening to my excuses about ignorance of play, he pressed me into his
+seat, and pushed his way through the crowd to join the dancers.
+
+It was only when the players asked me if I intended to go on that I was
+aware of the position in which I found myself. I knew little more of the
+game than I had learned in looking over the table; but I was aware of
+the strict etiquette in all the play of society, which enjoins a revenge
+to every loser, so that I continued to bet and stake for Duchesne as
+I had seen him do already,--not, however, with such fortune. He had
+scarcely left the table when luck changed; and now I saw his riches
+decreasing even more rapidly than they had been accumulated. At last,
+after a long run of ill fortune, when I had staked a very large sum on
+the board, just as the banker was about to begin, I changed my mind and
+withdrew half of it.
+
+"No, no,--let it stay," whispered a voice in my ear; "the sooner this is
+over the better."
+
+I turned. It was Duchesne himself, who for some time had been seated
+behind my chair and looking on at the game.
+
+Fleeting as was the glance I had of his features, I fancied they were
+somewhat paler than usual. Could this be from the turn of fortune? But
+no. I watched him now, and I perceived that he never even looked at the
+game. At last, I staked all that remained in one _coup_, and lost; when,
+drawing forth my own purse, I was about to make another bet,--
+
+"No, no, Burke," whispered he in my ear; "I was only waiting for this
+moment. Let us come away now. I rise as I sat down, Messieurs," he said,
+gayly; while he added, in a lower tone, "Sauf l'honneur."
+
+"Have you had enough of gayety for one night?" said he, as he drew my
+arm within his. "Shall we turn home wards?"
+
+"Willingly," said I; for somehow I felt chagrined and vexed at my
+ill-luck, and was angry with myself for playing.
+
+"Come along, then; this door will bring us to the stairs."
+
+As we passed along hastily through the crowd, I saw that a young officer
+in a hussar uniform whispered something in Duchesne's ear; to which
+he quickly replied, "Certainly." And as he spoke again in the same low
+tone, Duchesne answered, "Agreed, sir," with a courteous smile, and a
+look of much pleasure.
+
+"Well, Burke," said he, turning to me, "these are about the most
+splendid _salons_ in Paris; I think I never saw more perfect taste. I
+certainly must thank you for being my chaperon here."
+
+"You forget, Duchesne, the Duchesse de Montserrat, it seems," said I,
+laughing.
+
+"By Jove, and so I had!" said he. "Yet the initiative lay with you;
+how the termination may be is another matter," added he, in a mumbling
+voice, not intended to be heard.
+
+"At all events," said I, puzzled what to say, and feeling I should
+say something, "I am happy your Russian friend took no notice of your
+speech."
+
+"And why?" said he, with a peculiar smile,--"and why?"
+
+"I abhor a duel, in the first place."
+
+"But, my dear boy, that speech smacks much more of the Ecole de Jesuites
+than of St. Cyr. Don't let any one less your friend than I am hear you
+say so."
+
+"I care not who may hear it. Necessity may make me meet an adversary in
+single combat; but as to acting the cold-blooded part of a bystander--as
+to being the witness of my friend's crime, or his own death--"
+
+"Come, come; when you exchange the dolman for an alb I 'll listen to
+this from you, if I can listen to it from any one. But happily, now we
+have no time for more morality, for here comes the carriage."
+
+Chatting pleasantly about the soiree and its company, we rolled along
+towards our quarters, and parted with a cordial shake of the hand for
+the night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. A SALLE DE POLICE
+
+When I entered the breakfast-room the following morning, I found
+Duchesne stretched before the fire in an easy-chair, busily engaged
+in reading the "Moniteur" of that day, where a long list of imperial
+_ordonnances_ filled nearly three columns.
+
+"Here have I been," said he, "conning over this catalogue of princely
+favor these twenty minutes, and yet cannot discern one word of our
+well-beloved cousins Captains Burke and Duchesne. And yet there seems to
+be a hailstorm of promotions. Some of them have got grand duchies; some
+principalities; some have the cross of the Legion; and here, by
+Jove! are some endowed with wives. Now that his Majesty has taken to
+christening and marrying, I suppose we shall soon see him administering
+all the succors of Holy Church. Have you much interest in hearing
+that Talleyrand is to be called Prince of Benevente, and Murat is now
+Grand-Duke of Berg,--that Sebastiani is to be married to Mademoiselle de
+Coigny, and Monsieur Decazes, _fils de_ M. Decazes, has taken some one
+else to wife? Oh dear, oh dear! It's all very tiresome, and not even the
+fete of Saint Napoleon--"
+
+"Of whom?" said I, laughing.
+
+"Saint Napoleon, _parbleu!_ It's no joking matter, I assure you. Here
+is the letter of the cardinal legate to the arch-bishops and bishops
+of France, commanding that the first Sunday in the August of each year
+should be set apart to celebrate his saintship, with an account of the
+processions to take place, and various plenary indulgences to the pious
+who shall present themselves on the occasion. Fouche could tell you the
+names of some people who bled freely to get rid of all this trumpery;
+and, in good sooth, it's rather hard, if we could not endure Saint
+Louis, to be obliged to tolerate Saint Napoleon,--saints, like Bordeaux
+wine, being all the more palatable when they have age to mellow them. I
+could forgive anything, however, but this system of forced marriages;
+it smacks too much of old Frederick for my taste. And one cannot always
+have the luck of your friend General d'Auvergne."
+
+I felt my cheek grow burning hot at the words. Duchesne did not notice
+my confusion, but continued,--
+
+"And yet, of all the ill-assorted unions for which his sainted Majesty
+will have to account hereafter, that was unquestionably the most
+extraordinary."
+
+"But I have heard, and I believe too, that the marriage was not of the
+Emperor's making; it was purely a matter of liking."
+
+"Come, come, Burke," said he, laughing, "you will not tell me that the
+handsomest girl at the Court, with a large dowry, an ancient name, and
+every advantage of position, marries an old weather-beaten soldier--the
+senior officer of her own father once--of her own free will and choice.
+The thing is absurd. No, no; these are the Imperial recompenses, when
+grand duchies are scarce and confiscations few. The Emperor does not
+travel for nothing. He brought back with him from Egypt something
+besides his Mameluke Guard: that clever trick the pachas have of
+providing a favorite with an ex-sultana. There, there! don't look so
+angrily. We shall both be marshals of France one of these days, and that
+may reconcile one to a great deal."
+
+"You are determined to owe nothing of your promotion to a blind devotion
+to Napoleon,--that's certain," said I, annoyed at the tone of insolent
+disparagement in which he spoke.
+
+"You are right,--perfectly right there," replied he, in a quiet tone of
+voice. "No man would rather hug himself up in an illusion, if he could
+but make it minister to his pleasure or his enjoyment; but when it does
+neither,--when the material is so flimsy as to be seen through at every
+minute,--I throw it from me as a worthless garment, unfit to wear."
+
+"Can you, then, deem Napoleon's glory such?"
+
+"Of course, to me it is. How am I a sharer in his triumphs, save as the
+charger that marches in the cavalcade? You don't perceive that I, as the
+descendant of an old Loyalist family, would have fared far better with
+the Bourbons, from reasons of blood and kindred; and a hundred times
+better with the Jacobins, from very recklessness."
+
+"How then came it--"
+
+"I will spare you the question. I liked neither emigration nor the
+guillotine, and preferred the slow suffering of ennui to the quick death
+of the scaffold. There has been but one career in France for many a day
+past. I adopted it as much from necessity as choice; I followed it more
+from habit than either."
+
+"But you cannot be insensible to the greatness of your country, nor her
+success in arms."
+
+"Nor am I; but these things are a small ingredient in patriotism. You,
+the stranger, share with us all our triumphs in the field. But the
+inherent features of a nation,--the distinctive traits of which every
+son of the soil feels proud,--where are they now? What is France to me
+more than to you? One half my kindred are exiled; of those who remain,
+many regard me as a renegade. Their properties confiscated, themselves
+suspected, what tie binds them to this country? You are not more an
+alien here than I am."
+
+"And yet, Duchesne, you shed your blood freely for this same cause you
+condemn. You charged the Pratzen, some days ago, with four squadrons,
+against a whole column of Russian cavalry."
+
+"Ay, and would again to-morrow, boy. Had you been a gambler, I need n't
+have told you that it is the game, not the stake, that interests the
+real gamester. But come, do not fancy I want to make you a convert to
+these tiresome theories of mine. What say you to the pretty Mademoiselle
+Pauline? Did you admire her much?"
+
+"She is unquestionably very handsome; but, if I must confess it, her
+manner towards me was too ungracious to make me loud in her praise."
+
+"I like that, I vow," said Duchesne; "that saucy air has an
+indescribable charm for me. I don't know if it is not the very thing
+which pleases me most about her. She has been spoiled by flattery and
+admiration; for her beauty and her fortune are prizes in the great
+wheel. And that she is aware of the fact is nothing wonderful,
+considering that she hears it repeated every evening of her life, by
+every-rank in the service, from a marshal of France down to--a captain
+in the _chasseurs a cheval_," said he, laughing.
+
+"Who, probably, was one of the last to tell her so," said I, looking at
+him slyly.
+
+"What have we here?" said he, suddenly, without paying any attention to
+my remark, as he again took up the "Moniteur." "'It is rumored that the
+Russian Prince, Drobretski, was dangerously wounded this morning in an
+affair of honor. The names of the other party and the seconds are
+still unknown; but the efforts of the police, stimulated by the express
+command of the Emperor, will, it is to be hoped, succeed in discovering
+them ere long.'"
+
+"Is not that the name of your Russian friend of last night, Duchesne?"
+
+"Yes. And the same person, too, formerly Russian minister at Madrid, and
+latterly residing on his parole at Paris," continued he, reading from
+the paper. "'The very decided part his Majesty has taken against the
+practice of duelling is strengthened on this occasion by a recent order
+of council respecting the prisoners on parole.' _Diable!_ Burke, what
+a scrupulous turn Napoleon seems to have taken in regard to these
+Cossacks! And here follows a long list of witnesses who have seen
+nothing, and suspicious circumstances that occur every morning in the
+week without remark. After all, I don't think the Empire has advanced
+us much on the score of police,--the same threadbare jests, the same
+old practical jokes, amused the _bourgeoisie_ in the time of Louis the
+Fourteenth."
+
+"I don't clearly understand your meaning."
+
+"It is simply this,--that every Government of France, from Pepin
+downwards, has understood the value of throwing public interest, from
+time to time, on a false scent, and to this end has maintained a police.
+Now, if for any cause his Majesty thought proper to incarcerate that
+Russian prince in the Temple or La Force, the affair would cause a
+tremendous sensation in Paris, and soon would ring over the whole of
+Germany and the rest of Europe, with every variation of despotism,
+tyranny, and all that, attached to it, long before any advantages to be
+derived from the step could be realized. Whereas see the effect of an
+opposite policy. By this report of a duel, for instance,--I don't
+mean to assert it false, here,--the whole object is attained, and
+an admirable subject of Imperial praise obtained into the bargain.
+Governments have learned wisdom from the cuttlefish, and can muddy
+the water on their enemies at the moment of danger. I should not be
+surprised if the affairs of the Bank looked badly this morning."
+
+"It is evident, then, you disbelieve the whole statement about the
+duel."
+
+"My dear friend," said he, smiling, "who is there in all Paris, from
+Montmartre to St. Denis, believes, or disbelieves, any one thing in the
+times we live in? Have we not trusted so implicitly for years past to
+the light of our reason that we have actually injured our eyesight with
+ils brilliancy. Little reproach, indeed, to our minds, when our very
+senses seem to mislead us; when one sees the people who enter the
+Tuileries now with embroidered coats, who in our father's days never
+came nearer to it than the Place de Carrousel. _Helas!_ it's no time for
+incredulity, that's certain. But to conclude," said he, turning to the
+paper once more: "'The _commissaires de police_ throughout Paris have
+received orders to spare no effort to unravel the mystery and detect the
+other parties in this unhappy affair.' Military tribunal; prisoners
+on parole; rights of hospitality; honor of France; and the old
+peroration,--the usual compliment on the wisdom which presides over
+every department of state. How weary I do become of all this! Let your
+barber puff his dye for the whiskers, or your bootmaker the incomparable
+effulgence of his blacking,--the thing is in keeping, no one objects to
+it. I don't find fault with my old friend, Pigault Lebrun, if he now and
+then plays the critic on himself, and shows the world the beauties they
+neglectfully slurred over. But, Burke, have you ever seen a _bureau de
+police?_"
+
+"Never; and I have the greatest curiosity to do so."
+
+"Come, then, I 'll be your guide. The _commissaire_ of this quarter
+has a very extended jurisdiction, stretching away towards the Bois de
+Boulogne, and if there be anything in this report, he is certain to
+know it; and assuredly, no other topic will be talked of till to-morrow
+evening, for it's not Opera night, and Talma does not play either."
+
+I willingly accepted this proposition; and when our breakfast was over,
+we mounted our horses, and set out for the place in question.
+
+"If the forms of justice where we are now going," said Duchesne,
+"be divested of much of their pomp and ceremony, be assured of one
+thing,--it is not at the expense of the more material essence. Of all
+the police tribunals about Paris, this obscure den in the Bue de Dix
+Sous is the most effective. Situated in a quarter where crime is as
+rife as fever in the Pontine Marshes, it has become acquainted with
+the haunts and habits of the lowest class in Paris,--the lowest class,
+probably, in any city of Europe. Watching with parental solicitude,
+it tracks the criminal from his first step in vice to his last deed in
+crime; from his petty theft to his murder. Knowing the necessities to
+which poverty impels men, and studying with attention the impulses
+that grow up amid despair and hunger, it sees motives through a mist of
+intervening circumstances that would baffle less subtle observers, and
+can trace the tortuous windings of crime where no other sight could
+find the clew. Is it not strange to think with what ingenuity men will
+investigate the minute anatomy of vice, and how little they will do to
+apply this knowledge to its remedy? Like the surgeon, enamored of
+his operating skill, he would rather exhibit his dexterity in the
+amputation, than his science in the saving, of the limb. Such is the
+bureau of the police in the poorer quarters. In the more fashionable
+ones it takes a higher flight; amusing the world with its scenes,
+alternately humorous and pathetic, it forms a kind of feature in the
+literature of the period, and is the only reading of thousands. In these
+places the _commissaire_ is usually a _bon vivant_ and a wit; despising
+the miserable function of administering the law, he takes his seat upon
+the bench to cap jokes with the witnesses, puzzle the complainant,
+and embarrass the prisoner. To the reporters alone is he civil; and in
+return, his poor witticisms appear in the morning papers, with the usual
+'loud laughter' that never existed save in type."
+
+As we thus chatted, we entered a quarter of dirty and narrow streets,
+inhabited by a poor-looking, squalid population. The women, with little
+to mark their sex in their coarse, heavy countenances, wore colored
+kerchiefs on their heads in lieu of a cap, and were for the most part
+without shoes or stockings. The men, a brutalized, stupid race, sat
+smoking in the doorways, scarcely lifting their eyes as we passed; or
+some were eating a coarse morsel of black rye bread, which, by their
+eagerness in devouring it, seemed an unusual delicacy.
+
+"You scarcely believed there was such poverty in Paris," said he; "but
+this is by no means the worst of the quarter. Though M. de Champagny, in
+his late report, makes no mention of these 'signs of prosperity,' we are
+now entering the region where, even in noonday, the passage is deemed
+perilous; but the number of police agents on duty to-day will make the
+journey a safe one."
+
+The street we entered at the moment consisted of a mass of tall houses,
+almost falling from decay and neglect,--scarcely a window remained in
+many of them; while in front, a row of miserable booths, formed of rude
+planks, narrowed the passage to a mere path, scarce wide enough for
+three people abreast. There, vice of every description, and drunkenness,
+waited not for the dark hours to shroud them, but came forth in the
+sunlight,--the ruffian shouts of intoxication mingling with the almost
+maniacal laugh of misery or the reckless chorus of some degrading song.
+Half-naked wretches leaned from the windows as we passed along,--some
+staring in stupid wonderment at our appearance; others saluting us with
+mockery and grimace, or even calling out to us in the slang dialect of
+the place.
+
+"Yes," said Duchesne, as he saw the expression of horror and disgust
+the scene impressed on me, "here are the rotting seeds of revolutions
+putrefying, to germinate at some future day. Starvation and vice,
+misery, even to despair, inhabit every den around you. The furious
+and bloodthirsty wretch of '92, the Chouan, the Jacobite, the escaped
+galley-slave, the untaken murderer, are here side by side,--crime their
+great bond of union. To this place men come for an assassin or a false
+witness, as to a market. Such are the wrecks the retiring waves of a
+Revolution have left us. So long as the trade of blood lasted, openly,
+like vultures, they fattened on it; but once the reign of order
+restored, they were driven to murder and outrage as a livelihood."
+
+While he was speaking, we approached a narrow arched passage, within
+which a flight of stone steps arose. "We dismount here," said he.
+
+At the same moment a group of ragged creatures, of every age, surrounded
+us to hold our horses, not noticing the orderly who rode at some
+distance behind us. I followed Duchesne up the steps, and along a gloomy
+corridor, to a little courtyard, where several dismounted gendarmes
+were standing in a circle, chatting. Passing through this, we entered a
+dirty, mean-looking house, around the door of which several people were
+collected, some of whom saluted the chevalier as he came up.
+
+"Who are these fellows?" said I. "They seem to know you."
+
+"Oh! nothing but the common police spies," said he, carelessly; "the
+fellows who lounge about the cabarets and the low gambling-houses. But
+here comes one of higher mark."
+
+As he spoke, he laid his hand on the arm of a tall, powerful-looking
+man, in a blouse; he wore immense whiskers, and a great beard,
+descending far below his chin. "Ah! Bocquin, what have we got going
+forward to-day? I came to show a young friend here the interior of your
+_salle_."
+
+"Monsieur le Capitaine, your most obedient," said the man, in a deep
+voice, as he removed his casquette, and bowed ceremoniously to us; "and
+yours also, Monsieur," added he, turning to me. "Why, there is nothing
+to speak of, save that duel, Capitaine."
+
+"Come, come, Bocquin; no nonsense with me. What was that story got up
+for?"
+
+"Ah! you mistake there," said Bocquin. "By Jove! there's a man badly
+wounded, shot through the neck, and no one to tell a word about it. No
+seconds present, the thing done quite privately; the wounded man left at
+his own door, and the other off,--Heaven knows where."
+
+"And you believe this tale, Bocquin?" said Duchesne, superciliously.
+
+"Believe it!--that I do. I have been to see the place where the man lay;
+and by tracking the wheel marks, I have discovered they came from the
+Champs Elysees. The cabriolet, too, was a private one; no _fiacre_ has
+got so narrow a tire to the wheel."
+
+"Closely followed up,--eh, Burke?" said the chevalier, turning towards
+me with a smile of admiration at his sagacity. "Go on, Bocquin."
+
+"Well, I followed the scent to the Barriere de l'Etoile, where I learned
+that one cabriolet passed towards the Bois de Boulogne, and returned in
+about half an hour. As the pace was a sharp one, I guessed they could
+not have gone far, and so I turned into the wood at the first road to
+the right, where there is least recourse of people; and, by Jove! I was
+all correct. There, in a small open space between the trees, I saw the
+marks of recent footsteps, and a little farther on found the grass all
+covered with blood."
+
+"Monsieur Bocquin! Monsieur Bocquin! the _commissaire_ wants you," cried
+a voice from the landing of the stair; and with an apology for leaving
+thus suddenly, he turned away.
+
+We followed, however, curious to hear the remainder of this singular
+history; and, after some difficulty, succeeded in gaining admittance to
+a small room, now densely crowded with people, the most of whom were
+of the very lowest class. The _commissaire_ speedily made place for
+us beside him on the bench; for, like every one else in a conspicuous
+position, he also was an acquaintance of Duchesne.
+
+While the _commissaire_ conversed with Bocquin in a low tone, we had
+time to observe the _salle_ and its occupants. Except the witnesses,
+two or three of whom were respectable persons, they were the
+squalid-looking, ragged wretches of the quarter, listening with the
+greedy appetite of crime to any tale of bloodshed. The surgeon, who had
+just returned from visiting the wounded man, was waiting to be examined.
+To him now the _commissaire_ directed his attention. It appeared that
+the wound was by no means of the dangerous character described, being
+merely through the fleshy portion of the neck, without injuring any
+part of importance. Having described circumstantially the extent of
+the injury and its probable cause, he replied to a question of the
+_commissaire_, that no entreaty could persuade the wounded man to
+give any explanation of the occurrence, nor mention the name of his
+adversary. Duchesne paid little apparent attention to the evidence, and
+before it was concluded, asked me if I were satisfied with my police
+experience, and disposed to move away.
+
+Just at this moment there was a stir among the people round the door,
+and we heard the officers of the court cry out, "Room! make way
+there!" and the same moment General Duroc entered, accompanied by an
+aide-de-camp. He had been sent specially by the Emperor to ascertain
+what progress the investigation had made. His Majesty had determined to
+push the inquiry to its utmost limits. The general appeared dissatisfied
+with the little prospect there appeared of elucidation; and turning to
+Duchesne, remarked,--
+
+"This is peculiarly ill-timed just now, as negotiations are pending with
+Russia, and the prince's family are about the person of the Czar."
+
+"But as the wound would seem of little consequence, in a few days
+perhaps the whole thing may blow over," said Duchesne.
+
+"It is for that very reason," replied Duroc, earnestly, "that we are
+pressed for time. The object is to mark the sentiments of his Majesty
+_now_. Should the prince be once pronounced out of danger, it will be
+too late for sympathy."
+
+"Oh! I perceive," said Duchesne, smiling; "your observation is most
+just. If my friend here, however, cannot put you on the track, I fear
+you have little to hope for elsewhere."
+
+"I am aware of that; and Monsieur Cauchois knows the great reliance his
+Majesty reposes in his skill and activity."
+
+Monsieur Cauchois, the _commissaire_, bowed with a most respectful air
+at the compliment, probably of all others the highest that could be paid
+him.
+
+"A brilliant soiree we had last evening, Duchesne," said the general. "I
+hope this unhappy affair will not close that house at present; you are
+aware the prince is the suitor of mademoiselle?"
+
+"I only suspected as much," said the chevalier, with a peculiar smile;
+"it was my first evening there."
+
+As General Duroc addressed a few words in a low tone to the
+_commissaire_, the man called Bocquin approached the bench, and handed
+up a small slip of paper to Duchesne. The chevalier opened it, and
+having thrown his eyes over it, passed it into my hand. All I could see
+were two words, written coarsely with the pencil,--"How much?"
+
+The chevalier turned the back of the paper, and wrote, "Fifty
+napoleons."
+
+On reading which the large man tore the scrap, and nodding slightly
+with his head, sauntered from the room. We rose a few moments after,
+and having taken a formal leave of the general and the _commissaire_,
+proceeded towards the street, where we had left our horses. As we passed
+along the corridor, however, we found Bocquin awaiting us. He opened
+a door into a small, mean-looking apartment, of which he appeared the
+owner. Having ushered us in, and cautiously closed it behind him, he
+drew from his pocket a piece of cloth, to which a button and a piece of
+gold embroidery were attached.
+
+"Your jacket would be spoiled without this morsel, Captain," said he,
+laughing, in a low, dry laugh.
+
+"So it would, Bocquin," said Duchesne, examining his coat, which I now
+perceived was torn on the shoulder, and a small piece--the exact one in
+his hand--wanting, but which had escaped my attention from the mass of
+gold lace and embroidery with which it was covered.
+
+"Do you know, Bocquin," said Duchesne, in a tone much graver than he had
+used before, "I never noticed that?"
+
+"_Parbleu!_ I believe you," said he, laughing; "nor did I, till you sat
+on the bench, when I was so pleased with your coolness, I could not for
+the life of me interrupt you."
+
+"Have you got any money, Burke?" said the chevalier; "some twenty gold
+pieces--"
+
+"No, no, Captain," said Bocquin, "not now; another time. I must call
+upon you one of these mornings about another affair, and it will be time
+enough then."
+
+"As you please, Bocquin," said the chevalier, putting up his purse
+again; "and so, till we meet."
+
+"Till we meet, gentlemen," replied the other, as he bowed us
+respectfully to the door.
+
+"You seem to have but a very faint comprehension of all this, Burke,"
+said Duchesne, as he took my arm; "you look confoundedly puzzled, I must
+say."
+
+"If I didn't, I should be an admirable actor, that's all," said I.
+
+"Why, I think the thing is plain enough, in all conscience; Bocquin
+found that piece of my jacket on the ground, and, of course, the affair
+was in his hands."
+
+"Why, do you mean to say--"
+
+"That I shot Monsieur le Prince this morning, at a quarter past seven
+o'clock, and felt devilish uncomfortable about it till the last ten
+minutes, my boy. If I did not confide the matter to you before, it
+was because that until all chance of detection was passed, I could not
+expose you to the risk of an examination before the _prefet de police_.
+Happily, now these dangers are all over. Bocquin is too clever a fellow
+not to throw all the other spies on a wrong scent, so that we need have
+no fear of the result."
+
+I could scarcely credit the evidence of my senses at the coolness and
+duplicity of the chevalier throughout an affair of such imminent
+risk, nor was I less astonished at the account he gave of the whole
+proceeding.
+
+One word, on leaving the soiree, had decided there should be a meeting
+the following day; and as the Russian well knew the danger of his
+adventure, from the law which was recently passed regarding prisoners
+on parole, he proposed they should meet without seconds on either side.
+Duchesne acceded; and it was arranged that the chevalier should drive
+along the Bue de Rivoli at seven the next morning, where the Russian
+would join him, and they should drive together to the Bois de Boulogne.
+
+"To do my Cossack justice," said Duchesne, "he behaved admirably
+throughout the whole affair; and on taking his place beside me in the
+cab, entered into conversation freely and easily on the topics of
+the day. We chatted of the campaign; of the cavalry; of the Russian
+service,--their size and equipment, only needing a higher organization
+to make them first-rate troops. We spoke of the Emperor Alexander, of
+whom he was evidently proud, and much pleased to hear the favorable
+opinion Napoleon entertained of his ability and capacity; and it was in
+the middle of an anecdote about Savary and the Czar we arrived at the
+Bois de Boulogne.
+
+"I need not tell you the details of the affair, save that we loaded
+our own pistols, and stepped the ground ourselves. They were like other
+things of the same sort,--the first shot concluded the matter. I aimed
+at his shoulder, but the pistol threw high. As to his bullet, it was
+only awhile ago I knew it went so near me. It was nervous work passing
+the _barriere_; for had he not made an effort to sit up straight in the
+cab, the sentry might have detained and examined us. All that you heard
+about his being left at his own door, covered with blood and fainting, I
+need not tell you has no truth. I never left the spot till the door was
+opened, and I saw him in the hands of a servant. Of course I concealed
+my face, and then drove off at full speed."
+
+By this time we arrived at the Luxembourg, and Duchesne, with all the
+coolness in the world, joined a knot of persons engaged in discussing
+the duel, and endeavoring, by sundry clever and ingenious explanations,
+to account for the circumstance.
+
+As I sauntered along to my quarters, I pondered over the adventure and
+the character of the chevalier; and however I might turn the matter in
+my mind, one thought was ever uppermost,--a sincere wish that I had not
+been made his confidant in the secret.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE RETURN OF THE WOUNDED
+
+A few mornings after this occurrence, when, as Duchesne himself
+prophesied, all memory of it was completely forgotten, the _ordre du
+jour_ from the Tuileries commanded all the troops then garrisoned in
+Paris to be under arms at an early hour in the Champs Elysees, when the
+Emperor would pass them in review. The spectacle had, however, another
+object, which was not generally known. The convoys of the wounded from
+Austerlitz were that same day to arrive at Paris, and the display of
+troops was intended at once to honor this _entree_, and give to the sad
+procession of the maimed and dying the semblance of a triumph. Such were
+the artful devices which ever ministered to the deceit of the nation,
+and suffered them to look on but one side of their glory.
+
+As I anticipated, the chevalier was greatly out of temper at the
+whole of this proceeding. He detested nothing more than those military
+displays which are got up for the populace; he despised the exhibition
+of troops to the vulgar and unmeaning criticism of tailors and barbers;
+and, more than all, he shrank from the companionship of the National
+Guard of Paris,--those shop-keeping soldiers, with their umbrellas and
+spectacles, who figured with such pride on these occasions.
+
+"Another affair like this," said he, passionately, "and I'd resign my
+commission. A procession at the Porte St. Martin,--the _boeuf gras_ on
+Easter Monday,--I'm your man for either: but to sit bolt upright on your
+saddle for three, maybe four hours; to be stared at by every _bourgeois_
+from the Rue du Bac; to be pointed at with pink parasols and compared
+with some ribbon-vender of the Boulevards,--_par Saint Louis!_ I can't
+even bear to think of it! Look yonder," said he, pointing to the court
+of the Palace, where already a regiment was drawn up under arms,
+and passing in inspection before the colonel; "there begins the
+dress-rehearsal already. His Majesty says mid-day; the generals of
+division draw out their men at eleven o'clock; the colonels take a
+look at their corps at ten; the _chefs de bataillon_ at nine; and,
+_parbleu!_the corporals are at work by daybreak. Then, what confounded
+drilling and dressing up, as if Napoleon could detect the slightest
+waving of the line over two leagues of ground; while you see the
+luckless adjutants flying hither and thither, cursing, imprecating,
+and threatening, and hastily reiterating at the head of each company,
+'Remember, men, be sure to remember, that when the drums beat to arms,
+you shout "Vive l'Empereur!"' Rely upon it, Burke, if we had but one
+half of these preparations before a battle, we 'd not be the dangerous
+fellows those Russians and Austrians think us."
+
+"Come, come," said I, "you shall not persuade me that the soldiers feel
+no pride on these occasions. The same men who fight so valiantly for
+their Emperor--"
+
+"Stop there, I beg of you," said he, bursting into a fit of laughter.
+"I must really cry halt now. So long as you live, my dear friend, let
+nothing induce you to repeat that worn cant, 'Fight for their Emperor!'
+Why, they fought as bravely for Turenne, and Villars, and Marechal Saxe;
+they were as full of courage under Moreau, and Kleber, and Desaix, and
+Hoche; ay, and will be again when the Emperor is no more, and Heaven
+knows who stands in his place. The genius of a French army is fighting,
+not for gain, nor plunder, nor even for glory, so much as for fighting
+itself; and he is the best man who gives them most of it. What reduced
+the reckless hordes of the Revolution to habits of discipline and
+obedience but the warlike spirit of their leaders, whose bravery they
+respected? And think you Napoleon himself does not feel this in his
+heart, and know the necessity of continual war to feed the insatiable
+appetite of his followers? In a word, my friend," added he, in a tone of
+mock solemnity, "we are a great people; and Nature intended us to be so
+by giving us a language in which _Gloire_ rhymes with _Victoire_. And
+now for the march, for I fancy we are late enough already."
+
+There are few sources of annoyance more poignant than to discover any
+illusion we have long indulged in assailed by the sneers and sarcasms
+of another, who assumes a tone of superior wisdom on the faith of a
+difference of opinion. The mass of our likings and dislikings find their
+way into our heart more from impulse than reason, and when attacked are
+scarcely defensible by any effort of the understanding. This very fact
+renders us more painfully alive to their preservation, and we shrink
+instinctively from any discussion of them. While such is the case, we
+feel more bitterly the cruelty of him who, out of mere wantonness, can
+sport with the sources of our happiness, and assail the hidden stores
+of so many of our pleasures; for unhappily the mockery once listened to
+lies associated with the idea forever.
+
+Already had Duchesne stripped me of more than one delusion, and made me
+feel that I was but indulging in a deceptive happiness in my dream of
+life; and often did I regret that I ever knew him. It is not enough to
+feel the sophistry of one's adversary, you should be able to detect and
+expose it, otherwise the triumphant tone he assumes gives him an air
+of victory which ends by imposing on yourself. And of this I now felt
+convinced in my own case.
+
+These thoughts rendered me silent as we wended our way towards the
+Tuileries, where the various officers of the staff and the _corps
+d'elite_ were assembled. Here we found several of the marshals in
+waiting for the Emperor, while the Mameluke Guard, in all the splendor
+of its gay equipments, stood around the great entrance to the Palace.
+Many handsome equipages were also there; one, conspicuous above the
+rest for its livery of white and gold, with four outriders, belonged to
+Madame Murat, the Grand-Duchess of Berg, whose taste for splendor and
+show extended to every department of her household.
+
+At last there was a movement in those nearest the Palace; the drums
+beat to arms, the guard within the vestibule presented, and the Emperor
+appeared, followed by a brilliant staff. He stood for a few seconds on
+the steps, his hands clasped behind his back, and his head a little bent
+forwards as if in thought; then, drawing himself up, he looked with
+a gaze of proud composure on the crowd that filled the court of the
+Palace, and where now all was silent and still. Never before had I
+remarked the same imperious expression of his features; but as his
+eye ranged over the brilliant array, now I could read the innate
+consciousness of superiority in which he excelled. Ney, Murat, Victor,
+Bessieres,--how little seemed they all before that mighty genius, whose
+glory they but reflected!
+
+Oh, how lightly then did I deem the mocking jests of Duchesne, or all
+that his sarcasm could invent! There stood the conqueror of Italy
+and Egypt, the victor of Marengo and Austerlitz, looking every inch a
+monarch and a soldier. Whether from thoughtless inattention or studied
+affectation I cannot say, but at that moment, when all stood in
+respectful silence before the Emperor, Duchesne had approached the
+grille of the Palace, next to the Place du Carrousel, and was busily
+chatting with a pretty-looking girl, who, with a number of others, sat
+in a hired caleche. A hearty burst of laughter at something he said rang
+through the court, and turned every eye in that direction. In an instant
+the Emperor's eagle glance pierced the distance, and fastened on the
+chevalier, who, seated carelessly on one side of his saddle, paid no
+attention to what was going forward; when suddenly an aide-de-camp
+touched him on the arm, and said,--
+
+"Monsieur le Capitaine Duchesne, his Majesty the Emperor would speak
+with you."
+
+Duchesne turned; a faint, a very faint flush, covered his cheek, and
+putting spurs to his horse, he galloped up to the front of the terrace,
+where the Emperor was standing. From the distance at which I stood,
+to hear what passed was impossible; but I watched with a most painful
+interest the scene before me.
+
+The Emperor's attitude was unchanged as the chevalier rode up; and when
+Duchesne himself seemed to listen with a respectful manner to the words
+of his Majesty, I could see by his easy bearing that his self-possession
+had never deserted him. The interview lasted not many minutes, when the
+Emperor waved his hand haughtily; and the chevalier, saluting with his
+sabre, backed his horse some paces, and then, wheeling round, rapidly
+galloped towards the gate, through which he passed.
+
+"This evening, then, Mademoiselle," said he, with a smile, "I hope to
+have the honor." And, with a courteous bow, rode on towards the archway
+opening on the quay.
+
+"What has happened?" said I, eagerly, to the officer at my side.
+
+He shook his head as if doubtful, and half fearing even to whisper at
+the moment.
+
+"His privilege of the _elite_ is withdrawn, sir," said an old general
+officer. "He must leave Paris to join his regiment in twenty-four
+hours."
+
+"Poor fellow!" muttered I, half aloud, when a savage frown from the
+veteran officer corrected my words.
+
+"What, sir!" said he, in a low voice, where every word was thickened to
+a guttural sound--"what, sir! is the court of the Tuileries no more than
+a canteen or a bivouac? _Pardieu!_ if it was not for his laced jacket he
+had been degraded to the ranks; ay, and deserved it too!"
+
+The coarse accents and underbred tone of the speaker showed me at once
+that it was one of the old generals of the Republican army, who never
+could endure the descendants of aristocratic families in the service,
+and who were too willing always to attribute to insolence and
+premeditated affront even the slightest breaches of military etiquette.
+
+Meanwhile the Emperor mounted, and accompanied by the officers of his
+staff, rode forward towards the Champs Elysees, while all of lesser note
+followed at a distance. From the garden of the Tuileries to the Barriere
+de l'Etoile the troops were ranged in four lines, the cavalry of the
+Guard and the artillery forming the ranks along the road by which the
+convoy must pass. It was a bright day, with a clear, frosty atmosphere
+and a blue sky, and well suited the brilliant spectacle.
+
+Scarcely had the Emperor issued from the Tuileries, when ten thousand
+shouts of "Vive l'Empereur!" rent the air; the cannon of the Invalides
+thundered forth at the same moment; and the crash of the military bands
+added their clangor to the sounds of joy. He rode slowly along the
+line, stopping frequently to speak with some of the soldiers, and giving
+orders to his suite concerning them. Of the officers in his staff that
+day, the greater number had been wounded at Austerlitz, and still bore
+the traces of their injuries. Rapp displayed a tremendous scar from a
+sabre across his cheek; Sebastiani wore his sword-arm in a sling; and
+Friant, unable to mount his horse, followed the Emperor on foot, leaning
+on a stick, and walking with great difficulty. The sight of these brave
+men, whose devotion to Napoleon had been proved on so many battlefields,
+added to the interest of the scene, and tended to excite popular
+enthusiasm to its utmost. But on Napoleon still all eyes were bent. The
+general who led their armies to victory, the monarch who raised France
+to the proudest place among the nations, was there, within a few paces
+of them. Each word he spoke was sinking deeply into some heart, prouder
+of that moment than of rank or riches.
+
+So slow was the Emperor's progress along the ranks that it was near
+three o'clock before he had arrived at the extremity of the line. The
+cavalry were now ordered to form in squadrons, and move past in
+close order. While this movement was effecting, a cannon-shot at the
+_barriere_ announced the approach of the convoy. The cavalry were halted
+in line once more, and the same moment the first wagon of the train
+appeared above the summit of the hill. So secretly had the whole been
+managed that none, save the officers of the various staffs, knew what
+was coming. While each look was turned, then, towards the _barriere_
+in astonishment, gradually the wagon rolled on, another followed, and
+another: these were, however, but the ambulances of the hospitals. And
+now the wounded themselves came in sight,--a white flag, that well-known
+signal, waving in front of each wagon, while a guard of honor,
+consisting of picked men of the different regiments, rode at either
+side.
+
+One loud cheer--a shout echoed back from the Tuileries itself--rang out,
+as the soldiers saw their brave companions restored to them once more.
+With that impulse which, even in discipline, French soldiers never
+forget, the men rushed forward to the wagons, and in a moment officers
+and men were in the arms of their comrades. What a scene it was to
+see the poor and wasted forms, mangled by shot and maimed of limb,
+brightening up again as home and friends surrounded them,--to hear their
+faint voices mingle with the questions for this one or for that, while
+the fate of some brave fellow met but one word in elegy!
+
+On they passed,--a sad train, but full of glorious memories. There were
+the grenadiers of Oudinot, who carried the Russian centre; eleven
+wagons were filled with their wounded. Here come the voltigeurs of
+Bernadotte's brigade; see how the fellows preserve their ancient
+repute, cheering and laughing,--ever the same, whether roistering at
+midnight in the Faubourg St. Antoine or rushing madly upon the ranks of
+the enemy! There are the dragoons of Nansouty, who charged the Imperial
+Guard of Russia; see the proud line that floats on their banner, "All
+wounded by the sabre!" And here come the cuirassiers of the Guard, with
+a detachment of their own as escort; how splendidly they look in the
+bright sun, and how proudly they come!
+
+As I looked, the Emperor rode forward, bareheaded, his whole staff
+uncovered. "Chapeau bas, Messieurs!" said he, in a loud voice. "Honor to
+the brave in misfortune!"
+
+Just then the escort halted, and I heard a laugh in front, close to
+where the Emperor was standing; but from the crowded staff around him,
+could not see what was going forward.
+
+"What is it?" said I, curious to learn the least incident of the scene.
+
+"Advance a pace or two, Captain," said the young officer I addressed;
+"you can see it all."
+
+I did so, and then beheld--oh, with what delight and surprise!--my poor
+friend, Pioche, seated on the driving-seat of a gun, with his hand in
+salute as the Emperor spoke to him.
+
+"Thou wilt not have promotion, nor a pension. What, then, can I do for
+thee?" said Napoleon, smiling. "Hast any friend in the service whom I
+could advance for thy sake?"
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_" said Pioche, scratching his forehead, with a sort of
+puzzle and confusion even the Emperor smiled at, "I have a friend. But
+mayhap those wouldn't like--"
+
+"Ask me for nothing thou thinkest I could not, ought not to grant," said
+the Emperor, sternly. "What is't now?"
+
+The poor corporal seemed thoroughly nonplussed, and for a second or
+two could not reply. At last, as if summoning all his courage for the
+effort, he said,--
+
+"Well, thou canst but refuse, and then the fault will be all thine. She
+is a brave girl, and had she been a man--"
+
+"Whom can he mean?" said Napoleon. "Is the man's head wandering?"
+
+"No, _mon general!_ all right there; that shell has turned many a sabre's
+edge. I was talking of Minette, the vivandiere of ours. If thou art so
+bent on doing me a service, why, promote _her_, and thou'lt make the
+whole regiment proud of it."
+
+This speech was lost in the laugh which, beginning with the Emperor,
+extended to the staff, and at last to all the bystanders.
+
+"Dost wish I should make her one of my aides-de-camp?" said Napoleon,
+still laughing.
+
+"_Parbleu!_ thou hast more ill-favored ones among them," said Pioche,
+with a significant look at the grim faces of Rapp and Dam, whose hard
+and weather-beaten features never deigned a smile, while every other
+face was moved in laughter.
+
+"But thou hast not said yet what I am to do," rejoined the Emperor.
+
+"Thou used not to be so hard to understand," grumbled out Pioche. "I
+have seen the time thou 'd have said, 'Is it Minette that was wounded at
+the Adige? Is that the girl stood in the square at Marengo? _Parbleu!_ I
+'ll give her the cross of the Legion!'"
+
+"And she shall have it, Corporal Pioche," said Napoleon, as he detached
+the decoration he wore on the breast of his coat. "Give the order for
+the vivandiere to advance."
+
+Scarce were the words spoken, when the sound of a horse pressed to his
+speed was heard, and mounted upon a small but showy Arab, a present from
+the regiment, Minette rode up, in the bloom of health, and flushed
+by exercise and the excitement of the moment. I never saw her look
+so handsome. Reining in her horse short, as she came in front of the
+Emperor, the animal reared up, almost straight, and pawed the air with
+his forelegs; while she, with all the composure in life, raised her hand
+to her cap, and saluted the Emperor with an action the most easy and
+graceful.
+
+"Thou hast some yonder," said Pioche, with a grim smile at the staff,
+"would be sore puzzled to keep their saddles as well."
+
+[Illustration: Minnette 170]
+
+[Illustration: BrowneMinnette105]
+
+"Minette," said the Emperor, while he gazed on her handsome features
+with evident pleasure, "your name is well known to me for many actions
+of kindness and self-devotion. Wear this cross of the Legion of Honor;
+you will not value it the less that until now it has been only worn by
+me. Whenever you find one worthy to be your husband, Minette, I will
+charge myself with the dowry."
+
+"Oh, Sire!" said the trembling girl, as she pressed the Emperor's
+fingers to her lips,--"oh, Sire, is this real?"
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_" said Pioche, wiping a large tear from his eye as he
+spoke; "he can make thee be a man, and make me feel like a girl."
+
+As Duroc attached the cross to the buttonhole of the vivandiere's frock,
+she sat pale as death, totally overcome by her sensations of pride, and
+unable to say more than "Oh, Sire!" which she repeated three or four
+times at intervals.
+
+Again the procession moved on; other wagons followed with their brave
+fellows; but all the interest of the scene was now, for me at least,
+wrapped up in that one incident, and I took but little notice of the
+rest.
+
+For full two hours the cortege continued to roll on,--wagon after
+wagon, filled with the shattered remnants of an army. Yet such was the
+indomitable spirit of the people, such the heartfelt passion for glory,
+all deemed that procession the proudest triumph of their arms. Nor was
+this feeling confined to the spectators; the wounded themselves leaned
+eagerly over the sides of the _charrettes_ to gaze into the crowds on
+either side, seeking some old familiar face, and looking through all
+their sufferings proudly on the dense mob beneath them. Some tried
+to cheer, and waved their powerless hands; but others, faint and
+heart-sick, turned their glazed eyes towards the "Invalides," whose
+lofty dome appeared above the trees, as though to say, that was now
+their resting-place,--the only one before the grave.
+
+He who witnessed that day could have little doubt about the guiding
+spirit of the French nation; nor could he distrust their willingness to
+sacrifice anything--nay, all--to national glory. Suffering and misery,
+wounds, ghastly and dreadful, were on every side; and yet not one word
+of pity, not a look of compassion was there. These men were, in _their_
+eyes, far too highly placed for sympathy; theirs was that path to which
+all aspired, and their trophies were their own worn frames and mangled
+bodies. And then how they brightened up as the Emperor would draw near!
+how even the faintest would strive to catch his eye and gaze with parted
+lips on him as he spoke, as though drinking in his very words,--the balm
+to their bruised hearts,--and the faint cry of "l'Empereur! l'Empereur!"
+passed like a murmur along the line.
+
+Not until the last wagon had defiled before him did the Emperor leave
+the ground. It was then nearly dark, and already the lamps were lighted
+along the quays, and the windows of the Palace displayed the brilliant
+lustre of the preparations for a grand dinner to the marshals.
+
+As we moved slowly along in close order, I found myself among a group
+of officers of the Emperor's staffs eagerly discussing the day and its
+events.
+
+"I am sorry for Duchesne," said one; "with all his impertinences--and
+he had enough of them--he was a brave fellow, and a glorious leader at a
+moment of difficulty."
+
+"Well, well, the Emperor has perhaps forgiven him by this time; and
+it is not likely he would mar the happiness of a day like this by
+disgracing an officer of the _elite_."
+
+"You are wrong, my friend; his Majesty is not sorry for the occasion
+which can prove that he knows as well how to punish as to reward.
+Duchesne's fate is sealed. You are not old enough to remember, as I can,
+the morning at Lonado, where the same _ardre du jour_ conferred a mark
+of honor on one brother, and condemned another to be shot."
+
+"And was this, indeed, the case?"
+
+"Ay, was it. Many can tell you of it, as well as myself. They were both
+in the same regiment--the fifteenth demi-brigade of light infantry. They
+held a chateau at Salo against the enemy for eight hours, when at length
+the elder, who commanded at the front, capitulated and laid down his
+arms; the younger refused to comply, and continued to fight. They were
+reinforced an hour afterwards, and the Austrians beaten off. The day
+after they were both tried, and the result was as I have told you; the
+utmost favor the younger could obtain was, not to witness the execution
+of his brother."
+
+As I heard this story, my very blood curdled in my veins, and I looked
+with a kind of dread on him who now rode a few paces in front of
+me,--the stern and pitiless Napoleon.
+
+At last we entered the court of the Tuileries, when the Emperor,
+dismissing his staff, entered the Palace, and we separated, to follow
+our own plans for the evening. For a moment or two I remained uncertain
+which way to turn. I wished much to see Duchesne, yet scarcely hoped to
+meet with him by returning to the Luxembourg. It was not the time to be
+away from him, at a moment like this, and I resolved to seek him out.
+
+For above an hour I went from cafe to cafe, where he was in the habit of
+resorting, but to no purpose. He had not been seen in any of them during
+the day; so that at length I turned homeward with the faint hope that I
+should see him there on my arrival.
+
+Somehow I never had felt more sad and depressed; and the events of the
+day, so far from making me participate in the general joy, had left me
+gloomy and desponding. My spirit was little in harmony with the gay and
+merry groups that passed along the streets, chanting their campaigning
+songs, and usually having some old soldier of the "Guard" amongst
+them; for they felt it as a fete, and were hurrying to the cabarets to
+celebrate the day of Austerlitz.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. THE CHEVALIER.
+
+When men of high courage and proud hearts meet with reverses in life,
+our anxiety is rather to learn what new channel their thoughts and
+exertions will take in future, than to hear how they have borne up under
+misfortune. I knew Duchesne too well to suppose that any turn of fate
+would find him wholly unprepared; but still, a public reprimand, and
+from the lips of the Emperor, too, was of a nature to wound him to the
+quick, and I could not guess, nor picture to myself in what way he would
+bear it. The loss of grade itself was a thing of consequence, as the
+service of the _elite_ was reckoned a certain promotion; not to speak
+of--what to him was far more important--the banishment from Paris and
+its _salons_ to some gloomy and distant encampment. In speculations like
+these I returned to my quarters, where I was surprised to discover that
+the chevalier had not been since morning. I learned from his servant
+that he had dismissed him, with his horses, soon after leaving the
+Tuileries, and had not returned home from that time.
+
+I dined alone that day, and sat moodily by myself, thinking over the
+events of the morning, and wondering what had become of my friend, and
+watching every sound that might tell of his coming. It is true there
+were many things I liked not in Duchesne: his cold, sardonic spirit, his
+_moqueur_ temperament, chilled and repelled me; but I recognized, even
+through his own efforts at concealment, a manly tone of independence,
+a vigorous reliance on self, that raised him in my esteem, and made me
+regard him with a certain species of admiration. With his unsettled or
+unstable political opinions, I greatly dreaded the excess to which a
+spirit of revenge might carry him.
+
+I knew that the Jacobin party, and the Bourbons themselves, lay in
+wait for every erring member of the Imperial side; and I felt no little
+anxiety at the temptations they might hold out to him, at a moment when
+his excitement might have the mastery over his cooler judgment.
+
+Late in the evening a Government messenger arrived with a large letter
+addressed to him from the Minister of War; and even this caused me fresh
+uneasiness, since I connected the despatch in my mind with some detail
+of duty which his absence might leave unperformed.
+
+It was long past midnight, as I sat, vainly endeavoring to occupy myself
+with a book, which each moment I laid down to listen, when suddenly
+I heard the roll of a _fiacre_ in the court beneath, the great doors
+banged and closed, and the next moment the chevalier entered the room.
+
+He was dressed in plain clothes, and looked somewhat paler than usual,
+but though evidently laboring under excitement, affected his wonted ease
+and carelessness of manner, as, taking a chair in front of me, he sat
+down.
+
+"What a day of worry and trouble this has been, my dear friend!" he
+began. "From the moment I last saw you to the present one, I have not
+rested, and with four invitations to dinner, I have not dined anywhere."
+
+He paused as he said thus much, as if expecting me to say something;
+and I perceived that the embarrassment he felt rather increased than
+otherwise. I therefore endeavored to mumble out something about his
+hurried departure and the annoyance of such a sentence, when he stopped
+me suddenly.
+
+"Oh, as to _that_, I fancy the matter is arranged already; I should have
+had a letter from the War Office."
+
+"Yes, there is one here; it came three hours ago."
+
+He turned at once to the table, and breaking the seal, perused the
+packet in silence, then handed it to me, as he said,--
+
+"Bead that; it will save a world of explanation."
+
+It was dated five o'clock, and merely contained the following few
+words:--
+
+      His Majesty I. and R. accepts the resignation of Senior
+      Captain Duchesne, late of the Imperial Guard; who, from the
+      date of the present, is no longer in the service of France.
+
+      (Signed)
+
+      BERTHIER, Marshal of France.
+
+A small sealed note dropped from the packet, which Duchesne took up, and
+broke open with eagerness.
+
+"Ha! _parbleu!_" cried he, with energy; "I thought not. See here, Burke;
+it is Duroc who writes:--"
+
+      My dear Duchesne,--I knew there was no use in making such a
+      proposition, and told you as much. The moment I said the
+      word 'England,' he shouted out 'No!' in such a tone you
+      might have heard it at the Luxembourg. You will perceive,
+      then, the thing is impracticable; and perhaps, after all,
+      for your own sake, it is better it should be so.
+
+      Yours ever,                                    D.
+
+"This is all mystery to me, Duchesne; I cannot fathom it in the least."
+
+"Let me assist you; a few words will do it. I gave in my _demission_ as
+Captain of the Guard, which, as you see, his Majesty has accepted;
+we shall leave it to the 'Moniteur' of to-morrow to announce whether
+graciously or not. I also addressed a formal letter to Duroc, to ask the
+Emperor's permission to visit England, on private business of my own."
+His eyes sparkled with a malignant lustre as he said these last words,
+and his cheek grew deep scarlet. "This, however, his Majesty has not
+granted, doubtless from private reasons of his own; and thus we stand.
+Which of us, think you, has most spoiled the other's rest for this
+night?"
+
+"But still I do not comprehend. What can take you to England? You have
+no friends there; you've never been in that country."
+
+"Do you know the very word is proscribed,--that the island is covered
+from his eyes in the map he looks upon, that _perfide_ Albion is the
+demon that haunts his dark hours, and menaces with threatening gesture
+the downfall of all his present glory? Ah, by Saint Denis, boy! had I
+been you, it is not such an epaulette as this I had worn."
+
+"Enough, Duchesne; I will not hear more. Not to you, nor any one, am
+I answerable for the reasons that have guided my conduct; nor had I
+listened to so much, save that such excitement as yours may make that
+pardonable which in calmer moments is not so."
+
+"You say right, Burke," said he, quickly, and with more seriousness of
+manner; "it is seldom I have been betrayed into such a passionate warmth
+as this. I hope I have not offended you. This change of circumstance
+will make none in our friendship. I knew it, my dear boy. And now let us
+turn from such tiresome topics. Where, think you, have I been spending
+the evening? But how could you ever guess? Well, at the Odeon, attending
+Mademoiselle Pierrot, and a very pretty friend of hers,--one of our
+vivandieres, who happens to be in the brigade with mademoiselle's
+brother, and dined there to-day. She only arrived in Paris this morning;
+and, by Jove! there are some handsome faces in our gay _salons_ would
+scarcely stand the rivalry with hers. I must show you the fair Minette."
+
+"Minette!" stammered I, while a sickly sensation--a fear of some unknown
+misfortune to the poor girl--almost stopped my utterance. "I know her;
+she belongs to the Fourth Cuirassiers."
+
+"Ah, you know her? Who would have suspected my quiet friend of such an
+acquaintance? And so, you never hinted this to me. _Ma foi!_ I 'd have
+thought twice about throwing up my commission if I had seen her half
+an hour earlier. Come, tell me all you know of her. Where does she come
+from?"
+
+"Of her history I am totally ignorant; I can only tell you that her
+character is without a stain or reproach, in circumstances where few, if
+any save herself, ever walked scathless; that on more than one occasion
+she has displayed heroism worthy of the best among us."
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear, how disappointed I am! Indeed, I half feared as much:
+she is a regular vivandiere of the melodrame,--virtuous, high-minded,
+and intrepid. You, of course, believe all this,--don't be angry,
+Burke,--but I don't; and the reason is I can't,--the gods have left
+me incredulous from the cradle. I have a rooted obstinacy about me,
+perfectly irreclaimable. Thus, I fancy Napoleon to be a Corsican; a
+modern marshal to be a promoted sergeant; a judge of the upper court to
+be a public prosecutor; and a vivandiere of the _grande armee_--But I'll
+not offend,--don't be afraid, my poor fellow,--even at the risk of the
+rivalry. Upon my life, I 'm glad to see you have a heart susceptible
+of any little tenderness. But you cannot blame me if I 'm weary of this
+eternal travesty of character which goes on amongst us. Why will our
+Republican and _sans culotte_ friends try courtly airs and graces, while
+our real aristocracy stoop to the affected coarseness of the _canaille?_
+Is it possible that they who wish to found a new order of things do not
+see that all these pantomime costumes and characters denote nothing
+but change,--that we are only performing a comedy after all? I scarcely
+expect it will be a five-act one. And, apropos of comedies,--when shall
+we pay our respects to Madame de Lacostellerie? It will require all my
+diplomacy to keep my ground there under my recent misfortune. Nothing
+short of a tender inquiry from the Duchesse de Montserrat will open the
+doors for me. Alas, and alas! I suppose I shall have to fall back on the
+Faubourg."
+
+"But is the step irrevocable, Duchesne? Can you really bring yourself to
+forego a career which opened with such promise?"
+
+"And terminated with such disgrace," added he, smiling placidly.
+
+"Nay, nay; don't affect to take it thus. Your services would have placed
+you high, and won for you honors and rank."
+
+"And, _ma foi!_ have they not done so? Am I not a very interesting
+individual at this moment,--more so than any other of my life? Are not
+half the powdered heads of the Faubourg plotting over my downfall, and
+wondering how they are to secure me to the 'true cause'? Are not the hot
+heads of the Jacobites speculating on my admission, by a unanimous vote,
+into their order? And has not Fouche gone to the special expense of a
+new police spy, solely destined to dine at the same cafe, play at the
+same _salon_, and sit in the same box of the Opera with me? Is this
+nothing? Well, it will be good fun, after all, to set their wise brains
+on the wrong track; not to speak of the happiness of weeding one's
+acquaintance, which a little turn of fortune always effects so
+instantaneously."
+
+"One would suppose from your manner, Duchesne, that some unlooked-for
+piece of good luck had befallen you; the event seems to have been the
+crowning one of your life."
+
+"Am I not at liberty, boy? have I not thrown the slavery behind me? Is
+that nothing? You may fancy your collar, because there is some gold upon
+it; but, trust me, it galls the neck as cursedly as the veriest brass.
+Come, Burke, I must have a glass of champagne, and you must pledge me in
+a creaming bumper. If you don't join in the sentiment now, the time will
+come later on. We may be many a mile apart,--ay, perhaps a whole world
+will divide us; but you'll remember my toast,--'To him that is free!'
+I am sick of most things; women, wine, war, play,--the game of life
+itself, with all its dashing and existing interests,--I have had them
+to satiety. But liberty has its charm; even to the palsied arm and the
+withered hand freedom is dear; and why not to him who yet can strike?"
+
+His eyes flashed fire as he spoke, and he drained glass after glass of
+wine, without seeming aware of what he was doing.
+
+"If you felt thus, Duchesne, why have you remained so long a soldier?"
+
+"I 'll tell you. He who travels unwillingly along some dreary path stops
+often as he goes, and looks around to see if, in the sky above or the
+road beneath, some obstacle may not cross his way and bid him turn. The
+faintest sound of a brewing storm, the darkening shadow of a cloud,
+a swollen rivulet, is enough, and straightway he yields: so men seem
+swayed in life by trifles which never moved them, by accidents which
+came not near their hearts. These, which the world called their
+disappointments, were often but the pivots of their fortune. I have
+had enough, nay, more than enough, of all this. You must not ask the
+hackneyed actor of the melodrama to start at the blue lights, and feel
+real fear at burning forests and flaming chateaux. This mock passion of
+the Emperor--"
+
+"Come, my friend, that is indeed too much; unquestionably there was no
+feigning there."
+
+Duchesne gave a bitter laugh, and laying his hand on my arm, said,--
+
+"My good boy, I know him well. The knowledge has cost me something; but
+I have it. A soldier's enthusiasm!" said he, in irony,--"bah! Shall I
+tell you a little incident of my boyhood? I detest story-telling, but
+this you must hear. Fill my glass! listen, and I promise you not to be
+lengthy."
+
+It was the first time in our intimacy in which Duchesne referred
+distinctly to his past life; and I willingly accepted the offer he made,
+anticipating that any incident, no matter how trivial, might throw a
+light on the strange contrarieties of his character.
+
+He sat for several minutes silent, his eyes turned towards the ground. A
+faint smile, more of sadness than aught else, played about his lips, as
+he muttered to himself some words I could not catch. Then rallying, with
+a slight effort, he began thus--But, short as his tale was, we must give
+him a chapter to himself.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. A BOYISH REMINISCENCE
+
+"I believe I have already told you, Burke, that my family were most of
+them Royalists. Such as were engaged in trade followed the fortunes
+of the day, and cried 'Vive la Republique!' like their neighbors. Some
+deemed it better to emigrate, and wait in a foreign land for the happy
+hour of returning to their own,--a circumstance, by the way, which must
+have tried their patience ere this; and a few, trusting to their obscure
+position, living in out-of-the-way, remote spots, supposed that in
+the general uproar they might escape undetected; and, with one or two
+exceptions, they were right. Among these latter was an unmarried brother
+of my mother, who having held a military command for a great many years
+in the Ile de Bourbon, retired to spend the remainder of his days in
+a small but beautiful chateau on the seaside, about three leagues
+from Marseilles. The old viscount (we continued to call him so among
+ourselves, though the use of titles was proscribed long before) had met
+with some disappointment in love in early life, which had prevented his
+ever marrying, and turned all his affections towards the children of his
+brothers and sisters, who invariably passed a couple of months of
+each summer with him, arriving from different parts of France for the
+purpose.
+
+"And truly it was a strange sight to see the mixture of look,
+expression, accent, and costume, that came to the rendezvous: the
+long-featured boy, with blue eyes and pointed chin,--cold, wary,
+and suspicious, brave but cautious,--that came from Normandy; the
+high-spirited, reckless youth from Brittany; the dark-eyed girl of
+Provence; the quick-tempered, warm-hearted Gascon and, stranger than
+all, from his contrast to the rest the little Parisian, with his airs
+of the capital and his contempt for his rustic brethren, nothing daunted
+that in all their boyish exercises he found himself so much their
+inferior. Our dear old uncle loved nothing so well as to have us around
+him; and even the little ones, of five and six years old, when not
+living too far off, were brought to these reunions, which were to us the
+great events of each year of our lives.
+
+"It was in the June of the year 1794--I shall not easily forget the
+date--that we were all assembled as usual at 'Le Luc.' Our party was
+reinforced by some three or four new visitors, among whom was a little
+girl of about twelve years old,--Annette de Noailles, the prettiest
+creature I ever beheld. Every land has its own trait of birth distinctly
+marked. I don't know whether you have observed that the brow and the
+forehead are more indicative of class in Frenchmen than any other
+portion of the face: hers was perfect, and though a mere child,
+conveyed an impression of tempered decision and mildness that was most
+fascinating; the character of her features was thoughtful, and were
+it not for a certain vivacity in the eyes, would have been even sad.
+Forgive me, if I dwell--when I need not--on these traits: she is no
+more. Her father carried her with him in his exile, and your lowering
+skies and gloomy air soon laid her low.
+
+"Annette was the child of Royalist parents. Both her father and mother
+had occupied places in the royal household; and she was accustomed from
+her earliest infancy to hear the praise of the Bourbons from lips which
+trembled when they spoke. Poor child! how well do I remember her
+little prayer for the martyred saint,--for so they styled the murdered
+king,--which she never missed saying each morning when the mass was over
+in the chapel of the chateau. It is a curious fact that the girls of a
+family were frequently attached to the fortunes of the Bourbons, while
+the boys declared for the Revolution; and these differences penetrated
+into the very core, and sapped the happiness of many whose affection had
+stood the test of every misfortune save the uprooting torrent of anarchy
+that poured in with the Revolution. These party differences entered
+into all the little quarrels of the schoolroom and the nursery; and the
+taunting epithets of either side were used in angry passion by those who
+neither guessed nor could understand their meaning. Need it be
+wondered at, if in after life these opinions took the tone of intense
+convictions, when even thus in infancy they were nurtured and fostered?
+Our little circle at Le Luc was, indeed, wonderfully free from such
+causes of contention; whatever paths in life fate had in store for us
+afterwards, then, at least, we were of one mind. A few of the boys,
+it is true, were struck by the successes of those great armies the
+Revolution poured over Europe; but even they were half ashamed to
+confess enthusiasm in a cause so constantly allied in their memory with
+everything mean and low-lived.
+
+"Such, in a few words, was the little party assembled around the
+supper-table of the chateau, on one lovely evening in June. The windows,
+opening to the ground, let in the perfumed air from many a sweet and
+flowery shrub without; while already the nightingale had begun her lay
+in the deep grove hard by. The evening was so calm we could hear the
+plash of the making tide upon the shore, and the minute peals of the
+waves smote on the ear with a soft and melancholy cadence that made
+us silent and thoughtful. As we sat for some minutes thus, we suddenly
+heard the sound of feet coming up the little gravel walk towards the
+chateau, and on going to the window, perceived three men in uniform
+leading their horses slowly along. The dusky light prevented our being
+able to distinguish their rank or condition; but my uncle, whose fears
+were easily excited by such visitors, at once hastened to the door to
+receive them.
+
+"His absence was not of many minutes' duration; but even now I can
+remember the strange sensations of dread that rendered us all speechless
+as we stood looking towards the door by which he was to enter. He came
+at last, and was followed by two officers; one, the elder, and the
+superior evidently, was a thin, slight man, of about thirty, with a
+pale but stern countenance, in which a certain haughty expression
+predominated; the other was a fine, soldierlike, frank-looking fellow,
+who saluted us all as he came in with a smile and a pleasant gesture of
+his hand.
+
+"'You may leave us, children,' said my uncle, as he proceeded towards
+the bell.
+
+"'You were at supper, if I mistake not?' said the elder of the two
+officers, with a degree of courtesy in his tone I scarcely expected.
+
+"'Yes, General. But my little friends--'
+
+"'Will, I hope, share with us,' said the general, interrupting; 'and I,
+at least, am determined, with your permission, that they shall remain.
+It is quite enough that we enjoy the hospitality of your chateau for the
+night, without interfering with the happiness of its inmates; and I beg
+that we may give you as little inconvenience as possible in providing
+for our accommodation.'
+
+"Though these words were spoken with an easy and a kindly tone, there
+was a cold, distant manner in the speaker that chilled us all, and
+while we drew over to the table again, it was in silence and constraint.
+Indeed, our poor uncle looked the very picture of dismay, endeavoring
+to do the honors to his guests and seem at ease, while it was clear his
+fears were ever uppermost in his mind.
+
+"The aide-de-camp--for such the young officer was--looked
+like one who could have been agreeable and amusing if the restraint of
+the general's presence was not over him. As it was, he spoke in a low,
+subdued voice, and seemed in great awe of his superior.
+
+"Unlike our usual ones, the meal was eaten in mournful stillness, the
+very youngest amongst us feeling the presence of the stranger as a thing
+of gloom and sadness.
+
+"Supper over, my uncle, perhaps hoping to relieve the embarrassment
+he labored under, asked permission of the general for us to remain,
+saying,--
+
+"'My little people, sir, are great novelists, and they usually amuse me
+of an evening by their stories. Will this be too great an endurance for
+you?'
+
+"'By no means,' said the general, gayly; 'there's nothing I like better,
+and I hope they will admit me as one of the party. I have something of a
+gift that way myself.'
+
+"The circle was soon formed, the general and his aide-de-camp making
+part of it; but though they both exerted themselves to the utmost to win
+our confidence, I know not why or wherefore, we could not shake off the
+gloom we had felt at first, but sat awkward and ill at ease, unable to
+utter a word, and even ashamed to look at each other.
+
+"'Come,' said the general, 'I see how it is. I have broken in upon a
+very happy party. I must make the only _amende_ in my power,--I shall be
+the story-teller for this evening.'
+
+"As he said this, he looked around the little circle, and by some
+seeming magic of his own, in an instant he had won us every one. We drew
+our chairs close towards him, and listened eagerly for his tale. Few
+people, save such as live much among children, or take the trouble to
+study their tone of feeling and thinking, are aware how far reality
+surpasses in interest the force of mere fiction. The fact is with them
+far more than all the art of the narrative; and if you cannot say 'this
+was true,' more than half of the pleasure your story confers is lost
+forever. Whether the general knew this, or that his memory supplied
+him more easily than his imagination, I cannot say; but his tale was
+a little incident of the siege of Toulon, where a drummer boy was
+killed,--having returned to the breach, after the attack was repulsed,
+to seek for a little cockade of ribbon his mother had fastened on his
+cap that morning. Simple as was the story, he told it with a subdued and
+tender pathos that made our hearts thrill and filled every eye around
+him.
+
+"'It was a poor thing, it's true,' said he, 'that knot of ribbon, but it
+was glory to him to rescue it from the enemy. His heart was on the time
+when he should show it, blood-stained and torn, and say, "I took it from
+the ground amid the grapeshot and the musketry. I was the only living
+thing there that moment; and see, I bore it away triumphantly."' As the
+general spoke, he unbuttoned the breast of his uniform, and took forth
+a small piece of crumpled ribbon, fastened in the shape of a cockade.
+'Here it is,' said he, holding it up before on? eyes; 'it was for this
+he died.' We could scarce see it through our tears. Poor Annette held
+her hands upon her face, and sobbed violently. 'Keep it, my sweet
+child,' said the general, as he attached the cockade to her shoulder;'
+it is a glorious emblem, and well worthy to be worn by one so pure and
+so fair as you are.'
+
+"Annette looked up, and as she did, her eyes fell upon the tricolor that
+hung from her shoulder,--the hated, the despised tricolor, the badge
+of that party whose cruelty she had thought of by day and dreamed of
+by night. She turned deadly pale, and sat, with lips compressed and
+clenched hands, unable to speak or stir.
+
+"'What is it? Are you ill, child?' said the general, suddenly.
+
+"'Annette, love! Annette, dearest!' said my uncle, trembling with
+anxiety, 'speak; what is the matter?'
+
+"'It is that!' cried I, fiercely, pointing to the knot, on which her
+eyes were bent with a shrinking horror I well knew the meaning of,--' it
+is that!'
+
+"The general bent on me a look of passionate meaning, as with a hissing
+tone he said, 'Do you mean this?'
+
+"'Yes,' said I, tearing it away, and trampling it beneath my
+feet,--'yes! it is not a Noailles can wear the badge of infamy and
+crime; the blood-stained tricolor can find slight favor here.'
+
+"'Hush, boy! hush, for Heaven's sake!' cried my uncle, trembling with
+fear.
+
+"The caution came too late. The general, taking a note-book from his
+pocket, opened it leisurely, and then turning towards the viscount,
+said, 'This youth's name is--'
+
+"'Duchesne; Henri Duchesne.'
+
+"'And his age?'
+
+"'Fourteen in March,' replied my uncle, as his eyes filled up; while he
+added, in a half whisper, 'if you mean the conscription, General, he has
+already supplied a substitute.'
+
+"'No matter, sir, if he had sent twenty; such defect of education as his
+needs correction. He shall join the levies at Toulon in three days; in
+three days, mark me! Depend upon it, sir,' said he, turning to me, 'you
+shall learn a lesson beneath that tricolor you'll be somewhat long
+in forgetting. Dumolle, look to this.' With this direction to his
+aide-de-camp he arose, and before my poor unhappy uncle could recover
+his self-possession to reply, had left the room.
+
+"'He will not do this, sir; surely, he will not,' said the viscount to
+the young officer.
+
+"'General Bonaparte does not relent, sir; and if he did, he 'd never
+show it,' was the cold reply.
+
+"That day week I carried a musket on the ramparts of Toulon. Here began
+a career I have followed ever since; with how much of enthusiasm I leave
+you to judge for yourself."
+
+As Duchesne concluded this little story he arose, and paced the room
+backwards and forwards with rapid steps, while his compressed lips and
+knitted brow showed he was lost in gloomy recollections of the past.
+
+"He was right, after all, Burke," said he, at length. "Personal honor
+will make the soldier; conviction may make the patriot. I fought as
+stoutly for this same cause as though I did not loathe it: how many
+others may be in the same position? You yourself, perhaps."
+
+"No, no; not I."
+
+"Well, be it so," rejoined he, carelessly. "Goodnight" And with that he
+strolled negligently from the room, and I heard him humming a tune as he
+mounted the stairs towards his bedroom.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. A GOOD-BY
+
+"I have come to bring you a card for the Court ball, Capitaine," said
+General Daru, as he opened the door of my dressing-room the following
+morning. "See what a number of them I have here; but except your own,
+the addresses are not filled up. You are in favor at the Tuileries, it
+would seem."
+
+"I was not aware of my good fortune, General," replied I.
+
+"Be assured, however, it is such," said he. "These things are not, as so
+many deem them, mere matters of chance; every name is well weighed
+and conned over: the officers of the household serve one who does not
+forgive mistakes. And now that I think of it, you were intimate--very
+intimate, I believe--with Duchesne?"
+
+"Yes, sir; we were much together."
+
+"Well, then, after what has occurred, I need scarcely say your
+acquaintance with him had better cease. There is no middle course in
+these matters. Circumstances will not bring you, as formerly, into each
+other's company; and to continue your intimacy would be offensive to his
+Majesty."
+
+"But surely, sir, the friendship of persons so humble as we are can be
+a subject neither for the Emperor's satisfaction nor displeasure, if he
+even were to know of it?"
+
+"You must take my word for that," replied the general, somewhat sternly.
+"The counsel I have given to-day may come as a command to-morrow. The
+Chevalier Duchesne has given his Majesty great and grave offence; see
+that you are not led to follow his example." With a marked emphasis on
+the last few words, and with a cold bow, he left the room.
+
+"That I am not led to follow his example!" said I, repeating his words
+over slowly to myself. "Is that, then, the danger of which he would warn
+me?"
+
+The remembrance of the misfortunes which opened my career in life came
+full before me,--the unhappy acquaintance with De Beauvais, and the long
+train of suspicious circumstances that followed; and I shuddered at the
+bare thought of being again involved in apparent criminality. And yet,
+what a state of slavery was this! The thought flashed suddenly across my
+mind, and I exclaimed aloud, "And this is the liberty for which I have
+perilled life and limb,--this the cause for which I have become an alien
+and an exile!"
+
+"Most true, my dear friend," said Duchesne, gayly, as he slipped into
+the room, and drew his Chair towards the fire. "A wise reflection, but
+most unwisely spoken. But there are men nothing can teach; not even the
+'Temple' nor the 'Palais de Justice.'"
+
+"How, then,--you know of my unhappy imprisonment?"
+
+"Know of it? To be sure I do. Bless your sweet innocence! I have been
+told, a hundred times over, to make overtures to you from the Faubourg.
+There are at least a dozen old ladies there who believe firmly you are a
+true Legitimist, and wear the white cockade next your heart. I have had,
+over and over, the most tempting offers to make you. Faith, I 'm
+not quite certain if we are not believed to be, at this very moment,
+concocting how to smuggle over the frontier a brass carronade and a
+royal livery, two pounds of gunpowder and a court periwig, to restore
+the Bourbons!"
+
+He burst into a fit of laughing as he concluded; and however little
+disposed to mirth at the moment, I could not refrain from joining in the
+emotion.
+
+"But now for a moment of serious consideration, Burke; for I can be
+serious at times, at least when my friends are concerned. You and I must
+part here; it is all the better for you it should be so. I am what the
+world is pleased to call a 'dangerous companion;' and there's more truth
+in the epithet than they wot of who employ it. It is not because I am a
+man of pleasure, and occasionally a man of expensive habits and costly
+tastes, nor that I now and then play deep, or drink deep, or follow up
+with passionate determination any ruling propensity of the moment; but
+because I am a discontented and unsettled man, who has a vague ambition
+of being something he knows not what, by means he knows not how,--ever
+willing to throw himself into an enterprise where the prize is great and
+the risk greater, and yet never able to warm his wishes into enthusiasm
+nor his belief into a conviction: in a word, a Frenchman, born a
+Legitimist, reared a Democrat, educated an Imperialist, and turned
+adrift upon the world a scoffer. Such men as I am are dangerous
+companions; and when they increase, as they are likely to do in our
+state of society, will be still more dangerous citizens. But come, my
+good friend, don't look dismayed, nor distend your nostrils as if you
+were on the scent for a smell of brimstone,--'Satan s'en va!'"
+
+With these words he arose and held out his hand to me. "Don't let your
+Napoleonite ardor ooze out too rapidly, Burke, and you 'll be a marshal
+of France yet. There are great prizes in the wheel, to be had by those
+who strive for them. Adieu!"
+
+"But we shall meet, Duchesne?"
+
+"I hope so. The time may come, perhaps, when we may be intimate without
+alarming the police of the department. But, for the present, I am about
+to leave Paris; some friends in the South have been kind enough to
+invite me to visit them, and I start this afternoon."
+
+We shook hands once more, and Duchesne moved towards the door; then,
+turning suddenly about, he said, "Apropos of another matter,--this
+Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie.
+
+"What of her?" said I, with some curiosity in my tone.
+
+"Why, I have a kind of half suspicion, ripening into something like an
+assurance, that when we meet again she may be Madame Burke."
+
+"What nonsense, my dear friend! the absurdity--"
+
+"There is none whatever. An acquaintance begun like yours is very
+suggestive of such a termination. When the lady is saucy and the
+gentleman shy, the game stands usually thus: the one needs control and
+the other lacks courage. Let them change the cards, and see what comes
+of it."
+
+"You are wrong, Duchesne,--all wrong."
+
+"Be it so. I have been so often right, I can afford a false prediction
+without losing all my character as prophet. Adieu!"
+
+No sooner was I alone than I sat down to think over what he had said.
+The improbability, nay, as it seemed to me, the all but impossibility,
+of such an event as he foretold, seemed not less now than when first I
+heard it; but somehow I felt a kind of internal satisfaction, a sense of
+gratified vanity, to think that to so acute an observer as Duchesne such
+a circumstance did not appear even unreasonable. How hard it is to call
+in reason against the assault of flattery! How difficult to resist
+the force of an illusion by any appeal to our good sense and calmer
+judgment!
+
+It must not be supposed from this that I seriously contemplated such a
+possible turn of fortune,--far less wished for it. No; my satisfaction
+had a different source. It lay in the thought that I, the humble captain
+of hussars, should ever be thought of as the suitor of the greatest
+beauty and the richest dowry of the day: here was the mainspring of
+my flattered pride. As to any other feeling, I had none. I admired
+Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie greatly; she was, perhaps, the very
+handsomest girl I ever saw; there was not one in the whole range
+of Parisian society so much sought after; and there was a degree of
+distinction in being accounted even among the number of her admirers.
+Besides this, there lay a lurking desire in my heart that Marie de
+Meudon (for as such only could I think of her) should hear me thus
+spoken of. It seemed to me like a weak revenge on her own indifference
+to me; and I longed to make anything a cause of connecting my fate with
+the idea of her who yet held my whole heart.
+
+Only men who live much to themselves and their own thoughts know the
+pleasure of thus linking their fortunes, by some imaginary chain, to
+that of those they love. They are the straws that drowning men catch at;
+but still, for the moment, they sustain the sinking courage, and nerve
+the heart where all is failing. I felt this acutely. I knew well that
+she was not, nor could be, anything to me; but I knew, also, that to
+divest my mind of her image was to live in darkness, and that the mere
+chance of being remembered by her was happiness itself. It was while
+hearing of her I first imbibed the soldier's ardor from her own brother.
+She herself had placed before me the glorious triumphs of that career in
+words that never ceased to ring in my ears. All my hopes of distinction,
+my aspirations for success, were associated with the half prediction
+she had uttered; and I burned for an occasion by which I could signalize
+myself,--that she might read my name, perchance might say, "And _he_
+loved me!"
+
+In such a world of dreamy thought I passed day after day. Duchesne was
+gone, and I had no intimate companion to share my hours with, nor with
+whom I could expand in social freedom. Meanwhile, the gay life of the
+capital continued its onward course; fetes and balls succeeded
+each other; and each night I found myself a guest at some splendid
+entertainment, but where I neither knew nor was known to any one.
+
+It was on one morning, after a very magnificent fete at the
+Arch-Chancellor's, that I remembered, for the first time, I had not seen
+my poor friend Pioche since his arrival at Paris. A thrill of shame
+ran through me at the thought of having neglected to ask after my old
+comrade of the march, and I ordered my horse at once, to set out for
+the Hotel-Dieu, which had now been in great part devoted to the wounded
+soldiers.
+
+The day was a fine one for the season; and as I entered the large
+courtyard I perceived numbers of the invalids moving about in groups, to
+enjoy the air and the sun of a budding spring. Poor fellows! they were
+but the mere remnants of humanity. Several had lost both legs, and few
+were there without an empty sleeve to their loose blue coats. In a large
+hall, where three long tables were being laid for dinner, many were
+seated around the ample fireplaces; and at one of these a larger
+group than ordinary attracted my attention. They were not chatting and
+laughing, like the rest, but apparently in deep silence. I approached,
+curious to know the reason; and then perceived that they were all
+listening attentively to some one reading aloud. The tones of the voice
+were familiar to me; I stopped to hear them more plainly.
+
+It was Minette herself--the vivandiere--who sat there in the midst;
+beside her, half reclining in a deep, old-fashioned armchair, was "le
+gros Pioche," his huge beard descending midway on his chest, and his
+great mustache curling below his upper lip. He had greatly rallied since
+I saw him last, but still showed signs of debility and feebleness by the
+very attitude in which he lay.
+
+[Illustration 194]
+
+Mingling unperceived with the crowd, who were far too highly interested
+in the recital to pay any attention to my approach, I listened
+patiently, and soon perceived that mademoiselle was reading some
+incident of the Egyptian campaign from one of those innumerable volumes
+which then formed the sole literature of the garrison.
+
+"The redoubt," continued Minette, "was strongly defended in front by
+stockades and a ditch, while twelve pieces of artillery and a force of
+seven hundred Mamelukes were within the works. Suddenly an aide-de-camp
+arrived at full gallop, with orders for the Thirty-second to attack the
+redoubt with the bayonet, and carry it. The major of the regiment (the
+colonel had been killed that morning at the ford) cried out,--
+
+"'Grenadiers, you hear the order,--Forward!' But the same instant a
+terrible discharge of grape tore through the ranks, killing three and
+wounding eight others. 'Forward, men! forward!' shouted the major. But
+no one stirred."
+
+"_Tete d'enfer_," growled out Pioche, "where was the tambour?"
+
+"You shall hear," said Minette, and resumed.
+
+"'Do you hear me?' cried the major, 'or am I to be disgraced forever?
+Advance--quick time--march!'
+
+"'But, Major,' said a sergeant, aloud, 'they are not roasted apples
+those fellows yonder are pelting.'
+
+"'Silence!' called out the major; 'not a word! Tambour, beat the
+charge!'
+
+"Suddenly a man sprang up to his knees from the ground where he had been
+lying, and began to beat the drum with all his might. Poor fellow! his
+leg was smashed with a shot, but he obeyed his orders in the midst of
+all his suffering.
+
+"'Forward, men! forward!' cried the major, waving his cap above his
+head. 'Fix bayonets--charge!' And on they dashed after him.
+
+"'Halloo, comrades!' shouted the tambour; 'don't leave me behind you.'
+And in an instant two grenadiers stooped down and hoisted him on their
+shoulders, and then rushed forward through the smoke and flame. Crashing
+and smashing went the shot through the leading files; but on they went,
+leaping over the dead and dying."
+
+"With the tambour still?" asked Pioche.
+
+"To be sure," said Minette; "there he was. But listen:--
+
+"Just as they reached the breach a shot above their heads came whizzing
+past, and a terrible bang rang out as it went.
+
+"'He is killed,' said one of the grenadiers, preparing to lower the
+body; 'I heard his cry.'
+
+[Illustration: BrowneDrummerBoy121]
+
+"'Not yet, Comrade,' cried the tambour; 'it is the drum-head they have
+carried away, that's all;' and he beat away on the wooden sides harder
+than ever. And thus they bore him over the glacis, and up the rampart,
+and never stopped till they placed him, sitting, on one of the guns on
+the wall."
+
+"Hurrah! well done!" cried Pioche; while every throat around him
+re-echoed the cry, "Hurrah!"
+
+"What was his name, Mademoiselle?" cried several voices. "Tell us the
+name of the tambour!"
+
+"_Ma foi, Messieurs!_they have not given it."
+
+"Not given his name," growled they out. "_Ventrebleu!_ that is too bad!"
+
+"An he had been an officer of the Guard they would have told us his
+whole birth and parentage," said a wrinkled, sour-looking old fellow,
+with one eye.
+
+"Or a lieutenant of hussars, Mademoiselle!" said Pioche, looking fixedly
+at the vivandiere, who held the book close to her face to conceal a deep
+blush that covered it.
+
+"But, halloo, there! Qui vive?" The cuirassier had just caught a glimpse
+of me at the moment, and every eye was turned at once to where I was
+standing. "Ah, Lieutenant, you here! Not invalided, I hope?"
+
+"No, Pioche. My visit was intended for you; and I have had the good
+fortune to come in for the tale mademoiselle was reading."
+
+Before I had concluded these few words, the wounded soldiers, or such of
+them as could, had risen from their seats, and stood respectfully around
+me; while Minette, retreating behind the great chair where Pioche lay,
+seemed to wish to avoid recognition.
+
+"Front rank, Mademoiselle! front rank!" said Pioche. "_Parbleu!_when one
+has the 'cross of the Legion' from the hands of the Emperor himself, one
+need not be ashamed of being seen. Besides," added he, in a lower tone,
+but one I could well overhear, "thou art not dressed in thy uniform now;
+thou hast nothing to blush for!"
+
+Still she hung down her head, and her confusion seemed only to increase;
+so that, unwilling to prolong her embarrassment, which I saw my presence
+had caused, I merely made a few inquiries from Pioche regarding his own
+health, and took my leave of the party.
+
+As I rode homeward, I could not help turning over in my mind the words
+of Pioche, "Thou art not in thy uniform now; thou hast nothing to blush
+for!" Here, then, seemed the key to the changed manner of the poor girl
+when I met her at Austerlitz,--some feeling of womanly shame at being
+seen in the costume of the vivandiere by one who had known her only in
+another guise. But could this be so? I asked myself,--a question a
+very little knowledge of a woman's heart might have spared me. And thus
+pondering, I returned to the Luxembourg.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. AN OLD FRIEND UNCHANGED
+
+They who took their tone in politics from the public journals of France
+must have been somewhat puzzled at the new and unexpected turn of
+the papers in Government influence at the period I now speak of. The
+tremendous attacks against the "perfide Albion," which constituted
+the staple of the leading articles in the "Moniteur," were gradually
+discontinued; the great body of the people were separated from the
+"tyrannical domination of an insolent aristocracy;" an occasional eulogy
+would appear, too, upon the "native good sense and right feeling of John
+Bull" when not led captive by appeals to his passions and prejudices;
+and at last a wish more boldly expressed that the two countries, whose
+mission it should be to disseminate civilization over the earth, could
+so far understand their real interest as to become "fast friends,
+instead of dangerous enemies."
+
+The accession of the Whigs to power in England was the cause of this
+sudden revolution. The Emperor, when First Consul, had learned to
+know and admire Charles Fox,--sentiments of mutual esteem had grown up
+between them,--and it seemed now as if his elevation to power were
+the only thing wanting to establish friendly relations between the two
+countries.
+
+How far the French Emperor presumed on Fox's liberalism,--and the strong
+bias to party inducing him to adopt such a line of policy as would run
+directly counter to that of his predecessors in office, and thus dispose
+the nation to more amicable views towards France,--certain it is that he
+miscalculated considerably when he built upon any want of true English
+feeling on the part of that minister, or any tendency to weaken, by
+unjust concessions, the proud attitude England had assumed at the
+commencement and maintained throughout the entire Continental war.
+
+A mere accident led to a renewal of negotiations between the two
+countries. A villain, calling himself Guillet de la Grevilliere, had
+the audacity to propose to the English minister the assassination of
+Napoleon, and to offer himself for the deed. He had hired a house at
+Passy, and made every preparation for the execution of his foul scheme.
+To denounce this wretch to the French minister of foreign affairs,
+Talleyrand, was the first step of Fox. This led to a reply, in which
+Talleyrand reported, word for word, a conversation that passed between
+the Emperor and himself, and wherein expressions of the kindest nature
+were employed by Napoleon with regard to Fox, and many flattering
+allusions to the times of their former intimacy; the whole concluding
+with the expression of an ardent desire for a good understanding and
+a "lasting peace between two nations designed by nature to esteem each
+other."
+
+Although the whole scheme of the assassination was a police stratagem
+devised by Fouche to test the honor and good faith of the English
+minister, the result was eagerly seized on as a basis for new
+negotiations; and from that hour the temperate language of the French
+papers evinced a new policy towards England. The insolent allusions of
+journalists, the satirical squibs of party writers, the caricatures of
+the English eccentricity, were suppressed at once; and by that magic
+influence which Napoleon wielded, the whole tone of public feeling
+seemed altered as regarded England and Englishmen. From the leaders
+in the "Moniteur" to the shop windows of the Palace an Anglomania
+prevailed; and the idea was thrown out that the two nations had divided
+the world between them,--the sea being the empire of the British, the
+land that of Frenchmen. Commissioners were appointed on both sides:
+at first Lord Yarmouth, and then Lord Lauderdale, by England; General
+Clarke and M. Champagny, on the part of France. Lord Yarmouth, at that
+time a _detenu_ at Verdun, was selected by Talleyrand to proceed to
+England, and learn the precise basis on which an amicable negotiation
+could be founded.
+
+Scarcely was the interchange of correspondence made public, when the
+new tone of feeling and acting towards England displayed itself in every
+circle and every _salon_. If a proof were wanting how thoroughly the
+despotism of Napoleon had penetrated into the very core of society, here
+was a striking one: not only were many of the _detenus_ liberated and
+sent back to England, but were feted and entertained at the various
+towns they stopped at on their way, and every expedient practised to
+make them satisfied with the treatment they had received on the soil
+of France. An English guest was deemed an irresistible attraction at
+a dinner party, and the most absurd attempts at imitation of English
+habits, dress, and language were introduced into society as the last
+"mode," and extolled as the very pinnacle of fashionable excellence.
+
+It would be easy for me here to cite some strange instances of this new
+taste; but I already feel that I have wandered from my own path, and owe
+an apology to my reader for invading precincts which scarce become me.
+Yet may I observe here,--and the explanation will serve once for all,--I
+have been more anxious in this "true history" to preserve some passing
+record of the changeful features of an eventful period in Europe, than
+merely to chronicle personal adventures, which, although not devoid of
+vicissitudes, are still so insignificant in the great events by which
+they were surrounded. The Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration
+were three great tableaux, differing in their groupings and color, but
+each part of one mighty whole,--links in the great chain, and evidencing
+the changeful aspect of a nation crouching beneath tyranny, or dwindling
+under imbecility and dotage.
+
+I have said the English were the vogue in Paris; and so they were, but
+especially in those _salons_ which reflected the influence of the Court,
+and where the tone of the Tuileries was revered as law. Every member of
+the Government, or all who were even remotely connected with it, at once
+adopted the reigning mode; and to be _a l'Anglaise_ became now as much
+the type of fashion as ever it had been directly the opposite. Only such
+as were in the confidence of Fouche and his schemes knew how hollow all
+this display of friendly feeling was, or how ready the Government
+held themselves to assume their former attitude of defiance when
+circumstances should render it advisable.
+
+Among those who speedily took up the tone of the Imperial counsels,
+the _salons_ of the Hotel Glichy were conspicuous. English habits, as
+regarded table equipage; English servants; even to English cookery did
+French politeness extend its complaisance; and many of the commonest
+habitudes and least cultivated tastes were imported as the daily
+observances of fashionable people _outremer_.
+
+In this headlong Anglomania, my English birth and family (I say English,
+because abroad the petty distinctions of Irishman or Scotchman are
+not attended to) marked me out for peculiar attention in society; and
+although my education and residence in France had well-nigh rubbed off
+all or the greater part of my national peculiarities, yet the flatterers
+of the day found abundant traits to admire in what they recognized as
+my John Bull characteristics. And in this way, a blunder in French, a
+mistake in grammar, or a false accentuation became actually a _succes
+de salon_. Though I could not help smiling at the absurdity of a vogue
+whose violence alone indicated its unlikeliness to last, yet I had
+sufficient of the spirit of my adopted country to benefit by it while it
+did exist, and never spent a single day out of company.
+
+At the Hotel Clichy I was a constant guest; and while with Mademoiselle
+de Lacostellerie my acquaintance made little progress, with the countess
+I became a special favorite,--she honoring me so far as to take me into
+her secret counsels, and tell me all the little nothings which Fouche
+usually disseminated as state secrets, and circulated twice or thrice
+a week throughout Paris. From him, too, she learned the names of the
+various English who each day arrived in Paris from Verdun, and thus
+contrived to have a succession of those favored guests at her dinner and
+evening parties.
+
+During all this time, as I have said, my intimacy with mademoiselle
+advanced but slowly, and certainly showed slight prospect of verifying
+the prophecy of Duchesne at parting. Her manner had, indeed, lost its
+cold and haughty tone; but in lieu of it there was a flippant, half
+impertinent, _moqueur_ spirit, which, however easily turned to advantage
+by a man of the world like the chevalier, was terribly disconcerting to
+a less forward and less enterprising person like myself. Dobretski still
+continued an invalid; and although she never mentioned his name nor
+alluded to him in any instance, I could see that she suspected I knew
+something more of his illness and the cause of it than I had ever
+confessed. It matters little what the subject of it be, let a secret
+once exist between a young man and a young woman,--let there be the
+tacit understanding that they mutually know of something of which others
+are in ignorance,--and from that moment a species of intelligence is
+established between them of the most dangerous kind. They may not be
+disposed to like each other; there may be attachments elsewhere; there
+may be a hundred reasons why love should not enter into the case; yet
+will there be a conscious sense of this hidden link which binds them;
+strangely at variance with their ordinary regard for each other,
+eternally mingling in all their intercourse, and suggesting modes
+of acting and thinking at variance with the true tenor of the
+acquaintanceship.
+
+Such, then, was my position at the Hotel Clichy, at which I was almost
+daily a visitor or a guest, in the morning, to hear the chit-chat of the
+day,--the changes talked of in the administration, the intended plans of
+the Emperor, or the last modes in dress introduced by the Empress, whose
+taste in costume and extravagant habits were much more popular with the
+tradespeople than with Napoleon.
+
+An illness of a few days' duration had confined me to the Luxembourg,
+and unhappily deprived me of the Court ball, for which I had received
+my invitation several weeks before. It seemed as if my fate forbade any
+chance of my ever seeing her once more whose presence in Paris was the
+great hope I held out to myself when coming. Already a rumor was afloat
+that several officers had received orders to join their regiments; and
+now I began to fear lest I should leave the capital without meeting her,
+and was thinking of some plan by which I could attain that object, when
+a note arrived from Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie, written with more
+than her usual cordiality, and inviting me to dinner on the following
+day with a very small party, but when I should meet one of my oldest
+friends.
+
+I thought of every one in turn who could be meant under the designation,
+but without ever satisfying my mind that I had hit upon the right one.
+Tascher it could not be, for the very last accounts I had seen from
+Germany spoke of him as with his regiment. My curiosity was sufficiently
+excited to make me accept the invitation; and, true to time, I found
+myself at the Hotel Clichy at the hour appointed.
+
+On entering the _salon_, I discovered that I was alone. None of the
+guests had as yet arrived, nor had the ladies of the house made their
+appearance; and I lounged about the splendid drawing-room, where every
+appliance of luxury was multiplied: pictures, vases, statues, and
+bronzes abounded,--for the apartment had all the ample proportions of
+a gallery,--battle scenes from the great "vents of the Italian and
+Egyptian campaigns; busts of celebrated generals and portraits of
+several of the marshals, from the pencils of Gerard and David. But
+more than all was I struck by one picture: it was a likeness of Pauline
+herself, in the costume of a Spanish peasant. Never had artist caught
+more of the character of his subject than in that brilliant sketch,--for
+it was no more. The proud tone of the expression; the large, full eye,
+beaming a bright defiance; the haughty curl of the lip; the determined
+air of the figure, as she stood one foot in advance, and the arms
+hanging easily on either side,--all conveyed an impression of high
+resolve and proud determination quite her own.
+
+I was leaning over the back of a chair, my eye steadfastly fixed on the
+painting, when I heard a slight rustling of a dress near me. I turned
+about: it was mademoiselle herself. Although the light of the apartment
+was tempered by the closed jalousies, and scarcely more than a mere
+twilight admitted, I could perceive that she colored and seemed confused
+as she said,--
+
+"I hope you don't think that picture is a likeness?"
+
+"And yet," said I, hesitatingly, "there is much that reminds me of you;
+I mean, I can discover--"
+
+"Say it frankly, sir; you think that saucy look is not from mere fancy.
+I deemed you a closer observer; but no matter. You have been ill; I
+trust you are recovered again."
+
+"Oh, a mere passing indisposition, which unfortunately came at the
+moment of the Court ball. You were there, of course?"
+
+"Yes; it was there we had the pleasure to meet your friend, the general:
+but perhaps this is indiscreet on my part; I believe, indeed, I promised
+to say nothing of him."
+
+"The general! Do you mean General d'Auvergne?"
+
+"That much I will answer you,--I do not. But ask me no more questions.
+Your patience will not be submitted to a long trial; he dines with us
+to-day."
+
+I made no reply, but began to ponder over in my mind who the general in
+question could be.
+
+"There! pray do not worry yourself about what a few moments will reveal
+for you, without any guessing. How strange it is, the intense feeling of
+curiosity people are afflicted with who themselves have secrets."
+
+"But I have none, Mademoiselle; at least, none worth the telling."
+
+"Perhaps," replied she, saucily. "But here come our guests."
+
+Several persons entered the _salon_ at this moment, with each of whom I
+was slightly acquainted; they were either members of the Government
+or generals on the staff. The countess herself soon after made her
+appearance; and now we only waited for the individual so distinctively
+termed "my friend" to complete the party.
+
+"Pauline has kept our secret, I hope," said the countess to me. "I shall
+be sadly disappointed if anything mars this surprise."
+
+"Who can it be?" thought I. "Or is the whole thing some piece of
+badinage got up at my expense?"
+
+Scarcely had the notion struck me, when a servant flung wide the
+folding-doors, and announced "le General" somebody, but so mumbled was
+the word, the nearest thing I could make of it was "Bulletin." This
+time, however, my curiosity suffered no long delay; for quickly after
+the announcement a portly personage in an English uniform entered
+hastily, and approaching madame, kissed her hand with a most gallant
+air; then turning to mademoiselle, he performed a similar ceremony. All
+this time my eyes were riveted upon him, without my being able to make
+the most remote guess as to who he was.
+
+"Must I introduce you, gentlemen?" said the countess: "Captain Burke."
+
+"Eh, what! my old friend, my boy Tom! This you, with all that mustache?
+Delighted to see you," cried the large unknown, grasping me by the
+hands, and shaking them with a cordiality I had not known for many a
+year.
+
+"Really, sir," said I, "I am but too happy to be recognized; but a most
+unfortunate memory--"
+
+"Memory, lad! I never forgot anything in life. I remember the doctor
+shaking the snow off his boots the night I was born; a devilish cold
+December. We lived at Benhungeramud, in the Himalaya."
+
+"What!" cried I; "is this Captain Bubbleton, my old and kind friend?"
+
+"General, Tom,--Lieutenant-General Bubbleton, with your leave," said he,
+correcting me. "How the boy has grown! I remember him when he was scarce
+so high."
+
+"But, my dear captain--"
+
+"General, lieutenant-general--"
+
+"Well, Lieutenant-General,--to what happy chance do we owe the pleasure
+of seeing you here?"
+
+"War, boy,--the old story. But we shall have time enough to talk over
+these things; and I see we are detaining the countess."
+
+So saying, the general gave his arm to madame, and led the way
+towards the dinner; whither we followed,--I in a state of surprise
+and astonishment that left me unable to collect my faculties for a
+considerable time after.
+
+Although the party, with the exception of Bubbleton, were French,
+he himself, as was his wont, supported nearly the whole of the
+conversation; and if his French was none of the most accurate, he amply
+made up in volubility for all accidents of grammar. It appeared that he
+had been three years at Verdun, a prisoner; though how he came there,
+whence, and at what exact period, there was no discovering. And now
+his arrival at Paris was an event equally shrouded in mystery, for no
+negotiations had been opened for his exchange whatsoever; but he had
+had the eloquence to persuade the prefet that the omission was a mere
+accident,--some blunder of the War-Office people, which he would rectify
+on his arrival at Paris. And there he was, though with what prospect
+of reaching England none but one of his inventive genius could possibly
+guess. He was brimful of politics, ministerial secrets, state news, and
+Government intentions, not only as regarded England, but Austria and
+Russia: and communicated in deep confidence a grand scheme by which the
+Fox ministry were to immortalize themselves,--which was by giving up
+Malta to the Bourbons, Louis the Eighteenth to be king, Goza to be a
+kind of dependency to be governed by a lieutenant-general whom "he would
+not name;" finishing his glass with an ominous look as he spoke.
+Thence he wandered on to his repugnance to state, and dislike to any
+government, function,--illustrating his quiet tastes and simple habits
+by recounting a career of Oriental luxury in which he described himself
+as living for years past; every word he spoke, whatever the impression
+on others, bringing me back most forcibly to my boyish days in the old
+barrack, where first I met him. Years had but cultivated his talents;
+his visions were bolder and more daring than ever; while he had
+chastened down his hurried and excited tone of narrative to a quiet flow
+of unexaggerated description, which, taking his age and appearance into
+account, it was difficult to discredit.
+
+Whether the Frenchmen really gave credit to his revelations, or only
+from politeness affected to do it at first, I cannot say, but assuredly
+he put all their courtesy to a rude test by a little anecdote before he
+left the dinner-room.
+
+While speaking of the memorable siege of Valenciennes in '93, at which
+one of the French officers was present and in a high command, Bubbleton
+at once launched forth into some very singular anecdotes of the
+campaign, where, as he alleged, he also had served.
+
+"We took an officer of one of your infantry regiments prisoner in a
+sortie one evening," said the Frenchman. "I commanded the party, and
+shall never forget the daring intrepidity of his escape. He leaped from
+the wall into the fosse, a height of thirty feet and upwards. _Parbleu!_
+we had not the heart to fire after him, though we saw that after the
+shock he crawled out upon his hands and feet, and soon afterwards gained
+strength enough to run. He gave me his pocket-book with his name; I
+shall not forget it readily,--it was Stopford."
+
+"Ah, poor Billy! He was my junior lieutenant," said Bubbleton; "an
+active fellow, but he never could jump with me. Confound him! he has
+left me a souvenir also, though a very different kind from yours,--a
+cramp in the stomach I shall never get rid of."
+
+As this seemed a somewhat curious legacy from one brother officer to
+another, we could not help calling on the general for an explanation,--a
+demand Bubbleton never refused to gratify.
+
+"It happened in this wise," said he, pushing back his chair as he spoke,
+and seating himself with the easy attitude of your true story-teller.
+"The night before the assault--the 24th of July, if my memory serves
+me right--the sappers were pushing forward the mines with all despatch.
+Three immense globes were in readiness beneath the walls, and some minor
+details were only necessary to complete the preparations. The stormers
+consisted of four British and three German regiments,--my own, the Welsh
+Fusiliers, being one of the former. We occupied the lines stretching
+from L'Herault to Damies."
+
+The French officer nodded assent, and Bubbleton resumed.
+
+"The Fusiliers were on the right, and divided into two parties,--an
+assaulting column and a supporting one; the advanced companies at half
+cannon-shot from the walls, the others a little farther off. Thus we
+were, when, about half-past ten, or it might be even eleven o'clock (we
+were drinking some mulled claret in my quarters), a low, swooping
+kind of a noise came stealing along the ground. We listened,--it grew
+stronger and stronger; and then we could hear musket-shot and shouting,
+and the tramp of men as if running. Out we went; and, by Jove! there
+we saw the first battalion in full retreat towards the camp. It was a
+sortie in force from the garrison, which drove in our advanced posts,
+and took several prisoners. The drums now soon beat to quarters; the
+men fell in rapidly, and we advanced to meet them,--no pleasant affair,
+either, let me remark, for the night was pitch dark, and we could not
+even guess the strength of your force. It was just then that I was
+running with all my speed to come up with the flank companies, that my
+cover-sergeant, a cool, old Scotch fellow, shouted out,--
+
+"'Take care, sir! Stoop there, sir! stoop there!'
+
+"But the advice came too late. I could just discern through the gloom
+something black, hopping and bounding along towards me; now striking the
+ground, and then rebounding again several feet in the air.
+
+"'Stoop, sir! down!' cried he.
+
+"But before I could throw myself flat, plump it took me here. Over I
+went, breathless, and deeming all was finished; but, miraculous to say,
+in a few minutes after I found myself coming to, and except the shock,
+nothing the worse for the injury.
+
+"'Was that a shell, Sergeant?' said I; 'a spent shell?'
+
+"'Na, sir,' said he, in his own broad way, 'it was naething o' the kind;
+it was only Lieutenant Stopford's head that was snapped aff up there.'"
+
+"His head!" exclaimed we all of a breath,--"his head!"
+
+"Yes, poor fellow, so it was; a damned hard kind of a bullet-head, too!
+The blow has left a weakness of the stomach I suppose I shall never
+recover from; and the occurrence being so singular, I have actually
+never asked for a pension,--there are people, by Jove! would throw
+discredit on it."
+
+This latter observation seemed so perfectly to sum up our own thoughts
+on the matter that we really had nothing to remark on it; and after a
+silence of a few seconds, politely relieved by the countess hinting at
+coffee in the drawing-room, we arose and followed her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE RUE DES CAPUCINES
+
+Before I parted with Bubbleton that evening be promised to breakfast
+with me on the following morning; and true to his word, entered my
+quarters soon after ten o'clock. I longed to have an opportunity of
+talking to him alone, and learning some intelligence of that country,
+which, young as I had left it, was still hallowed in memory as my own.
+
+"Eh, by Jupiter! this is something like a quarter,--gilded mouldings,
+frescos, silk hangings, and Persian rugs. I say, Tom, are you sure you
+haven't made a mistake, my boy, and just imagined that you were somebody
+else,--Murat or Bernadotte, for example? The thing is far easier than
+you may think; it happened to me before now."
+
+"Be tranquil on that score," said I, "we are both at home; though
+these quarters are, as you remark, far beyond the mark of a captain of
+hussars."
+
+"A captain! Why, hang it, you're not captain already?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure. What signifies it? Only think of your own rapid rise
+since we parted; you were but a captain then, and to be now a
+lieutenant-general!"
+
+"Ah, true, very true," said he, hurriedly, while he bustled about the
+room, examining the furniture, and inspecting the decorations most
+narrowly. "Capital service this must be," muttered he, between his
+teeth; "not much pay, I fancy, but a deal of plunder and private
+robbery."
+
+"I cannot say much on that head," said I, laughing outright at what
+he intended for a soliloquy; "but I must confess I have no reason to
+complain of my lot."
+
+"Egad! I should think not," rejoined he; "better than Old George's
+Street. Well, well, I wish I were but back there,--that's all."
+
+"Come, sit down to your breakfast; and perhaps when we talk it over some
+plan may present itself for your exchange."
+
+How thoroughly had I forgotten my friend when I uttered the sentiment;
+for scarcely was he seated at table, when he launched out, as of old,
+into one of his visionary harangues,--throwing forth dark hints of his
+own political importance, and the keen watch the Emperor had set upon
+his movements.
+
+"No, my friend, the thing is impossible," said he, ominously. "Nap.
+knows me; he knows my influence with the Tories. To let me escape would
+be to blow all his schemes to the winds. I am destined for the 'Temple,'
+if not for the guillotine."
+
+The solemnity of his voice and manner at this moment was too much for
+me, and I laughed outright.
+
+"Ay, you may laugh; so does Anna Maria."
+
+"And is Miss Bubbleton here, too?"
+
+"Yes; we are both here," ejaculated he, with a deep sigh. "Rue Neuve
+des Capucines, No. 46, four flights above the entresol! Ay, and in
+that entresol they have two spies of Fouche's police; I know them well,
+though they pretend to be hairdressers. I'm too much for old Fouche yet;
+depend upon it, Tom."
+
+It was in vain I endeavored to ascertain what circumstances led him
+to believe himself suspected by the Government; neither was I more
+fortunate in discovering how he first became a _detenu_. The mist of
+imaginary events, places, and people which he had conjured up around
+him, prevented his ever being able to see his way, or know clearly any
+one fact connected with his present position. Dark hints about spies,
+suspicious innuendoes of concealed enemies, plotting prefets and opened
+letters, had actually filled his brain to the exclusion of everything
+rational and reasonable, and I began seriously to fear for my poor
+friend's intellect.
+
+Hoping by a change of topic to induce a more equable tone of thinking, I
+asked about Ireland.
+
+"All right there! they've hanged 'em all," said he. Then, as if suddenly
+remembering himself, he added, with a slight confusion, "You were well
+out of that scrape, Tom. Your old friend Barton had a warrant for you
+the morning you left, and there was a reward of five hundred pounds for
+your apprehension; and something, too, for a confounded old piper,--old
+Blast-the-Bellows, I think they called him."
+
+"Darby! What of him, Bubbleton? they did not take him, I trust?"
+
+"No, by Jove! They hanged two fellows, each of whom they believed to
+be him, and he was in the crowd looking on, they say. But he's at large
+still; and the report goes, Barton does not stir out at night for fear
+of meeting him, as the fellow has an old score to settle with him."
+
+"And so, all hopes of liberty would seem extinguished now," said I,
+gloomily.
+
+"That is as you may take it, Tom. I'm a bad judge of these things; but I
+fancy that a man who can live here might contrive to eke out life under
+a British Government; though he might yearn now and then for a secret
+police, a cabinet noir, or perhaps a tight cravat in the Temple."
+
+"Hush! my friend."
+
+"Ay, there it is! Now, if we were in Dame Street, we might abuse the
+ministers and the army and the Lord-Lieutenant to our heart's content;
+and if Jemmy O'Brien was n't one of the company, I 'd not mind a hit at
+Barton himself."
+
+"But does England still maintain her proud tone of ascendency towards
+Ireland? Is the Saxon the hereditary lord, and the Celt the slave,
+still?"
+
+"There again you puzzle me; for I never saw much of this same
+ascendency, or slavery either. Loyal people, some way or other, were
+usually in favor with the Government, and had what many thought a most
+unjust proportion of the good things to their share. But even the
+others got off in most cases easily too; a devilish deal better than you
+treated those luckless Austrians the other day. You killed some thirty
+thousand, and made bankrupts of the rest of the nation. But then, to be
+sure, it was the cause of liberty you were fighting for. And as for the
+Italians--"
+
+"Yes! but you forget these were wars not of our seeking; the treachery
+of false-hearted allies led to these sad results."
+
+"I suppose so. But certain it is, nations, like individuals, that have a
+taste for fighting, usually have the good luck to find an adversary; and
+as your Emperor here seems to have learned the Donnybrook Fair trick of
+trailing his coat after him, it would be strange enough if nobody would
+gratify him by standing on it."
+
+Without being able to say why, I felt piqued and annoyed at the tone of
+Bubbleton's remarks, which, coming from one of his narrow intelligence
+on ordinary topics, worried me only the more. I had long since seen that
+the liberty with which in boyhood I was infatuated had no existence save
+in the dreams of ardent patriotism; that the great and the mighty felt
+ambition a goal, and power a birthright; that the watchwords of freedom
+were inscribed on banners when the sentiments had died out of men's
+hearts, while as a passion the more dazzling one of glory made every
+other pale before it; and that the calm head and moderate judgment could
+scarce survive contact with the intoxicating triumphs of a nation's
+successes.
+
+Such was, indeed, the real change Napoleon had wrought in France. Their
+enthusiasm could not rest content with national liberty; glory alone
+could satisfy a nation drunk with victory. Against the stern followers
+of the Republican era--the soldiers of the Sambre and Meuse, the men
+of Jemmappes--he had arrayed the ardent, high-spirited youth of the
+Consulate and the Empire, the heroes of Areola, of Rivoli, of Cairo, and
+Austerlitz. How vain to discuss questions of social order or national
+freedom with the cordoned and glittering bands who saw monarchy and
+kingdoms among the prizes of their ambition! And even I, who had few
+ambitious hopes, how the ardor that once stimulated me and led me to the
+soldier's life,--how had it given way to the mere conventional aspirings
+of a class! The grade of colonel was far oftener in my thoughts than the
+cause of freedom; the cross of the Legion would have reconciled me to
+much that in my calmer judgment I might deem harsh and tyrannical.
+
+"Believe me, Tom," said Bubbleton, who saw in my silence that his
+observations had their weight with me, "believe me, my philosophy is the
+true one,--never to meddle where you cannot serve yourself or some
+of your friends. The world will always consist of two parties,--one
+governing, the other governed. We belong to the latter category, and
+shall only get into a scrape by poking our heads where they have no
+business to be."
+
+"Why, a few moments since you were full of state secrets, and plots, and
+secret treaties, and Heaven knows what besides!"
+
+"To be sure I was. And for whose interest, man,--for whose sake? George
+Frederick Augustus Bubbleton's. Ay, no doubt of it. Here am I, a
+_detenu_,--and have been these two years and a half--wasting away
+existence at Verdun, while my property is going to the devil from sheer
+neglect. My West India estates, who can say how I shall find them? my
+Calcutta property, the same; then there's that fee-simple thing in
+Norfolk. But I can't even think of it. Well, I verily believe no single
+step has been taken for my release or exchange. The Whigs, you know,
+will do nothing for me. I may tell you in confidence,"--here he dropped
+his voice to a low whisper,--"I may tell you, Charles Fox hates me. But
+more of this another time. What was I to do in all this mess of trouble
+and misfortune? Stand still and bear it? No, faith; that's not Bubbleton
+policy. You 'd never guess what I did."
+
+"I fear not."
+
+"Well, it chanced that some little literary labors of mine--you know I
+dally sometimes with the muse--became known to the prefet at Verdun.
+I saw that they watched me; and consequently I made great efforts at
+secrecy, concealing my papers in the chimney, under the floor, sewing
+them in the linings of my coat, and so on. The bait took: they made
+a regular search, seizing my manuscripts, put great seals on all
+the packages, and sent them up to Paris. The day after, I made
+submission,--offered to reveal all to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
+And accordingly they sent me up here with an escort. What would have
+come next I cannot tell you, if Anna Maria had not found out Lord
+Lauderdale, and trumped up some story to him, so that he interfered. And
+we are now living at the Rue Neuve des Capucines; but how long we shall
+be there, and where they may send us next, I wish I could only guess."
+
+A few minutes' consideration satisfied me that the police were concerned
+in Bubbleton's movements, and, knowing at once that no danger was to
+be apprehended from such a source, were merely holding him up for some
+occasion when they could make use of him to found some charge against
+the British Government,--a manoeuvre constantly employed, and always
+successful with the Parisians, wherever an explanation became necessary
+in the public papers.
+
+It would have served no purpose to impart these suspicions of mine to
+Bubbleton himself; on the contrary, he would inevitably have destroyed
+all clew to their confirmation by some false move, had I done so. With
+this impression, then, I resolved to wait patiently, watch events, and
+when the time came, see what best could be done towards effecting his
+liberation.
+
+As I was disposed to place more reliance on Miss Bubbleton's statements
+than those of her imaginative brother, I agreed to his proposal to pay
+her a visit; and accordingly we set out together for the Rue Neuve des
+Capucines.
+
+Lieutenant-General Bubbleton's quarters were by no means of that
+imposing character which befitted his rank in the British army.
+Traversing a dirty courtyard strewed with firewood, we entered a little
+gloomy passage, from which a still gloomier stair ascended to the
+topmost regions of the house, where, unlocking a door, he pushed me
+before him into a small, meanly-furnished apartment, the centre of which
+was occupied by a little iron stove, whose funnel pierced the ceiling
+above, and gave the chamber somewhat the air of a ship's cabin.
+Bubbleton, however, either did not or would not perceive any want of
+comfort or propriety in the whole; on the contrary, he strode the floor
+with the step of an emperor, and placed the chair for me to sit on as
+though he were about to seat me on a throne. While exchanging his coat
+for a most ragged dressing-gown, he threw himself on an old sofa with
+such energy of ease that the venerable article of furniture creaked and
+groaned in every joint.
+
+"She's out," said he, with a toss of his thumb to a half-open door;
+"gone to take a stroll in the Tuileries for half an hour, so that we
+shall have a little chat before she comes. And now, what will ye take? A
+little sherry and water? a glass of maraschino, eh? or what say you to a
+nip of real Nantz?"
+
+"Nothing, my dear friend; you forget the hour, not to speak of my French
+education."
+
+"Oh, very true," said he. "When I was in the Forty-fifth--" When he had
+uttered these words, he stopped suddenly, hesitated, and stammered,
+and at last, fairly overcome with confusion, he unfolded a huge
+pocket-handkerchief, and blew his nose with the sound of a cavalry
+trumpet, while he resumed: "We had a habit in the old Forty-fifth--a
+deuced bad one, I confess--of a mess breakfast, that began after parade
+and always ran into luncheon--But hush! here she comes," cried he,
+in evident delight at the interruption so opportunely arriving. Then,
+springing up, he threw open the door, and called out, "I say, Anna
+Maria, you 'll not guess who's here?"
+
+Either the ascent of the steep stair called for all the lady's spare
+lungs, or the question had little interest for her, as she certainly
+made no reply whatever, but continued to mount, step by step, with
+that plodding, monosyllabic pace one falls into at the highest of six
+flights.
+
+"No," cried he aloud, "no, you're wrong; it is not Lauderdale." Then,
+turning towards me, with a finger to his nose, he added, with pantomimic
+action, "She thinks you are Yarmouth. Wrong again, by Jove! What do you
+say to Tom Burke,--Burke of 'Ours.' as I used to call him long ago?"
+
+By this time Miss Bubbleton had reached the door, and was holding the
+handle to recover her breath after the fatigue of the ascent. Even in
+that momentary glance, however, I recognized her. Nothing altered
+by time, she was the same crabbed, crossgrained-looking personage I
+remembered years before. She carried a little basket on her arm, of
+which her brother hastened to relieve her, and showed no little concern
+to remove out of sight. Being divested of this, she held out her hand,
+and saluted me with more cordiality than I looked for.
+
+Scarcely had our greetings been exchanged, when Bubbleton broke in, "I
+'ve told him everything, Anna Maria. He knows the whole affair; no use
+in boring him with any more. I say, isn't he grown prodigiously? And a
+captain already,--just think of that."
+
+"And so, sir, you've heard of the sad predicament his folly has brought
+us into?"
+
+"Hush, hush, Anna Maria!" cried Bubbleton; "no nonsense, old girl. Burke
+will put all to rights; he's aide-de-camp to Murat, and dines with him
+every day,--eh, Tom?"
+
+"What if he be?" interrupted the lady, without permitting me time to
+disclaim the honor. "How can he ever--"
+
+"I tell you, it's all arranged between us; and don't make a fuss about
+nothing. You 'll only make bad worse, as you always do. Come, Tom; the
+secret is, I shall be ruined if I don't get back to England soon. Heaven
+knows who receives my dividends all this time. Then that confounded
+tin mine! they 've mismanaged the thing so much I haven't received five
+hundred pounds from Cornwall since this time twelve months."
+
+"That you haven't," said the lady, as with clasped hands and eyes fixed
+she sat staring at the little stove with the stern stoicism of a martyr.
+
+"She knows that," said Bubbleton, with a nod, as if grateful for even so
+much testimony in his favor. "And as for that scoundrel, Thistlethwait,
+the West India agent, I've a notion he's broke; not a shilling from him
+either."
+
+"Not sixpence," echoed the lady.
+
+"You hear that," cried he, overjoyed at the concurrence. "And the fact
+is,--you will smile when I tell you, but upon my honor it's true,--I am
+actually hard up for cash."
+
+The idea tickled him so much, and seemed so ludicrous withal, that he
+fell back on the sofa, and laughed till the tears ran down his face. Not
+so Miss Bubbleton: her grim face grew more fixed, every feature hardened
+as if becoming stone, while gradually a sneer curled her thin lip; but
+she never spoke a word.
+
+"I'll not speak of the annoyance of being out of England, nor the loss
+of influence a man sustains after a long absence," said Bubbleton, as he
+paced the room with his hands deep thrust in his dressing-gown pockets.
+"These are things one can feel; and as for me, they weigh more on my
+mind than mere money considerations."
+
+"But, General," said I--
+
+"General!" echoed the lady with a start round, and holding up both her
+hands,--"General! You have n't been such a fool,--it's not possible you
+could be such a fool--"
+
+"Will you please to be quiet, old damsel?" said Bubbleton, with more of
+harshness than he had yet used in his manner. "Can you persuade yourself
+to mind your own household concerns, and leave George Frederick Augustus
+Bubbleton to manage his own matters as he deems best?"
+
+Here he turned short round towards me, and throwing up his eyebrows to
+their full height, he touched his forehead knowingly with the tip of his
+forefinger, and uttered the words,--
+
+"You understand! Poor thing!" concluding the pantomime with a deep sigh
+from the bottom of his chest, while he added something in a low whisper
+about "a fall from an elephant when she was a child!"
+
+"Mr. Burke, will you listen to me?" said the lady, with an energy
+of voice and manner there was no gainsaying--"listen to me for five
+minutes; and probably, short as the time is, I may be able to put you in
+possession of a few plain facts concerning our position, and if you have
+the inclination and the power to serve us, you may then know how best it
+can be done."
+
+Bubbleton made me a sign to gratify her desire of loquaciousness, while
+with a most expressive shrug he intimated that I should probably hear a
+very incoherent statement. This done, he lighted his meerschaum, wrapped
+his ragged _robe de chambre_ around him, and lay down full length on
+the sofa, with the air of a man who had fortified himself to undergo any
+sacrifices that might be demanded at his hands; taking care the while to
+assume his position in such a manner that he could exchange glances with
+me without his being observed by his sister.
+
+"We came over, Mr. Burke, only a few months before the war broke out,
+and like the rest of our countrymen and women were made _detenus_. This
+was bad enough; but my wise brother made it far worse, for instead of
+giving his name, with his real rank and position, he would call himself
+a lieutenant-general, affect to have immense wealth and great political
+influence. The consequence was, when others were exchanged and sent
+home, his name not being discoverable in any English list, was passed
+over; while his assumed fortune involved us in every expense and
+extravagance, and his mock importance made us the object of the secret
+police, who never ceased to watch and spy after us."
+
+"Capital! excellent! by Jove!" cried Bubbleton, as he rolled forth a
+long curl of blue smoke from the angle of his mouth; "she 's admirable!"
+
+"I ought to have told you before," said the lady, not paying the least
+attention to his interruption, "that he was obliged to sell out of
+the Forty-fifth; a certain Mr. Montague Crofts, whom you may remember,
+having won every shilling he possessed, even to the sale of his
+commission. This was the cause of our coming abroad; so that at the very
+moment that he was giving himself these airs of pretended greatness, we
+were ruined."
+
+"Upon my life, she believes all that," whispered Bubbleton, with a wink
+at me. "Poor old thing! I must get Larrey to look at her."
+
+"Happily, or unhappily--who shall say which?--there was a greater fool
+even than himself in the village; and he was the _maire_. This
+wise functionary became alarmed at the piles of papers and rolls of
+manuscripts that were seen about our rooms, and equally suspicious about
+the dark hints and mysterious innuendoes he threw out from time to time.
+The prefet was informed of it; and the result was, an order for our
+removal to Paris. Here, then, we are; with what destiny before us who
+shall tell? For, as he still persists in his atrocious nonsense, and
+calls himself major-general--"
+
+"Lieutenant-general, my dear," said Bubbleton, mildly; "I never was
+major-general."
+
+"Is it not too bad?" said she. "Could any patience endure this?"
+
+"Don't be violent; take care, Anna Maria," said he, rebukingly. "Potts
+said I should use restraint again, if you showed any return of the
+paroxysm. That's the way she takes it," said he in a low whisper,
+"with a blinking about the eyes and a pattering of the feet. Bathe your
+temples, dear, and you'll be better presently."
+
+Anna Maria sat still, not uttering a word, and actually fearing by a
+gesture to encourage a commentary on her manner.
+
+"Sometimes she 'll mope for hours," muttered he in my ear; "at others,
+she's furious,--there's no saying how it will turn. You wouldn't like a
+pipe? I forgot to ask you."
+
+"And worse than all, sir," said the lady, as if no longer able to
+restrain her temper, "he is supposed to be a spy of the police. I heard
+it myself this morning."
+
+"Eh, what!" exclaimed Bubbleton, jumping up in an ecstasy of delight. "A
+spy! By Jove! I knew it. Lord! what fellows they are, these French! not
+two days here yet, and they discovered I was no common man,--eh,
+Burke? Maybe I haven't frightened them, my boy. It's not every one would
+create such a sensation, let me tell you; I knew I'd do it."
+
+Miss Bubbleton looked at him for an instant with a sneer of the most
+withering contempt, and then rising abruptly, left the room. But the
+general little cared for such evidences of her censure; he danced about
+the room, snapping his fingers, and chuckling with self-satisfaction,
+the thought of being believed to be a police spy giving him the most
+intense and heartfelt pleasure.
+
+"She has moments, Tom, when she's downright clear; you 'd not think it,
+but sometimes she's actually shrewd. You saw how she hit upon that."
+
+"Would that her brother was favored with some of these lucid intervals!"
+was the thought that ran through my head at the moment; for I knew
+better than he did how needful a clearer brain and sharper faculties
+than his would be to escape the snares his folly and vanity were
+spreading around him.
+
+"Shall we make a morning call at our friend the countess's,
+Tom?" said Bubbleton. "She told me she received every day about this
+hour."
+
+I felt nowise disposed for the visit; and so, having engaged my friend
+to dine with me at the Luxembourg the next day, we parted.
+
+As I sauntered homewards, I was surprised how difficult I found it to
+disabuse my mind of the absurd insinuations Bubbleton had thrown out
+against his sister's sanity; for, though well knowing his fondness for
+romance, and his taste for embellishment on every occasion, I. yet could
+not get rid of the impression that her oddity of manner might only be
+another feature of eccentricity, just as extravagant, but differing in
+its tendencies, as his own.
+
+To assist him whose kindness to myself of old I never ceased to remember
+with gratitude, was my firm resolve; but to ascertain his exact position
+was all-essential for this purpose, and I could not help saying, half
+aloud, "If I had but Duchesne here now!"
+
+"Speak of the devil, _mon ami!_" said he, drawing his arm within mine,
+while I was scarcely able to avoid a cry of astonishment. "Where do you
+dine to-day, Burke?" said he, in his quiet, easy tone.
+
+"But where did you come from, Duchesne? Are you long here?"
+
+"Answer my question first. Can you dine with me?"
+
+"To be sure; with pleasure."
+
+"Then meet me at the corner of the Rue des Trois Tetes, at six o'clock,
+and I 'll be your guide afterwards. This is _my_ way now. _Au revoir_."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. THE MOISSON d'OR
+
+When I arrived at the rendezvous, I found Duchesne already awaiting me
+with a carriage, into which we stepped, and drove rapidly away.
+
+"A man of your word, Burke; and, what is scarcely less valuable in the
+times we live in, a man of prudence too."
+
+"As how the latter, may I ask?"
+
+"You have not come in uniform, which is all the better where we are
+going; besides, it gives me the hope of presenting you to my respected
+aunt, the Duchesse de Montserrat, who will take your black coat as a
+compliment to the whole Bourbon dynasty. You must come with me there, if
+it only be for half an hour. And now tell me, have you ever dined at the
+'Moisson d'Or'?"
+
+"Never; not even heard of the house."
+
+"Well, then, you shall to-day. And meanwhile I may tell you, that
+although in a remote and little-visited quarter of Paris, it stands
+unrivalled for the excellence of its fare and the rare delicacy of its
+wines,--a reputation not of yesterday, but of some years' standing.
+Nor is that the only thing remarkable about it, as I shall explain
+hereafter. But come! How are your friends at the Hotel Clichy? and how
+fares your suit with mademoiselle?"
+
+"My suit? It never was such. You know, to the full as well as I do, my
+pretensions aspired not half so high."
+
+"So much the better, and so much the worse. I mean the former for me,
+as I hate to have a friend for a rival; the latter for you, who ought to
+have learned by this time that a handsome girl and a million of
+francs are more easily won than a cross of the Legion or a colonel's
+epaulette."
+
+"And are you serious, Duchesne? Have you really intentions in that
+quarter?"
+
+"_Morbleu!_ to be sure I have. It is for that I am here in Paris in
+the dog days; travelled one hundred and twenty leagues; ay, and
+more, too,--have brought with me my most aristocratic aunt, who never
+remembers in her life to have seen full-grown leaves in the Tuileries
+gardens. I knew what an ally she would be in the negotiation; and so I
+managed, through some friends in the bureau of the minister, to give her
+a rare fright about an estate of hers, which by some accident escaped
+confiscation in the Revolution, and which nothing but the greatest
+efforts on her part could now rescue from the fangs of the crown. You
+may be sure she is not particularly in love with the present Government
+on this score; but the trick secures her speaking more guardedly than
+she has the habit of doing, besides inducing her to make acquaintances
+nothing but such a threat would accomplish."
+
+"You intend, then, she should know Madame de Lacostellerie?"
+
+"Of course. I have already persuaded her that the Hotel Clichy is the
+pivot of all Paris, and that nothing but consummate tact and management
+on her part will succeed there."
+
+"But I scarcely thought you cared for mademoiselle; and never dreamed of
+your proposing to marry her."
+
+"Nor I, till about a week ago. However, my plans require money, and
+would not be encumbered by my having a wife. I see nothing better at
+the moment, and so my mind is soon made up. But here we are; this is our
+resting-place."
+
+The "Moisson d'Or," although not known to me, was then the most
+celebrated place for dining in Paris. The habits of the house--for there
+was no _table d'hote_--required that everything should be ordered
+beforehand, and the parties all dined separately. The expensive habits
+and extravagant prices secured its frequenters from meeting the class
+who usually dined at restaurants; and this gave it a vogue among the
+wealthy and titled, whose equipages now thronged the street, and filled
+the _porte cochere_. I had but time to recognize the face of one of the
+marshals and a minister of state, as we pushed our way through the
+court, and entered a small pavilion beyond it.
+
+"I'll join you in an instant," said Duchesne, as he left the room
+hastily after the waiter. In a couple of minutes he was back again.
+"Come along; it's all right," said he. "I wish to show you a corner of
+the old house that only the privileged ever see, and we are fortunate in
+finding it unoccupied."
+
+We recrossed the court, and mounted a large oak stair to a corridor,
+which conducted us, by three sides of a quadrangle, to a smaller stair,
+nearly perpendicular. At the top of this, a strong door, barred and
+padlocked, stood, which, being opened, led into a large and lofty
+_salon_, opening by three spacious windows on a terrace that formed
+the roof of the building. Some citron and orange trees were disposed
+tastefully along this, and filled the room with their fragrance.
+
+"Here, Antoine; let us be served here," said Duchesne to the waiter;
+"I have already given orders about the dinner. And now, Burke, come out
+here. What think you of that view?"
+
+Scarcely had I set foot on the terrace, when I started back in mingled
+admiration and amazement. Beneath us lay the great city, in the mellow
+light of an evening in September. Close--so close as actually to
+startle--was the large dome of the Invalides shining like a ball of
+molten gold, the great courtyard in front dotted with figures; beyond,
+again, was the Seine, the surface flashing and flickering in the
+sunlight,--I traced it along to the Pont Neuf; and then my eye rested on
+Notre-Dame, whose tall, dark towers stood out against the pinkish sky,
+while the deep-toned bell boomed through the still air. I turned towards
+the Tuileries, and could see the guard of honor in waiting for
+the Emperor's appearing. In the gardens, hundreds were passing and
+repassing, or standing around the band which played in front of the
+pavilion. A tide of population poured across the bridges and down the
+streets, along which equipages and horsemen dashed impetuously onward.
+There was all the life and stir of a mighty city, its sounds dulled
+by distance, but blended into one hoarse din, like the far-off sea at
+night.
+
+"You don't know, Burke, that this was a favorite resort of the courtiers
+of the last reign. The gay young Gardes du Corps, the gallant youths of
+the royal household, constantly dined here. The terrace we now stand on
+once held a party who came at the invitation of no less a personage than
+him whom men call Louis the Eighteenth. It was a freak of the time to
+pronounce the Court dinners execrable: and they even go so far as to
+say that Marie Antoinette herself once planned a party here; but this I
+cannot vouch for."
+
+At this moment Duchesne was interrupted by the entrance of the waiters
+who came to serve the dinner. I had not a moment left to admire the
+beauty and richness of the antique silver dishes which covered the
+table, when a gentle tap at the door attracted my attention.
+
+"Ha! Jacotot himself!" said Duchesne, as, rising hastily, he advanced
+to meet the new arrival. He was a tall, thin old man, much stooped by
+years, but with an air and carriage distinctly well bred; his white
+hair, brushed rigidly back, fastened into a queue behind, and his lace
+"jabot" and ruffles, bespoke him as the remnant of a date long past. His
+coat was blue, of a shade somewhat lighter than is usually worn. He also
+wore large buckles in his shoes, whose brilliancy left no doubt of their
+real value. Bowing with great ceremony, he advanced slowly into the
+room.
+
+"You are come to dine with us,--is it not so, Jacotot?" said Duchesne,
+as he still held his hand.
+
+"Excuse me, my dear chevalier; the Comte de Chambord and Edouard de
+Courcelles are below,--I have promised to join them."
+
+"And is Courcelles here?"
+
+"Yes," said the old man, with a timid glance towards where I sat, and a
+look as if imploring caution and reserve.
+
+"Oh, fear nothing. And that reminds me I have not presented my friend
+and brother officer: Captain Burke,--Monsieur Jacotot. You may feel
+assured, Jacotot, I make no mistake in the friends I introduce here."
+
+The old man gave a smile of pleasure; while, turning to me, he said,--
+
+"He is discretion itself; and I am but too happy to make your
+acquaintance. And now, Chevalier, one word with you."
+
+He retreated towards the door, holding Duchesne's arm, and whispering as
+he went. Duchesne's face, however, expressed his impatience as he spoke;
+and at last he said,--
+
+"As you please, my worthy friend; I always submit to your wiser
+counsels. So farewell for the present."
+
+He looked after the old man as he slowly descended the stairs, and then
+closing the door and locking it, he exclaimed,--
+
+"_Parbleu!_I found it very hard to listen to his prosing with even a
+show of patience, and was half tempted to tell him that the Bourbons
+could wait, though the soup could not."
+
+"Then Monsieur Jacotot is a Royalist, I presume?"
+
+"Ay, that he is; and so are all they who frequent this house. Don't
+start; the police know it well, and no one is more amused at their
+absurd plottings and conspirings than Fouche himself. Now and then, to
+be sure, some fool, more rash and brainless than the others, will come
+up from La Vendee and try to knock his head against the walls of the
+Temple,--like De Courcelles there, who has no other business in Paris
+except to be guillotined, if it were worth the trouble. Then the
+minister affects to stir himself and be on the alert, just to terrify
+them; but he well knows that danger lurks not in this quarter. Believe
+me, Burke, the present rulers of France have no greater security than
+in the contemptible character of all their opponents. There is no course
+for a man of energy and courage to adopt. But I ask your pardon, my dear
+friend, for this treasonable talk. What think you of the dinner? The
+Royalists would never have fallen if they had understood government as
+well as cuisine. Taste that _supreme_, and say if you don't regret the
+Capets,--a feeling you can indulge the more freely because you never
+knew them."
+
+"I cannot comprehend, Duchesne, what are the grievances you charge
+against the present Government of France. Had you been an old courtier
+of the last reign,--a hanger-on of Versailles or the Tuileries,--the
+thing were intelligible; but you, a soldier, a man of daring and
+enterprise--"
+
+"Let me interrupt you. I am so only because it is the taste of the day;
+but I despise the parade of military glory we have got into the habit
+of. I prefer the period when a _mot_ did as much and more than a
+discharge of _mitraille_, and men's _esprit_ and talent succeeded better
+than a strong sword-arm or a seat on horseback. There were gentlemen
+in France once, my dear Burke. Ay, _parbleu!_ and ladies too,--not
+marchionesses of the drum-head nor countesses of the bivouac, but women
+in whom birth heightened beauty, whose loveliness had the added charm of
+high descent beaming from their bright eyes and sitting throned on their
+lofty brows; before whom our mustached marshals had stood trembling and
+ashamed,--these men who lounge so much at ease in the _salons_ of the
+Tuileries! Let me help you to this _salmi_; it is _a la Louis Quinze_,
+and worthy of the Regency itself. Well, then, a glass of Burgundy."
+
+"Your friend Monsieur Jacotot seems somewhat of an original," said I,
+half desirous to change a topic which I always felt an unpleasant one.
+
+"You are not wrong; he is so. Jacotot is a thorough Frenchman; at
+least, he has had the fortune to mix up in his destiny those extremes of
+elevated sentiment and absurdity which go very far to compose the life
+of my good countrymen. I must tell you a short anecdote--But
+shall we adjourn to the terrace? for, to prevent the interruption of
+servants, I have ordered our dessert there."
+
+This was a most agreeable proposal; and so, having seated ourselves in
+a little arbor of orange-shrubs, with a view of the river and the Palace
+gardens beneath us, Duchesne thus began:--
+
+"I am going somewhat far back in history; but have no fears on that
+head, Burke,--my story is a very brief one. There was, once upon a time,
+in France, a monarch of some repute, called Louis the Fourteenth; a man,
+if fame be not unjust, who possessed the most kingly qualities of which
+we have any record in books. He was brave, munificent, high-minded,
+ardent, selfish, cruel, and ungrateful, beyond any other man in his own
+dominions; and, like people with such gifts, he had the good fortune to
+attach men to him just as firmly and devotedly as though he was not in
+his heart devoid of every principle of friendship and affection. I need
+not tell you what the ladies of his reign thought of him; my present
+business is with the ruder sex.
+
+"Among the courtiers of the day was a certain Vicomte Arnoud de Gency,
+a young man who, at the age of eighteen, won his grade of colonel at the
+siege of Besancon by an act of coolness and courage worthy recording. He
+deliberately advanced into one of the breaches, and made a sketch of the
+interior works of the fortification while the enemy's shot was tearing
+up the ground around him. When the deed was reported to the king, he
+interrupted the relation, saying, 'Don't tell me who did this, for I
+have made De Gency a colonel for it;' so rapidly did Louis guess the
+author of so daring a feat.
+
+"From that hour, the young colonel's fortune was made. He was appointed
+one of the gentlemen of the chamber to his Majesty, and distinguished by
+almost daily marks of royal intimacy. His qualities eminently fitted him
+for the tone of the society he lived in; he was a most witty converser,
+a good musician, and had, moreover, a very handsome person,--gifts not
+undervalued at Saint-Germain.
+
+"Such were his social qualities; and so thoroughly did he understand
+the king's humor, that even La Valliere herself saw the necessity of
+retaining him at the Court, and, in fact, made a confidant of him
+on several occasions of difficulty. Still, with all these favors
+of fortune, when the object of envy to almost all the rest of the
+household, Arnoud de Gency was suffering in his heart one of the most
+trying afflictions that can befall a proud man so placed; he was in
+actual poverty,--in want so pressing that all the efforts he could
+make, all the contrivances he could practise, were barely sufficient
+to prevent his misery being public. The taste for splendor in dress and
+equipage which characterized the period had greatly injured his private
+fortune, while the habit of high play, which Louis encouraged and liked
+to see about him, completed his ruin. The salary of his appointments was
+merely enough to maintain his daily expenditure; and thus was he, with
+a breaking heart, obliged not only to mix in all the reckless gayety and
+frivolity of that voluptuous Court, but, still more, tax his talents and
+his energies for new themes of pleasure, fresh sources of amusement.
+
+"Worn out at length by the long struggle between his secret sorrow and
+his pride, he resolved to appeal to the king, and in a few words
+tell his Majesty the straits to which he was reduced, and implore his
+protection. To this he was impelled not solely on his own account, but
+on that also of his only child, a boy of eight or nine years old, whose
+mother died in giving him birth.
+
+"An occasion soon presented itself. The king had given orders for a
+hunting-party at St. Cloud; and at an early hour of the morning De Gency
+in his hunting-dress took up his position in one of the ante-chambers
+through which the king must pass: not alone, however; at his side there
+stood a lovely boy, also dressed in the costume of the chase. He wore
+a velvet doublet of green, slashed with gold, and ornamented by a
+broad belt, from which hung his _couteau de chasse_; even to the falcon
+feather in his cap, nothing was forgotten.
+
+"He had not waited long when the folding-doors were thrown wide, and
+a moment after Louis appeared, accompanied by a single attendant,
+the Marquis de Verneuil, unhappily one of the very few enemies Arnoud
+possessed in the world.
+
+"'Ah, De Gency! you here?' said the king, gayly. 'They told me "brelan"
+had been unfavorable lately, and that we should not see you.'
+
+"'It is true, Sire,' said he, with a sad effort at a smile; 'it is only
+on your Majesty fortune always smiles.'
+
+"'_Pardieu!_ you must not say so; I lost a rouleau last night. But whom
+have we here?'
+
+"'My son; so please you, Sire, my only son, who desires, at an earlier
+age than even his father did, to serve your Majesty.'
+
+[Illustration: 230]
+
+"'How like his mother!' said the king, pushing back the fair ringlets
+from the boy's forehead, and gazing almost fondly on his handsome
+features,--'how like her! She was a Courcelles?'
+
+"'She was, Sire,' said Arnoud, as the tears fell on his cheek and
+coursed slowly along his face.
+
+"'And you want something for him?' said the king, resuming his wonted
+tone, while he busied himself with his sword-knot; 'is it not so?'
+
+"'If I might dare to ask--'
+
+"'Assuredly you may. The thing is, what can we do? Eh, Verneuil, what
+say you? He is but an infant.'
+
+"'True, Sire,' replied the marquis, with a look of respect, in which
+the most subtle could not discover a trait of his sarcastic nature; 'but
+there is a place vacant.'
+
+"'Ah, indeed,' said the king, quickly. 'What is it? He shall have it.'
+
+"'Monsieur Jacotot, your Majesty's head cook, stands in need of a
+turnspit,' said he, in a low whisper, only audible to the king.
+
+"'A turnspit!' said the king. And scarcely was the word uttered when,
+as if the irony was his own, he burst into a most immoderate fit of
+laughter,--an emotion that seemed to increase as he endeavored to
+repress it; when at the instant the _cor de chasse_, then heard
+without, gave a new turn to his thoughts, and he hurried forward with
+De Yerneuil, leaving De Gency and his son rooted to the spot,--indignant
+passion in that heart which despair and sorrow had almost rendered
+callous.
+
+"His Majesty was still laughing as he mounted his barb in the courtyard;
+and the courtiers, like well-bred gentlemen, laughed as became them,
+with that low, quiet laugh which is the meet chorus of a sovereign's
+mirth, when suddenly two loud reports, so rapidly following on each
+other as almost to seem one, startled the glittering cortege, and even
+made the Arab courser of the king plunge madly in the air.
+
+"'_Par Saint Denis!_Messieurs,' said Louis, passionately, 'this
+pleasantry of yours is ill thought of. Who has dared to do this?'
+
+"But none spoke. A terrified look around the circle was the only reply
+to the king's question, when a page rushed forward, his dress spotted
+and blood-stained, his face pale with horror,--
+
+"'Your Majesty,--ah, Sire!' said he, kneeling. But sobs choked him, and
+he could not utter more.
+
+"'What is this? Will no one tell?' cried the king, as a frown of dark
+omen shadowed his angry features.
+
+"'Your Majesty has lost a brave, an honest, and a faithful follower,
+Sire,' said Monsieur de Coulanges. 'Arnoud de Gency is no more.'
+
+"'Why, I saw him this instant,' said the king. 'He asked me some favor
+for his boy.'
+
+"'True, Sire,' replied De Coulanges, mournfully. But he checked himself
+in time, for already the well-known and dreaded expression of passion
+had mounted to the king's face.
+
+"'Dismiss the _chasse_, gentlemen,' said he, in a low thick voice. 'And
+do you, Monsieur de Verneuil, attend me.'
+
+"The cortege was soon scattered; and the Marquis de Verneuil followed
+the king with an expression where fear and dread were not to be
+mistaken.
+
+"Monsieur de Verneuil did indeed seem an altered man when he appeared
+among his friends that evening. Whatever the king had said to him
+assuredly had worked its due effect; for all his raillery was gone, and
+even the veriest trifler of the party might have dared an encounter with
+wits which then were subdued and broken.
+
+"Next morning, however, the sun shone out brilliantly. The king was
+in high spirits; the game abounded; and his Majesty with his own hand
+brought down eight pheasants. The Marquis de Verneuil could hit nothing;
+for although the best marksman of the day, his hand shook and his sight
+failed him, and the king won fifty louis from him before they reached
+Saint-Germain.
+
+"Never was there a happier day nor followed by a pleasanter evening.
+The king supped in Madame de la Valliere's apartment; the private band
+played the most delicious airs during the repast; and when at length the
+party retired to rest, not one bright dream was clouded by the memory of
+Arnoud de Gency.
+
+"Here, now, were I merely recounting an anecdote, I should stop,"
+said the chevalier; "but must continue a little longer, though all the
+romance of my story is over. The Marquis de Verneuil was a good hater:
+even poor De Gency's fate did not move him, and he actually did do what
+he had only threatened in mockery,--he sent the orphan child to be a
+turnspit in the royal kitchen. Of course he changed his name,--the title
+of an old and honored family would soon have betrayed the foul
+deed,--and the boy was called Jacotot, after the _chef_ himself. The
+king inquired no further on the subject; Arnoud's name recalled too
+unpleasant a topic for the lips of a courtier ever to mention; and the
+whole circumstance was soon entirely forgotten.
+
+"This same Jacotot was the grandfather of my old friend, whom you saw a
+few minutes since. Fate, that seems to jest with men's destinies, made
+them as successful at the fire of the kitchen as ever their ancestors
+were at that of a battery; and Monsieur Jacotot, our present host, has
+not his equal in Paris. Here for years the younger members of the royal
+family used to sup; this room was their favorite apartment; and one
+evening, when at a later sitting than usual the ruler of the feast was
+carried beyond himself in the praise of an admirable plat, he sent for
+Jacotot, and told him, whatever favor he should ask, he himself would
+seek for him at the hands of the king.
+
+"This was the long-wished-for moment of the poor fellow's life. He drew
+from his bosom the title-deeds of his ancient name and fortune, and
+placed them in the prince's hand without uttering a word.
+
+"'What! and are you a De Gency?' said the prince.
+
+"'Alas! I shame to say it, I am.'
+
+"'Come, gentlemen,' said the gay young prince, 'a bumper to our worthy
+friend, whom, with God's blessing, I shall see restored right soon to
+his fitting rank and station. Yes, De Gency! my word upon it, the next
+evening I sup here I shall bring with me his Majesty's own signature to
+these title-deeds. Make place, gentlemen, and let him sit down!'
+
+"But poor Jacotot was too much excited by his feelings of joy and
+gratitude, and he rushed from the room in a torrent of tears.
+
+"The evening the prince spoke of never came. Soon after that commenced
+the troubles to the royal family; the dreadful events of Versailles; the
+flight to Varennes; the 10th August,--a horrible catalogue I cannot bear
+to trace. There, yonder, where now the groups are loitering, or sitting
+around in happy knots, there died Louis the Sixteenth. The prince I
+spoke of is an exile: they call him Louis the Eighteenth; but he is a
+king without a kingdom.
+
+"But Jacotot lives on in hope. He has waded through all the terrors of
+the Revolution; he has seen the guillotine erected almost before his
+door and beheld his former friends led one by one to the slaughter.
+Twice was he himself brought forth, and twice was his life spared by
+some admirer of his cuisine. But perhaps all his trials were inferior
+to the heart-burning with which he saw the places once occupied by the
+blood of Saint Louis now occupied by the _canaille_ of the Revolution.
+Marat and Robespierre frequented his house; and Barras seldom passed
+a week without dining there. This, I verily believe, was a heavier
+affliction than any of his personal sufferings; and I have often heard
+him recount, with no feigned horror, the scenes which took place among
+the _incroyables_, as they called themselves, whose orgies he contrasted
+so unfavorably with the more polished excesses of his regal visitors.
+Through all the anarchy of that fearful period; through the scarce less
+sanguinary time of the Directory; through the long, dreary oppression of
+the consulate; and now, in the more grinding tyranny of the Empire, he
+hopes, ay, still hopes on, that the day will come when from the hands of
+the king himself he shall receive his long-buried rank, and stand forth
+a De Gency. Poor fellow! there is something noble and manly in the long
+struggle with fortune,--in that long-sustained contest in which he would
+never admit defeat.
+
+"Such are the followers of the Bourbons: their best traits, their
+highest daring, their most long-suffering endurance, only elicited in
+the pursuit of some paltry object of personal ambition. They have tasted
+the cup of adversity, ay, drained it to the very dregs; they have seen
+carnage and bloodshed such as no war ever surpassed: and all they
+have learned by experience is, to wish for the long past days of
+royal tyranny and frivolity back again; to see a glittering swarm
+of debauchees fluttering around a sensualist king; and to watch the
+famished faces of the multitude, without a thought that the tiger is
+only waiting for his spring. As to a thought of true liberty, one single
+high and noble aspiration after freedom, they never dreamed of it.
+
+"You see, my friend, I have no desire to win you over to the Bourbon
+cause; neither, if I could, would I make you a Jacobin. But how is
+this? Can it really be so late? Come, we have no time to lose: it is not
+accounted good breeding to be late in a visit at the Faubourg."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE TWO SOIREES
+
+Duchesne's story had unfortunately driven all memory of Bubbleton out of
+my head; and it was only as we entered the street where the Duchesse de
+Montserrat lived that I remembered my friend, and thought of asking the
+chevalier's advice about him.
+
+In a few words I explained so much of his character and situation as was
+necessary, and was going on to express my fears lest a temperament so
+unstable and uncertain should involve its possessor in much trouble,
+when Duchesne interrupted me by saying,--
+
+"Be of courage on that head. Your friend, if the man you describe him,
+is the very person to baffle the police. They can see to any depth, if
+the water be only clear; muddy it, and it matters little how shallow it
+be. This Bubbleton might be of the greatest service just now; you must
+present me to him, Burke."
+
+"Most willingly. But first promise that you will not involve my poor
+friend in the snares of any plot. Heaven knows, his own faculties are
+quite sufficient for his mystification."
+
+"Plot! snares!--why, what are you thinking of? But come, this is our
+halting-place; and here we are, without my even having a moment to give
+you any account of my good aunt."
+
+As he spoke he turned the handle of a large door, which led into a
+gloomy _porte cochere_, dimly illuminated by a single old-fashioned
+lantern. A fat, unwieldy-looking porter peeped at us from his den in the
+conciergerie; and then, having announced our approach by ringing a bell,
+he closed the shutter, and left us to find the way ourselves.
+
+Ascending the great spacious stair, the wall alongside which was covered
+with family portraits,--grim-looking heroes in mail, or prim dames with
+bouquets in their jewelled hands,--we reached a species of gallery, from
+which several doors led off. Here a servant, dressed in deep black, was
+standing to announce the visitors.
+
+As the servant preceded us along the corridor, I could not help feeling
+the contrast of this gloomy mansion, where every footstep had its own
+sad echo, with the gorgeous splendor of the Hotel Clichy. Here, all was
+dark, cold, and dreary; there, everything was lightsome, cheerful, and
+elegant. What an emblem, to my thinking, were they both of the dynasties
+they represented! But the reflection was only made as one half of the
+folding-door was thrown open,--the double-door was the prerogative of
+the blood-royal,--and we were announced.
+
+The apartment--a large, sombre-looking one--was empty, however, and we
+traversed this, and a second similar to it, our names being repeated as
+before; when at length the low tones of voices indicated our approach to
+the _salon_ where the visitors were assembled.
+
+Dimly lighted by a few lamps, far apart from each other, the apartment
+as we entered seemed even larger than it really was. At one end, around
+a huge antique fireplace, sat a group of ladies, whom in a glance I
+recognized as of the class so distinctively called dowager. They were
+seated in deep-cushioned fauteuils, and were mostly employed in some
+embroidery work, which they laid down each time they spoke; and resumed,
+less to prosecute the labor, than, as it were, from mere habit.
+
+With all the insinuating gracefulness of a well-bred Frenchman, Duchesne
+approached the seat next the chimney, and respectfully kissed the hand
+extended towards him.
+
+"Permit me, my dear aunt, to present a very intimate friend,--Captain
+Burke," said he, as he led me forward.
+
+At the mention of the word "captain," I could perceive that every hand
+dropped its embroidery-frame, while the group stared at me with no
+feigned astonishment. But already the duchess had vouchsafed a very
+polite speech, and motioned me to a seat beside her; while the chevalier
+insinuated himself among the rest, evidently bent on relieving the stiff
+and constrained reserve which pervaded the party. Not even his tact and
+worldly cleverness was equal to the task. The conversation, if such
+it could be called, was conducted almost in monosyllables,--some stray
+question for an absent "marquise," or a muttered reply concerning a late
+"countess," was the burden; not an allusion even being made to any topic
+of the day, nor any phrase dropped which could show that the speakers
+were aware of the year or the nation in which they lived and breathed.
+
+It was an inexpressible relief to me when gradually some three or four
+other persons dropped in, some of them men, who, by their manner, seemed
+favorites of the party. And soon after the entrance of the servant
+with refreshments permitted a movement in the group, when I took the
+opportunity to stand up and approach Duchesne, as he bent over a table,
+listlessly turning over the leaves of a volume.
+
+"Just think of the contradictions of human nature, Burke," said he, in a
+low whisper. "These are the receptions for which the new noblesse
+would give half their wealth. These melancholy visits of worn-out
+acquaintances, these sapless twigs of humanity, are the envy of
+such houses as the Hotel Clichy; and to be admitted to these gloomy,
+moth-eaten _salons_, is a greater honor than an invitation to the
+Tuileries. So long as this exists, depend upon it, there is rottenness
+in the core of society. But come, let us take our leave; I see you
+are well wearied of all this. And now for an hour at Madame de
+Lacostellerie's,--_en revanche_."
+
+As we came forward to make our adieux to the duchess, she rose from her
+seat, and in so doing her sleeve brushed against a small marble statue
+of Louis the Sixteenth, which, had I not opportunely caught it, would
+have fallen to the ground.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said she, graciously. "You have prevented what I
+should have deemed a sad accident."
+
+"Nay, more, Aunt," said Duchesne, smiling; "he has shown his readiness
+to restore the Bourbon."
+
+This speech, evidently spoken in jest, was repeated from lip to lip in
+the circle; and certainly I never felt my awkwardness more oppressive
+than when bowing to the party, whose elated looks and pleased
+countenances now were turned towards me.
+
+"My poor, bashful friend," said Duchesne, as we descended the stair;
+"get rid of the habit of blushing with all convenient despatch. It has
+marred more fortunes than pharo or bouillotte."
+
+"This, assuredly, is well done!" said the chevalier, as he looked
+around him, while we slowly ascended the stairs of the Hotel Glichy:
+the brilliant light, almost rivalling day; the servants in gorgeous
+liveries; the air of wealth around on every side, so different from
+the sad-colored mansion of the Faubourg; while, as the opening doors
+permitted it to be heard, the sound of delicious music came wafted to
+the ear.
+
+"I say, Burke," said he, stopping suddenly, and laying his hand on my
+arm, "this might content a man who has seen as much as I have. And the
+game is well worth the playing; so here goes!"
+
+The first person I saw as we entered the ante-chamber was Bubbleton. He
+was the centre of a knot of foreigners, who, whatever the topic, seemed
+highly amused at his discourse.
+
+"That is your friend, yonder," said Duchesne. "He has the true type of
+John Bull about him; introduce me at once."
+
+Duchesne scarcely permitted me to finish the introduction, when he
+extended his hand, and saluted Bubbleton with great cordiality; while
+the "general" did not suffer the ceremony to interrupt the flow of
+his eloquence, but continued to explain, in the most minute and
+circumstantial manner, the conditions of the new peace secretly
+concluded between France and England. The incredulity of the listeners
+was, I could perceive, considerably lessened by observing the
+deferential attention with which Duchesne listened, only interrupting
+the speaker by an occasional assent, or a passing question as to the
+political relations of some of the great Powers.
+
+"As to Prussia," said Bubbleton, pompously--"as to Prussia--"
+
+"Well, what of Prussia, General?"
+
+"We have our doubts on that subject," replied he, looking thoughtfully
+around him on the group, who, completely deceived by Duchesne's manner,
+now paid him marked attention.
+
+"You'll not deprive her of Genoa, I trust," said the chevalier, with a
+gravity almost inconceivable.
+
+"That is done already," said Bubbleton. "For my own part, I told
+Lauderdale we were nothing without the Bosphorus,--'the key of our
+house, as your Emperor called it."
+
+"He spoke of Russia, if I don't err," said Duchesne, with an insinuating
+air of correction.
+
+"Pardon me, you are wrong. I know Russia well. I travelled through the
+steppes of Metchezaromizce with Prince Drudeszitsch. We journeyed three
+hundred versts over his own estates, drawn on sledges by his serfs. You
+are aware they are always harnessed by the beard, which they wear long
+and plaited on purpose."
+
+"That is towards the Crimea," interrupted the chevalier.
+
+"Precisely. I remember a curious incident which occurred one night as
+we approached Chitepsk. (You know Chitepsk? It is where they confine the
+state prisoners,--a miserable, dreary tract, where the snow never melts,
+and the frost is so intense you often see a drove of wolves glued fast
+to the snow by the feet, and howling fearfully: a strange sight, to
+be sure!) Well, the night was falling, and a thin, cutting snowdrift
+beginning to drop, when Dru (I always call him so,--short) said to me,--
+
+"'Bub' (he did the same to me) 'Bub,' said he, 'do you remark that
+off-side leader?'
+
+"'I see him,' said I.
+
+"'I have been watching the fellow since the last stage, and confound me
+if he has ever tightened a trace; and you see he is a right active one,
+notwithstanding. He capers along gayly enough. I 'll touch him up a
+bit.' And with that he gave a flourish of his knouted whip, and came
+down on him with a smarting cut. Lord, how he jumped! Five feet off the
+ground at one spring! And, hang me, if he didn't tear off his beard!
+There it was, hanging to the pole! A very shocking sight, I must
+confess; though Dru did n't seem to mind it. However, we were obliged to
+pull up, and get out the team. Well, you would not believe what we saw
+when we got down. You 'd never guess who was the off-leader. It was the
+Princess Odoznovskoi! Poor thing! the last time I saw her, before that,
+she was dancing in the Amber Palace with Prince Alexander. She and her
+husband had been banished to Chitepsk, and as he was ill, she had put on
+a false beard and was taking a short stage in his place."
+
+I did not venture to wait for more; but, leaving Duchesne to make the
+most of the general, passed onwards towards the _salon_, which already
+was rapidly filling with visitors.
+
+The countess received me with more than wonted kindness of manner, and
+mademoiselle assumed a tone of actual cordiality I had never perceived
+before; while, as she exchanged greetings with me, she said, in a low
+voice,--
+
+"Let me speak with you, in the picture-gallery, in half an hour."
+
+Before I could utter my assent she had passed on, and was speaking to
+another.
+
+Somewhat curious to conceive what Mademoiselle de Lacostellerie might
+mean by her appointment in the gallery, I avoided the groups where I
+perceived my acquaintances were, and strolled negligently on towards the
+place of meeting. The gallery was but half lighted, as was customary on
+mere nights of visiting, and I found it quite deserted. I was sauntering
+slowly along, musing on the strange effects of the half-seen pictures,
+where all, save the most forcible and striking tints, were sombred down
+to blackness, when I heard a step behind me. I turned my head, and saw
+mademoiselle herself. She was alone, and, though she evidently had seen
+me, continued to walk onward, without speaking, towards a small boudoir,
+which occupied one angle of the gallery. I followed, and we entered it
+together.
+
+There was something in the secret interview which, while it excited my
+curiosity, served at once to convince me that had I indulged in any hope
+of succeeding to her affections, nothing could be less promising,--this
+very proof of her confidence was the strongest earnest of her
+indifference. But, indeed, I had never any such expectation. My pride
+might have been flattered by such a supposition; my heart could never
+have sympathized in the emotion.
+
+"We are alone here," said she, hurriedly, "and we may be missed; so let
+me be brief. It will seem strange that I should ask you to meet me here,
+but I could not help it. You alone, of all who frequent this, have never
+paid me the least attention, nor seemed disposed to flatter me; this
+leads me to trust you. I have no other reason but that, and because I am
+friendless." There was a tremulous sadness in the last word which
+went to my heart, and I could mark that her breathing was hurried
+and irregular for some few seconds after. "Will you promise me your
+friendship in what I ask? or, if that be too much, will you pledge
+yourself at least to secrecy? Enough, I am quite satisfied. Now, tell
+me, who is this Chevalier Duchesne?--what is he?"
+
+I ran over in a few words all I knew of him, dwelling on whatever might
+most redound to his credit; his distinguished military career, his
+undoubted talent, and, lastly, alluding to his family, to which I
+conceived the question might most probably apply.
+
+"Oh, it is not that," said she, vehemently, "I wish to know. I care not
+for his bravery, nor his birth either. Tell me, what are the sources of
+his power? How is he admitted everywhere, intimate with every one, with
+influence over all? Why does Fouche fear, and Talleyrand admit him? I
+know they do this; and can you give me no clew, however faint, to
+guide me? The Comte de Lacostellerie was refused the Spanish contract;
+Duchesne interferes, and it is given him. There is a difficulty about a
+card for a private concert at St. Cloud; Duchesne sends it. Nor does it
+end here. _You_ know"--here her voice assumed a forced distinctness,
+as though it cost her an effort to speak calmly--"of his duel with the
+Prince Dobretski; but perhaps you may not know how he has obtained an
+imperial order for his recall to St. Petersburg?"
+
+"Of that I never heard. Can it be possible?"
+
+"Have you, then, never tasted of his arbitrary power," said she, smiling
+half superciliously, "that these things seem strange to you? or does
+he work so secretly that even those most intimate with him are in
+ignorance? But this must be so." She paused for a second or two, and
+then went on: "And now, brief as our acquaintance with him has been, see
+what influence he already possesses over my mother! Even to her I dare
+not whisper my suspicions; while to you, a stranger," added she, with
+emotion, "I must speak my fears."
+
+"But are they not groundless?" said I, endeavoring to calm the agitation
+she suffered from. "In all that you have mentioned, I can but trace the
+devotion of one seeking to serve, not injure; to be loved, not dreaded."
+
+Scarce had I said these words, when I heard a noise behind me, and
+before I could turn round, Duchesne stood beside us.
+
+"I implore your pardon, Mademoiselle," said he, in a voice of
+well-affected timidity, "nor should I venture to interrupt so
+interesting a conference, but that the Comtesse de Lacostellerie had
+sent me to look for you."
+
+"You could scarcely have come more apropos, sir. The conversation was
+entirely of yourself," said she, haughtily, as if in defiance of him.
+
+"How could I possibly have merited so great an honor, Mademoiselle?"
+replied he, bowing with the deepest respect; "or is it to the kindness
+of a _friend_ I am indebted for such interest?"
+
+There was an evident sneer in the way he uttered the word "friend,"
+while a sidelong glance he gave beneath his deep eyelashes was still
+more decisive of his feeling.
+
+"Few probably owe more to their friends than the Chevalier Duchesne,"
+said mademoiselle, tauntingly, as she took my arm to return to the
+_salon_.
+
+"True, most true!" replied he, with a low and deferential bow; "and I
+hope I am not the man to forget my debts to either friends or enemies."
+
+I turned round rapidly as he said this. Our eyes met, and we exchanged a
+short, brief glance of open defiance. His, however, as quickly changed;
+and an easy smile of careless indifference succeeded, as he lounged
+after us towards the _salon_, where now a considerable number of
+persons were assembled, and a more than usual excitement prevailed. Some
+generals of the imperial staff were also there; and the rumor ran that
+the negotiations with England had been suddenly interrupted, and that
+the negotiators had demanded their passports.
+
+"That is not all, Madame," said an old officer to the countess. "The
+accounts from Mayence are threatening. Large bodies of Prussian troops
+are reported on the march from the eastward. The telegraph has been
+actively at work since noon, and several couriers have been sent off
+from the War Office."
+
+"What is to come next?" said the countess, sighing, as she thought
+of Paris once more deserted by its gay Court and brilliant crowd of
+officers, the only society of the period.
+
+"What next, Madame?" said Duchesne, taking up the word. "_Parbleu!_ the
+thing is easily told. A conscription, a march, a bivouac, and a battle
+will form act the first. Then a victory; and a bulletin and an imperial
+edict, showing that Prussia, both by her language and geographical
+position, was intended by Providence to belong to France; that Prussians
+have no dearer wish than to be thrashed and taxed,--the honor of
+becoming a portion of the Grande Nation being an ample recompense for
+any misfortune."
+
+"And so it is, Monsieur," broke in a bluff, hard-featured veteran, whose
+coarse and weather-beaten traits bespoke one risen from the ranks; "he
+is no Frenchman who says otherwise."
+
+"To your good health, Colonel," said Duchesne, as he lifted a glass
+of champagne to his lips. "Such patriotism is really refreshing in our
+degenerate days. I wish you every success in your campaign; though what
+is to reward your valor in that miserable land of beer and Protestantism
+I cannot possibly conceive."
+
+"To-morrow; let me see you to-morrow, in the afternoon." said
+mademoiselle, in a whisper, as she passed close to me.
+
+As I nodded in acknowledgment, Duchesne turned slightly around, and I
+saw in his eyes he had overheard the words, though uttered in a mere
+whisper. Still he went on,--
+
+"As for us who remain ingloriously behind you, we have nothing to do but
+to read your exploits in the 'Moniteur.' And would to Heaven the worthy
+editor would print his battles in better fashion! The whole page usually
+looks more like a beaten than a conquering army; wounded vowels and
+broken consonants at every step, and the capital letters awkward,
+hard-featured fellows, as though risen from the ranks."
+
+"_Tonnerre de Dieu_, sir! do you mean an insult to me?" said the old
+colonel, in a voice which, though intended for a whisper, was heard over
+the whole circle.
+
+"An insult, my dear colonel? nothing within a thousand leagues of
+such. I was only speaking of the 'type' of our army, which may be very
+efficient, but is scarcely too good-looking."
+
+No words can convey the sarcastic tone in which the speech was
+delivered, nor the mortification of the indignant colonel, who felt, but
+knew not how to reply to, such a taunt. Happily Madame de Lacostellerie
+interposed, and by skilfully changing the topic of conversation, averted
+further unpleasantness.
+
+My desire to learn something accurately as to the state of events made
+me anxious to reach my quarters, and I took the first opportunity of
+quitting the _salon_. As I passed through the outer room, Duchesne
+was standing against a sideboard, holding a glass in his hand. It was
+necessary that I should pass him closely, and I was preparing to salute
+him with the distant courtesy of our present acquaintance, when he said,
+in his former tone of easy raillery,--
+
+"Going so early? Won't you have a glass of wine before you leave?"
+
+"No, I thank you," said I, coldly, and going on towards the door.
+
+"Nor wait for the concert; Grassini will be here in half an hour?"
+
+I shook my head in negation; and as I passed out I heard him humming,
+with an emphasis which there was no mistaking, the couplet of a popular
+song of the day which concluded thus,--
+
+"To-day for me; To-morrow for thee,--But will that to-morrow ever be?"
+
+That Duchesne intended to challenge me seemed now almost certain; and I
+ran over in my mind the few names of those I could ask to be my friends
+on such an occasion, but without being able to satisfy myself on the
+subject. A moment's recollection might have taught me that it was a
+maxim with the chevalier never to send a message, but in every case
+to make the adversary the aggressor; he had told me so over and over
+himself. That, however, did not occur to me at the moment, and I walked
+onward, thinking of our meeting. Could I have known what was passing in
+_his_ mind, I should have spared many serious and some sad thoughts to
+my own.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. A SUDDEN DEPARTURE
+
+So firmly had I persuaded myself, on my way homeward, that Duchesne
+intended a duel with me, that I dreamed of it all night, and awoke in
+the morning perfectly convinced that the event was prearranged between
+us. Now, although the habits of the service I lived in had, in a great
+measure, blunted the feelings I once entertained towards duelling, still
+enough of detestation of the practice remained to make my anticipations
+far from satisfactory; besides, I knew that Duchesne had in reality no
+cause of quarrel with me, but from misapprehension alone could demand
+a meeting, which our military code of honor always decided should be
+accepted first, and inquired into afterwards. I regretted also, and
+deeply too, that I should appear to his eyes in an unworthy part, as
+though betraying the interests he had confided to me.
+
+There were, as I have said, many things I liked not in the chevalier:
+the insatiable desire he felt for revenge where he had once been
+injured; the spirit of intrigue he cherished; and, perhaps more than
+either, I shunned the scoffing habit he had of depreciating what every
+one around him loved or respected,--of stripping off every illusion
+which made life valuable, and reducing to the miserable standard of
+mere selfish gratification all that was great, or noble, or venerable.
+Already had his evil influence done me injury in this way. Even now I
+felt, that of the few daydreams I once indulged in he had robbed me
+of the best, and reduced me to the sad reflection which haunted me
+throughout my whole career, and imbittered every passing enjoyment of my
+life: I mean, the sorrowful thought of being an alien, of having but the
+hireling's part in that career of glory which others followed; that
+I alone could have no thrill of patriotism, when all around me were
+exulting in its display; that I had neither home nor country! Oh! if
+they who feel, or fancy that they feel, the wrongs and oppressions of
+misgovernment at home,--who, with high aspirations after liberty and
+holy thoughts for the happiness of their fellow-men, war against the
+despotism which would repress the one or the cruelty which would despise
+the other; if they could only foresee, that in changing allegiance
+they did but shift the burden, not rid themselves of the load; that the
+service of a foreign land is no requital for the loss of every feeling
+which ties a man to kindred and to friends,--which links his manhood
+with his youth, his age with both,--which gives him, in the language of
+his forefathers, a sympathy with the land that bore them; if they could
+know and feel these things; if they could learn how, in surrendering
+them, they have made themselves such mere waifs and strays upon life's
+ocean that objects of purely selfish and personal advancement must be
+to them for evermore in place of the higher and more ennobling thoughts
+which mix with other men's ambitions: they might hesitate ere they left
+home and country to fight for the cause of the stranger.
+
+If such thoughts found entrance into _my_ heart, how must they have
+dwelt in many another's? I, who had neither family nor kindred,--who
+from earliest childhood had never tasted the sweets of affection nor
+known the blessings of a father's love; and yet scarce a day crept by
+without some thought of the far-away land of my birth,--some memory of
+its hills and valleys, of its green banks and changeful skies: and in
+my dreams, some long-forgotten air would bring me back in memory to the
+cottier's fireside, where around the red blazing turf were seated the
+poor but happy peasantry, beguiling the time with song or story,--now
+telling of the ancient greatness of their country, now breathing a hope
+of its one day prosperity.
+
+"Captain Burke's quarters?" said a voice without. At the same instant,
+the jingling of spurs and the clank of a sabre bespoke the questioner as
+a soldier. My door opened, and an officer in the full dress of the staff
+entered. As I requested him to be seated, I already anticipated
+the object of his visit, which he seemed determined to open in most
+diplomatic fashion; for, the first salutations over, he began coolly to
+ransack his sabretasche, and search among a heap of papers which crowded
+it.
+
+"Ah! here it is," said he at length. "I ask your pardon for all this
+delay. But, of course, you guess the reason of my being here?"
+
+"I must confess I suspect it," said I, with a smile.
+
+"Oh, that I am certain of. These things never are secrets very long;
+nor, for my part, do I think there is any need they should be. I
+conclude you are quite prepared?"
+
+"You shall find me so."
+
+"So the minister said," replied he; while, once more, his eyes were
+buried in the recesses of the sabretasche, leaving me in the most
+intense astonishment at the last few words. That the minister, whoever
+he might be, should know of, and, as it seemed, acquiesce in my fighting
+a duel, was a puzzle I could make nothing of.
+
+"Here is the note I looked for," said he as he took forth a small slip
+of paper, written on both sides. "May I beg you will take down the
+details; they are brief, but important."
+
+"You may trust my memory with them," said I, rather surprised at the
+circumstantial style of his conduct.
+
+"As you please; so pay attention for one moment, while I read: 'Captain
+Burke of the Eighth, will proceed by extra post to Mayence, visiting
+the following garrisons _en route_'(here come the names, which you can
+copy), where his attention will be specially directed to the points
+marked A. B. and--'"
+
+"Forgive my interrupting you; but really I am unaware of what you are
+alluding to. You are not here on the part of the Chevalier Duchesne?"
+
+"The Chevalier Duchesne? Duchesne? No; this is a war despatch from the
+minister. You must set out in two hours. I thought you said you were
+prepared."
+
+"Hem! there has been a mistake here," said I, endeavoring to remember
+how far I might have committed myself by any unguarded expression.
+
+"All my fault, Captain Burke," said he, frankly. "I should have been
+more explicit at first. But I really thought from something--I forget
+precisely what now--that you knew of the movement on the frontier, and
+were, in fact, prepared for your orders. Heaven knows how far our
+mystification might have gone on; for when you spoke of Duchesne--the
+ex-captain of the Imperial Guard, I suppose--
+
+"Yes! what of him?"
+
+"Why, it so chanced that he was closeted with the minister this morning,
+and only left five minutes before your orders were made out. But come,
+neither of us can well spare more time. This is your despatch for the
+commandant of the troops at Mayence, to whom you will report verbally on
+the equipment of the smaller bodies of men visited _en route_. I shall
+give you my note, which, though hurriedly written, will assist your
+memory. Above all things, get speedily on the road, and reach Mayence
+by Wednesday. Half an hour's speed in times like these is worth a whole
+year in one's way to promotion. And so, now, good-by!"
+
+I stood for several minutes after he left the room so confused and
+astonished, that had not the huge envelope, with its great seal of
+office, confirmed the fact, I could have believed the whole a mere trick
+of my imagination.
+
+The jingle of the postilion's equipment in the court beneath now
+informed me that a Government _caleche_ stood awaiting me, and I
+speedily began my preparations for the road.
+
+One thought filled my mind to the exclusion of all others. It was
+Duchesne's influence on which my fortune now rested. The last few words
+he uttered as I left the _salon_ were ringing in my ears, and here was
+their explanation. This rapid journey was planned by him to remove me
+from Paris, where possibly he supposed my knowledge of him might be
+inconvenient, and where in my absence his designs might be prosecuted
+with more success. Happy as I felt to think that a personal _rencontre_
+was not to occur between us, my self-love was deeply wounded at the
+thought of how much I was in this man's power, and how arbitrarily he
+decided on the whole question of my destiny. If my pride were gratified
+on the one hand by my having excited the chevalier's vengeance, it was
+offended on the other by feeling how feeble would my efforts prove to
+oppose the will of an antagonist who worked with such secret and such
+powerful means. The same philosophy which so often stood my part in life
+here came to my aid,--to act well my own part, and leave the result to
+time. And so, with this patient resolve, I mentally bade defiance to my
+adversary, and set out from Paris.
+
+The ardent feeling which filled my heart on the approach of my first
+campaign was now changed into a soldierly sense of duty, which, if less
+enthusiastic, was a steadier and more sustaining motive. I felt whatever
+distinctions it should be my lot to win must be gained in the camp, not
+in the Court-, that my place was rather where squadrons were charging
+and squares were kneeling, than among the intrigues of the capital, its
+wiles and its plottings. In the one, I might win an honorable name; in
+the other, I should be but the dupe of more designing heads and less
+scrupulous hearts than my own.
+
+Early on the third morning from the time of my leaving Paris, I reached
+Mayence. The garrisons which I visited on the road seldom detained me
+above half an hour. The few questions which I had to ask respecting the
+troops were soon and easily answered; and in most instances the officers
+in command had been apprised that their reports would be required, and
+came ready at once to afford the information.
+
+The disposable force at that time was not above eighty thousand new
+levies,--the conscripts of the past year,--who, although well drilled
+and equipped, had never undergone the fatigues of a campaign nor met an
+enemy in the field. But beyond the frontier were the veteran legions of
+the Austrian campaign, who, while advancing on their return to France,
+were suddenly halted, and now only awaited the Emperor's orders whither
+they should carry their victorious standards.
+
+As at the outbreak of all Napoleon's wars, the greatest uncertainty
+prevailed regarding the direction of the army, and in what place and
+against what enemy the first blow was to be struck. The Russian army,
+defeated and routed at Austerlitz, was said to be once more in the
+field, reorganized and strengthened; Austria, it was rumored, was
+faltering in her fealty; but the military preparations of Prussia were
+no longer a secret, and to many it seemed as if, as in the days of the
+Republic, France was about to contend single-handed against the whole of
+Europe.
+
+In Prussia the warlike enthusiasm of the people was carried to the
+very highest pitch. The Court, the aristocracy, but more powerful than
+either, the press, stimulated national courage by recalling to their
+minds the famous deeds of the Great Frederick, and bidding them remember
+that Rossbach was won against an army of Frenchmen. The students--a
+powerful and an organized class--stood foremost in this patriotic
+movement. Their excited imaginations warmed by the spirit-stirring songs
+of Kerner and Uhland, and glowing with the instincts of that chivalry
+which is a German's birthright, they spread over the country, calling
+upon their fellow-subjects to arise and defend the "Vaterland" against
+the aggression of the tyrant. So unequivocally was this feeling
+expressed, that even before the negotiations had lost their pacific
+character, the youthful aristocracy of Berlin used to go and sharpen
+their swords at the door-sill of the French ambassador at Berlin.
+
+To the exalted tone of patriotic enthusiasm the beautiful Queen of
+Prussia most powerfully contributed. The crooked and tortuous windings
+of diplomatic intrigue found no sympathy in her frank and generous
+nature. Belying on the native energy of German character, she bade an
+open and a bold defiance to her country's enemy, and was content to
+stake all on the chances of a battle. The colder and less confident mind
+of the king was rather impelled by the current of popular opinion than
+induced by conviction to the adoption of this daring policy. But once
+engaged in it, he exhibited the rarest fortitude and the most unyielding
+courage.
+
+Such, in brief, was the condition of that people, such the warlike
+spirit they breathed, when in the autumn of 1806 the cry of war
+resounded from the shores of the Baltic to the frontiers of Bohemia.
+Never was the effective strength of the Prussian army more conspicuous.
+Their cavalry, in number and equipment, was confessedly among the first,
+if not the very first, in Europe; while the artillery maintained a
+reputation which, since the days of Frederick, had proclaimed it the
+most perfect arm of the service.
+
+The Emperor knew these things well, and did not undervalue them; and
+it was with a very different impression of his present enemy from that
+which filled his mind in the Austrian campaign, that he remarked to
+Soult, "We shall want the mattock in this war,"--thereby implying that,
+against such an adversary, fieldworks and intrenchments would be needed,
+as well as the dense array of squadrons and the bristling walls of
+infantry.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. THE SUMMIT OF THE LANDGRAFENBERG
+
+After a brief delay at Mayence, it was with sincere pleasure I received
+my orders to push forward to the advanced posts at Wetzlar, where
+General d'Auvergne was with his division. Already the battalions were
+crossing the Rhine, and directing their steps to different rendezvous
+along the Prussian frontier; some pressing on eastwards, where the Saxon
+territory joins the Prussian; others directly to the north, and taking
+up positions distant by a short day's march from each other. The same
+urgent haste which characterized the opening of the Austrian campaign
+a year before, was here conspicuous; many of the corps being obliged to
+march seven and eight leagues in the day, and frequently whole companies
+being forwarded in wagons drawn by six or eight horses, in order to
+come up with the main body of their regiments. Every road eastward was
+covered with some fragment of the army. Now an infantry corps of young
+conscripts, glowing with enthusiasm and eager for the fray, would
+cheer the _caleche_ in which I travelled, and which, as indicating a
+staff-officer, was surmounted by a small flag with an eagle. Now it was
+the hoarse challenge of an outpost, some veteran of Bernadotte's army,
+which occupied the whole line of country from Dusseldorf to Nuremberg.
+Pickets of dragoons, with troops of led horses for remounts, hurried on,
+and long lines of wagons crammed the road.
+
+At last I joined General d'Auvergne, who, with all the ardor of the
+youngest soldier, was preparing for the march. The hardy veteran,
+disdaining the use of a carriage, rode each day at the head of his
+column, and went through the most minute detail of regimental duty with
+the colonels under his command. From whatever cause proceeding I knew
+not, but it struck me as strange that he never alluded to my visit to
+Paris, nor once spoke to me of the countess; and while this reserve on
+his part slightly wounded me, I felt relieved from the embarrassment
+the mere mention of her name would cause me, and was glad when our
+conversation turned on the events of the war. Nor was he, save in this
+respect, less cordial than ever, manifesting the greatest pleasure at
+the prospect the war would open to my advancement, and kindly presaging
+for me a success I scarcely dared to hope for.
+
+"Nor is the hour distant," said he to me one morning in the latter end
+of September, as we rode side by side; "the grand movement is begun."
+
+Augereau, with his powerful _corps d'armee_ of twenty thousand, pressed
+on from Frankfort and Mayence; Bernadotte moved up on his flank from
+Nuremberg and Bamberg; Davoust hastened by forced marches from the
+Danube; while Soult and Ney with a strong force remained in the south,
+and in observation on the Austrian frontier. Farther to the north,
+again, were the new levies and the whole Imperial Guard, strengthened
+by four thousand additional men, which, together with Murat's cavalry,
+formed a vast line embracing the Prussian frontier on the west and
+south, and converging with giant strides towards the very heart of the
+kingdom. Still, mid all the thunders of marching squadrons and the
+din of advancing legions, diplomatists interchanged their respective
+assurances of a peaceful issue to their differences, and politely
+conveyed the most satisfactory sentiments of mutual esteem.
+
+On the 1st of September the Emperor left Paris; but, even then, covering
+his designs by an affected hope of peace, he was accompanied by the
+Empress and her suite to Mayence, where all the splendor of a Court was
+suddenly displayed amid the pomp and preparation of war. On the 6th he
+started by daybreak; relays of horses were in waiting along the road
+to Wetzlar, and with all speed he hastened forward to Bamberg, where he
+issued his grand proclamation to the army.
+
+With all his accustomed eloquence he represented to the army the
+insulting demands of Prussia, and called on them, as at Austerlitz, to
+reply to such a menace by one tremendous blow of victory, which should
+close the campaign. "Soldiers!" said he, "you were about to return to
+France to enjoy the well-won repose after all your victories. But an
+enemy is in the field; the road to Paris is no longer open to you:
+neither you nor I can tread it save under an arch of triumph."
+
+The day which succeeded the issue of this proclamation, a cavalry affair
+occurred at the advanced posts, in which the Prussians were somewhat the
+victors. Two days later, a courier arrived at the imperial headquarters
+with the account of another and more important action, between the
+grenadiers of Lannes and a part of Suchet's corps, against the advanced
+guard of Prince Hohenlohe, commanded by the most daring general in the
+Prussian service,--Prince Louis. A cavalry combat, which lasted for near
+an hour, closed this brief but bloody encounter with the death of the
+brave prince, who, refusing to surrender, was run through the body by
+the sabre of a quartermaster of the Tenth Hussars.
+
+General d'Auvergne's brigade had no share in this memorable action, for
+on the 9th we were marched to Rudolstadt, some miles to the left of the
+scene of the encounter; but having made a demonstration in that quarter,
+were speedily recalled, and ordered with all haste to cross the Saale,
+and move on to the eastward.
+
+It was now that Napoleon's manoeuvres became apparent. The same intrigue
+which succeeded at Ulm was again to be employed here: the enemy's flank
+was to be turned, the communication with his reinforcements cut off, and
+a battle engaged, in which defeat must prove annihilation. Such, then,
+was the complete success of the Emperor's movements, that on the 12th
+the French army was posted with the rear upon the Elbe, while the
+Prussians occupied a line between them and the Rhine. This masterly
+movement at once compelled the enemy to fall back and concentrate
+his troops around Jena and Weimar, which, from that instant, Napoleon
+pronounced must be the scene of a great battle.
+
+All this detail I have been obliged to force on my reader, and now again
+return to my story.
+
+On the morning of the 13th, Murat appeared for the first time at our
+headquarters, below Jena; and after a short consultation with the staff,
+our squadrons were formed and ordered to push on with haste towards
+Jena.
+
+Everything now showed that the decisive hour could not be distant:
+couriers passed and repassed; messengers and orderlies met us at every
+step; while, as is ever the case, the most contradictory rumors were
+circulated about the number and position of the enemy. As we neared
+Lausnitz, however, we learned that the whole Prussian army occupied the
+plateau of Jena, save a corps of twenty thousand men which were
+stationed at Auerstadt. From the elevated spot we occupied, the columns
+of Marshal Berna-dotte's division could be seen marching to the
+eastward. A halt was now commanded, and the troops prepared their
+bivouacs; when, as night was falling, a staff-officer rode up, with
+orders from the Emperor himself to push on without delay for Jena.
+
+The road was much cut up by the passage of cavalry and wagons, and as
+the night was dark, our pace was occasionally impeded. I was riding with
+one of the leading squadrons, when General d'Auvergne directed me to
+take an orderly with me, and proceed in advance to make arrangements for
+the quarters of the men at Jena. Selecting a German soldier as my guide,
+I dashed forwards, and soon left the squadron out of hearing. We had not
+gone far, when I remarked, from the tramp of the horses, that we were
+upon an earthen road, and not on the pavement. I questioned my orderly,
+but he was positive there had been no turning since we started. I paid
+no more attention to the circumstance, but rode on, hard as ever. At
+last the clay became deeper and heavier, the sides of the way closer,
+and all the appearance, as well as the gloom would allow us to guess,
+rather those of a byroad than the regular _chaussee_. To return would
+have been hopeless; the darkness gave no prospect of detecting at what
+precise spot we had left the main road, and so I determined to make my
+way straight onwards at all hazards.
+
+After about an hour's fast trotting, the orderly, who rode some paces
+in advance, called out, "A light!" and then, the moment after, he cried,
+"There are several lights yonder!"
+
+I reined in my horse at once, for the thought struck me that we had
+come down upon the Prussian lines. Giving my horse to the soldier, with
+orders to follow me noiselessly at a little distance, I walked on for
+above a mile, my eyes steadily fixed upon the lights, which moved from
+place to place, and showed, by their taper glare, that they were not
+watchfires. At length I gained a little ridge of the ground, and
+could distinctly see that it was a line of guns and artillery wagons,
+endeavoring to force their way through a narrow ravine; a few minutes
+after, I heard the sounds of French, and relieved of all apprehensions,
+I mounted my horse and soon came up with them.
+
+They were four troops of Lannes's artillery, which, by a mistake similar
+to my own, had left the highroad and entered one of the field-tracks,
+which thus led them astray; and here they were, jammed up in a narrow
+gorge, unable to get back or forward. The officer in command was a
+young colonel, who was completely overwhelmed by his misfortune; for he
+informed me that the whole artillery of the division was following him,
+and would inevitably be involved in the same mishap. The poor fellow,
+who doubtless would have faced the enemy without a particle of fear, was
+now so horrified by the event, that he ran wildly from place to place,
+ordering and counter-ordering every instant, and actually increasing
+the confusion by his own excitement. Some of the leading trains were
+unharnessed, and efforts made to withdraw the guns from their position;
+but the axles were, on both sides, embedded in the rock, and seemed to
+defy every effort to disengage them.
+
+At this moment, when the confusion had reached its height, and the
+horses were unharnessed from the guns, the men standing in groups around
+or shouting wildly to one another, a sullen silence spread itself over
+the whole, and a loud, stern voice called out,--
+
+"Who commands this division?"
+
+"General Latour," was the answer.
+
+"Where is he?" said the first speaker, so close to my ear that I started
+round, and saw the short square figure of a man in a great coat, holding
+a heavy whip in his hand.
+
+"With the main body at the rear."
+
+"Cannoneers, dismount!" said the other. "Bring the torches to the
+front."
+
+Scarcely was the order obeyed, when the light of the firewood fell upon
+his features, and I saw it was the Emperor himself. In an instant the
+whole scene was changed. The park tools were taken out, working parties
+formed, and the ravine began to echo to the strong blows of the brawny
+arms; while Napoleon, with a blazing torch in his hand, stood by to
+light their labors. Giving directions to the under-officers and the men,
+he never deigned a word to the officers, who now stood trembling around
+him, and were gradually joined by several more, who came up with the
+remainder of the train.
+
+I think still I can see that pale, unmoved face, which, as the light
+flickered upon it, gazed steadily at the working party. Not a syllable
+escaped him, save once, when he muttered half to himself, "And this was
+the first battery to open its fire to-morrow!"
+
+General Savary stood at his side, but never dared to address him. Too
+well he knew that his deepest anger showed itself by silence. By degrees
+the granite wall gave way, the axles once more became free, and the
+horses were again harnessed; the gun-carriages moved slowly through the
+ravine. Nor did the Emperor quit the spot before the greater part of
+the train passed; then mounting his horse, he turned towards Jena, and
+notwithstanding the utter darkness of the night he rode at full speed.
+Following the clatter of the horse's hoofs, I rode on, and in less than
+an hour reached a small cluster of houses, where a cavalry picket was
+placed, and several large fires were lighted, beside which, at small
+tables, sat above a dozen staff-officers busily writing despatches. The
+Emperor halted but for a second or two, and then dashed forward again;
+and I soon perceived we were ascending a steep hill, covered with ferns
+and brushwood. We had not gone far, when a single aide-de-camp who
+accompanied him turned his horse's head and rode rapidly down the
+mountain again.
+
+Napoleon was now alone, some fifty paces in front. I could see the faint
+outline through the darkness, my sight guided by my hearing to the spot.
+His pace, wherever the ground permitted, was rapid; but constantly he
+was obliged to hold in, and pick his steps among the stones and dwarf
+wood that covered the mountain. Never shall I cease to remember the
+strange sensations I felt as I followed him up that steep ascent.
+There was he, the greatest monarch of the universe, alone, wending his
+solitary way in darkness, his thoughts bent on the great event before
+him,--the tremendous conflict in which thousands must fall. There was a
+sense of awe in the thought of being so near to one on whose slightest
+word the destiny of nations seemed to hang; and I could not look on the
+dark object before me without a superstitious feeling, deeper than fear
+itself, for that mightiest of men.
+
+My thoughts permitted my taking no note of time, and I know not how long
+it was before we reached the crest of the hill, over whose bleak surface
+a cold, cutting wind was blowing. It seemed as if a great tableland
+extended now for some distance on every side, over which the Emperor
+took his way, as though accustomed to the ground. While I was wondering
+at the certainty with which he appeared to determine on his road, I
+remarked the feeble flickering of a light far away towards the horizon,
+and by which it was evident he guided his steps. As we rode on, several
+watchfires could be seen towards the northwest, stretching away to a
+great distance, and throwing a yellowish glare in the dark sky above
+them. Suddenly I perceived the Emperor halt and dismount, and as
+speedily again he was in the saddle; but now his path took a different
+direction, and diverged considerably to the southward. Curious to learn
+what might have caused his change of direction, I rode up to the
+spot, and got off. It was the embers of a watchfire; they were almost
+extinguished, but still, as the horse's hoof struck the wood, a few
+sparks were emitted. It was this, then, which altered his course; and
+once more he pressed his horse to speed.
+
+A steep ascent of some hundred yards lay before us now. But on gaining
+the top, a brilliant spectacle of a thousand watchfires met the eye: so
+close did they seem, it looked like one great volcanic crater blazing
+on the mountain top; while above, the lurid glow reddened the black sky,
+and melted away into the darkness in clouds of faint yellowish hue. Far,
+very far away, and to the north, stretched another much longer line of
+fires, but at great intervals apart, and occupying, as well as I might
+guess, about two leagues in extent. Several smaller fires dotted the
+plain, marking the outpost positions; and it was not difficult to trace
+the different lines of either army even by these indications.
+
+While I yet looked, the Emperor had gained a short distance in advance
+of me; and suddenly I heard the hoarse challenge of a sentry, calling
+out, "Qui vive?" Buried in his own thoughts,--perhaps far too deeply
+lost in meditation to hear the cry,--Napoleon never replied nor
+slackened his speed. "Qui vive?" shouted the voice again: and before
+I could advance, the sharp bang of a musket-shot rang out; another and
+another followed; and then a roll of fire swept along the plain, happily
+not in the direction of the Emperor. But already he had thrown himself
+from his horse, and lay flat upon the ground.
+
+[Illustration: 264]
+
+Not a moment was now to be lost. I dashed my spurs into my jaded horse,
+and rode forwards, calling aloud, at the top of my voice, "The Emperor!
+the Emperor!" Still, the panic overbore my words, and another discharge
+was given: with one bullet I was struck in the shoulder, another killed
+my horse; but springing to my legs in an instant, I rushed on, repeating
+my cry. Before I could do more than point to the spot, Napoleon
+came forward, leading his horse by the bridle. His step was slow and
+measured, and his face--for many a torchlight was now gathered to the
+place--was calm and tranquil.
+
+"Ye are well upon the alert, _mes enfant!_" said he, with a smile; "see
+that ye be as ready with your fire to-morrow!" A wild cheer answered
+these words, while he continued: "These are the new levies, Lieutenant;
+the Guards would have had more patience. Where is the officer who
+followed me?"
+
+"Here, Sire," said I, endeavoring to conceal the appearance of being
+wounded.
+
+"Mount, sir, and accompany me to headquarters."
+
+"My horse is killed, Sire."
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_" said a young soldier, who had not learned much respect
+before his superiors; "and he has a ball in his neck himself."
+
+"Are you wounded?" said the Emperor, with a quickness in his manner.
+
+"A mere flesh-wound in the arm,--of no consequence, Sire."
+
+"Let the surgeon of the detachment see to this at once, Lieutenant,"
+said he to the officer of the party; "and do you come to headquarters
+when you are able."
+
+With this, the Emperor mounted again, and in a few seconds more was lost
+to our sight.
+
+"_Ventrebleu!_" said the old lieutenant, who had served without
+promotion from the first battles of the Republic, "you'll be a colonel
+for that scratch on your epaulette, if we only beat the Prussians
+to-morrow; and here am I, with eight wounds from lead and steel, and
+the Petit Caporal never bade me visit him at his bivouac. Come, come! I
+don't wish to be unfriendly; it's not _your_ fault, it's only _my_ bad
+fortune. And here comes the surgeon."
+
+The lieutenant was right,--the epaulette had the worst of the adventure;
+and, in half an hour I proceeded on my way to headquarters.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. L'HOMME ROUGE
+
+On my way to the imperial quarters, I fell in with some squadrons of our
+dragoons, from whom I learned that General d'Auvergne had just received
+orders to repair to the Emperor's bivouac, to which several officers in
+command were also summoned. As I saw, therefore, that I could have no
+prospect of meeting the Emperor, I resolved merely to hold myself in
+readiness, should he, which seemed little likely, think of me; and
+accordingly I took up my post with some young under-officers of
+our brigade, at a huge fire, where a species of canteen had been
+established, and coffee and corn-brandy were served out to all comers.
+
+The recent escape of Napoleon at the outposts was already known far and
+near, and formed the great topic of conversation, in which, I felt hurt
+to remark, no mention of the part I took was ever made, although there
+were at least a dozen different versions of the accident. In one, his
+Majesty was represented to have rode down upon and sabred the advanced
+picket; in another, it was the Prussians who fired, he having penetrated
+within their lines to reconnoitre,--each agreeing in the one great fact,
+that the feat was something which no one save himself could have done
+or thought of. As for me, I felt it was not my part to speak of the
+incident at all until his Majesty should first do so. I listened,
+therefore, with due patience and some amusement to the various
+narratives about me; which served to show me, by one slight instance,
+the measure of that exaggeration with which the Emperor's name was ever
+treated, and convinced me that it required not time nor distance to
+color every incident of his life with the strongest hues of romance. The
+topic was a fruitful and favorite one; and certainly few subjects could
+with more propriety season the hours around a bivouac fire than the
+exploits of the Emperor Napoleon.
+
+Among those whose reminiscences went farthest back was an old
+sergeant-major of infantry,--a seared and seamed and weather-beaten
+little fellow, who, from fatigues and privations, was dried up to a mass
+of tendons and fibres. This little man presented one of those strange
+mixtures with which the army abounded,--the shrewdest common sense on
+all ordinary topics, with a most credulous faith in any story where
+Napoleon's name occurred. It seemed, indeed, as though that one element,
+occurring in any tale, dispensed at once with the rules which govern
+belief in common cases.
+
+The invulnerability of the Emperor was with him a fruitful theme; and he
+teemed with anecdotes of the Egyptian and Italian campaigns, in which it
+was incontestably shown that neither shot nor shell had any effect
+upon him. But of all the superstitions regarding Napoleon, none had such
+complete hold on his imagination, nor was more implicitly believed by
+him, than the story of that little "Red Man," who, it was asserted,
+visited the Emperor the night before each great battle, and arranged
+with him the manoeuvres of the succeeding day.
+
+"L'Homme Bouge," as he was called, was an article of faith in the French
+army that few of the soldiers ever thought of disputing. Some from
+pure credulity, some from the force of example, and some again from
+indolence, believed in this famed personage; but even the veriest
+scoffer on more solemn subjects would have hesitated ere he ventured
+to assail the almost universal belief in this supernatural agency.
+The Emperor's well-known habit of going out alone to visit pickets and
+outposts on the eve of a battle was a circumstance too favorable to this
+superstition not to be employed in its defence. Besides, it was well
+known that he spent hours by himself, when none even of the marshals had
+access to him; and on these occasions it was said "L'Homme Bouge" was
+with him. Sentinels had been heard to declare that they could overhear
+angry words passing between the Emperor and his guest; that threats had
+been interchanged between them; and on one occasion it was said that the
+"Red Man" went so 'far as to declare, that if his advice were neglected
+Napoleon should lose the battle, see his artillery fall into the hands
+of the enemy, and behold the Guard capitulate.
+
+"_Mille tonnerres!_ what are you saying?" broke in the little man,
+to the grim old soldier who was relating this. "You know nothing of
+'L'Homme Rouge,'--not a word; how should you? But I served in the
+Twenty-second of the Line, old Mongoton's corps; the 'Faubourg Devils,'
+as they were called. _He_ knew him well; it was 'L'Homme Rouge' had
+him shot for treason at Cairo. I was one of the company drawn for his
+execution; and when he knelt down on the grass, he held up his hand this
+way, and cried out,--
+
+"'Voltigeurs of the Line, hear me! You have all known me many years; you
+have seen whether I could face the enemy like a man; and you can tell
+whether I cared for the heaviest charge that ever shook a square. You
+know, also, whether I was true to our general. Well, it is "L'Homme
+Rouge" who has brought me to this. And now: Carry arms!--all together!
+Come, _mes enfants!_ try it again: Carry arms! (ay, that's better)
+present arms! fire!'
+
+"_Morbleu!_ the word was not well out when he was dead; and there,
+through the smoke, as plain as I see you now, I saw the figure of a
+little fellow, dressed in scarlet,--feather and boots all the same! He
+was standing over the corpse, and threatening it with his hands. And
+that," said he, in a solemn voice, "that was 'L'Homme Rouge!'"
+
+This anecdote was conclusive. There was no gainsaying the assertions
+of a man who had, with his own eyes, seen the celebrated "Red Man;"
+and from that instant he enjoyed a decided monopoly of everything that
+concerned his private history.
+
+According to the sergeant-major's version,--and who could venture to
+contradict him?--"L'Homme Rouge" was not the confidential adviser and
+friendly counsellor of the Emperor; but, on the contrary, his evil
+genius, perpetually employed in thwarting his plans and opposing his
+views. Each seemed to have his hour of triumph alternately. Now it was
+the Bed Man, now Napoleon, who stood in the ascendant. Fortune for a
+long period had been constant to the Emperor, and victory crowned every
+battle. This had, it seemed, greatly chagrined "L'Homme Bouge," who for
+years past had not been seen nor heard of. The last tradition of him was
+a story told by one of the sentinels on guard at the general's quarters
+at Mont Tabor.
+
+It was midnight: all was still and silent in the camp. The soldiers
+slept as men sleep before a battle, when the old grenadier who walked
+his short post before General Bonaparte's tent heard a quick tread
+approaching him. "Qui vive?" cried he; but there was no reply. "Qui
+vive?" called the sentry once more; but as he did so he leaped backwards
+and brought his musket to the charge, for just then something brushed
+close by him and entered the tent.
+
+For a moment or two he doubted what should be done. Should he turn out
+the guard? It was only to be laughed at; that would never do. But what
+if it really were somebody who had penetrated to the general's quarters?
+As this thought struck him, he crept up close to the tent; and there,
+true enough, he heard the voices of two persons speaking.
+
+"Ah! thou here?" said Bonaparte. "I scarce expected to see thee so far
+from France!"
+
+"Alas!" said the other, with a deep sigh, "what land is now open to me,
+or whither shall I fly to? I took refuge in Brussels; well, what should
+I see one morning, but the tall shakos of your grenadiers coming up the
+steep street. I fled to Holland; you were there the day after. 'Come,'
+thought I, 'he's moving northwards; I'll try the other extreme.' So I
+started for the Swiss. _Sacrebleu_! the roll of your confounded drums
+resounded through every valley. I reached the banks of the Po; your
+troops were there the same evening. I pushed for Rome; they were
+preparing your quarters, which you occupied that night. Away, then, I
+start once more; I cross mountains and rivers and seas, and gain the
+desert at last. I thank my fortune that there are a thousand leagues
+between us; and here you are now. For pity's sake, show me, on that map
+of the world, one little spot you don't want to conquer, and let me live
+there in peace, and be sure never to meet you more."
+
+Bonaparte did not speak for some minutes, and it seemed as though he
+were intently considering the request of "L'Homme Rouge."
+
+"There," said he at length, "there! You see that island in the great
+sea, with nothing near it; thou mayest go there."
+
+"How is it called?" said "L'Homme Rouge."
+
+"St. Helena," said the general. "It is not very large; but I promise
+thee to be undisturbed there."
+
+"You 'll never come there, then? Is that a pledge?"
+
+"Never; I promise it. At least, if I do, thou shalt be the master, and I
+the slave."
+
+"Enough! I go now. Adieu!" said the little man. And the same instant the
+sentinel felt his arm brushed by some one passing close beside him; and
+then all was silent in the tent once more.
+
+"Thus, you see," said the sergeant-major, "from that hour it was agreed
+on the Emperor should conquer the whole world, and leave that one little
+spot for 'L'Homme Rouge.' _Parbleu!_ he might well spare him that much."
+
+"How big might it be, that island?" said an old grenadier, who listened
+with the deepest attention to the tale.
+
+"Nothing to speak of; about the size of one battalion drawn up in
+square."
+
+"_Pardieu!_ a small kingdom too!"
+
+"Ah! it would not do for the Emperor," said the sergeant-major,
+laughing,--an emotion the others joined in at once; and many a jest went
+round at the absurdity of such a thought.
+
+I sat beside the watchfire, listening to the old campaigning stories,
+till one by one the speakers dropped off to sleep. The bronzed veteran
+and the boy conscript, the old soldier of the Sambre and the beardless
+youth, lay side by side: to some of these it was the last time they
+should slumber on earth. As the night wore on, the sounds became hushed
+in the camp, and through the thin frosty air I could hear from a long
+distance off the tramp of the patrols and the challenge of the reliefs
+as the outposts were visited. The Prussian sentries were quite close to
+our advanced posts, and when the wind came from that quarter, I often
+heard the voices as they exchanged their signals.
+
+Through the entire night, officers came and went to and from the tent of
+the Emperor. To him, at least, it seemed no season of repose. At length,
+when nigh morning, wearied with watching and tired out with expectancy,
+I leaned my head on my knees, and dropped into a half-sleep. Some vague
+sense of disappointment at being forgotten by the Emperor, was the
+last thought I had as I fell off, and in its sadness it colored all
+my dreams. I remembered, with all the freshness of a recent event, the
+curse of the old hag on the morning I had quitted my home forever,--her
+prayer that bad luck should track me every step through life; and in the
+shadowy uncertainty of my sleeping thoughts I believed I was predestined
+to misfortune.
+
+Almost every man has experienced the fact, that there are times in life
+when impressions, the slightest in their origin, will have an undue
+weight on the mind; when, as it were, the clay of our natures become
+softened, and we take the impress of passing events more easily. Some
+vague and shadowy conception--a doubt, a dream--is enough at moments
+like these to attain the whole force of a conviction; and it is
+wonderful with what ingenuity we wind to our purpose every circumstance
+around us, and what pains we take to increase the toils of our
+self-deception. It would be a curious thing to trace out how much of our
+good or evil fortune in life had its source in these superstitions; how
+far the frame of mind fashioned the events before it; and to what extent
+our hopes and fears were but the forerunners of destiny.
+
+My sleeping thoughts were of the saddest; and when I awoke, I could not
+shake them off. A heavy, dense fog clothed every object around, through
+which only the watchfires were visible, as they flared with a yellow,
+hazy light of unnatural size. The position of these signals was only
+to mark the inequality of the ground: and I now could perceive that we
+occupied the crest of a long and steep hill, down the sides and at the
+bottom of which fires were also burning; while in front another mountain
+arose, whose summit for a great distance was marked out by watchfires.
+This I conjectured, from its extent and position, to be the Prussian
+line.
+
+At the front of the Emperor's quarters several led horses were standing,
+whose caparison bespoke them as belonging to the staff; and although not
+yet five o'clock, there was an appearance of movement which indicated
+preparation. The troops, however, were motionless; the dense columns
+covered the ground like a garment, and stirred not. As I stood,
+uncertain what course to take, I heard the noise of voices and the heavy
+tramp of many feet near, and on turning perceived it was the Emperor,
+who came forth from his tent, followed by several of his staff. A large
+fire blazed in front of his bivouac, which threw its long light on the
+group; where, even in a fleeting glance, I recognized General Gazan, and
+Nansouty, the commander of the Cuirassiers of the Guard.
+
+"What hour is it?" said the Emperor to Duroc, who stood near him.
+
+"Almost five o'clock, Sire."
+
+"It is darker than it was an hour ago. Maison, where is Bernadotte by
+this?--at Domberg, think you?"
+
+"Not yet, Sire; he is no laggard if he reach it in three hours hence."
+
+"Ney would have been there now," was the quick reply of Napoleon. "Come,
+gentlemen, into the saddle, and let us move towards the front. Gazan,
+put your division under arms."
+
+The general waited not a second bidding, but wheeled his horse suddenly
+round, and followed by his aide-decamp, rode at full speed down the
+mountain.
+
+"There is the first streak of day," said the Emperor, pointing to a
+faint gray light above the distant forest; "it breaks like Austerlitz."
+
+"May it set as gloriously!" said old Nansouty, in his deep low voice.
+
+"And it will," said Napoleon. "What sayest thou, _grognard?_" continued
+he, turning with an affected severity of manner to the grenadier who
+stood sentinel on the spot, and who, with a French soldier's easy
+indifference, leaned on the cross of his musket to listen to the
+conversation; "what sayest thou? Art eager to be made corporal?"
+
+"_Parbleu!_" growled out the rough soldier, "the grade is little to
+boast of; were I even a general of division, there might be something to
+hope for."
+
+"What then?" said Napoleon, sharply, "what then?"
+
+"King of Prussia, to be sure; thou 'lt give away the title before this
+hour to-morrow."
+
+The Emperor laughed aloud at the conceit. Its flattery had a charm for
+him no courtier's well-turned compliment could vie with; and I could
+hear him still continuing to enjoy it as he rode slowly forward and
+disappeared in the gloom.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. JENA AND AUERSTAeDT.
+
+"He has forgotten me!" said I, half aloud, as I watched the retiring
+figures of the Emperor and his staff till they were concealed by the
+mist; "he has forgotten me! Now to find out my brigade. A great battle
+is before us, and there may still be a way to refresh his memory." With
+such thoughts I set forward in the direction of the picket-fires, full
+sure that I should meet some skirmishers of our cavalry there.
+
+As I went, the drums were beating towards the distant left, and
+gradually the sounds crept nearer and nearer, as the infantry battalions
+began to form and collect their stragglers. A dense fog seemed to shut
+out the dawn, and with a thin and misty rain, the heavy vapor settled
+down upon the earth, wrapping all things in a darkness deep as night
+itself. From none could I learn any intelligence of the cavalry quarter,
+nor had any of those I questioned seen horsemen pass near them.
+
+"The voltigeurs in the valley yonder may perhaps tell you something,"
+said an officer to me, pointing to some fires in a deep glen beneath us.
+And thither I now bent my steps.
+
+The dull rolling of the drums gradually swelled into one continued roar,
+through which the clank of steel and the tremulous tramp of marching
+columns could be heard. Spirit-stirring echoes were they, these
+awakening sounds of coming conflict! and how they nerved my heart, and
+set it bounding again with a soldier's ardor! As I descended the hill,
+the noise became gradually fainter, till at length I found myself in a
+narrow ravine, still and silent as the grave itself. The transition was
+so sudden and unexpected, that for a moment I felt a sense of loneliness
+and depression; and the thought struck me, "What if I have pushed on too
+far? Can it be that I have passed our lines? But the officer spoke of
+the voltigeurs in front; I had seen the fires myself; there could be no
+doubt about it." I now increased my speed, and in less than half an hour
+gained a spot where the ground became more open and extended in front,
+and not more than a few hundred paces in advance were the watchfires;
+and as I looked I heard the swell of a number of voices singing in
+chorus on different sides of me. The effect was most singular, for the
+sounds came from various quarters at the same instant, and, as they
+all chanted the same air, the refrain rang out and filled the valley;
+beating time with their feet, they stepped to the tune, and formed
+themselves to the melody, as though it were the band of the regiment. I
+had often heard that this was a voltigeur habit, but never was witness
+to it before. The air was one well known in that suburb of Paris whence
+the wildest and most reckless of our soldiers came, and which they all
+joined in celebrating in this rude verse:--
+
+      "Picardy first, and then Champagne,--
+            France to the battle! on boys, on!
+            Anjou, Brittany, and Maine,--
+            Hurrah for the Faubourg of St. Antoine I
+
+     "How pleasant the life of a voltigeur!
+           In the van of the fight he must ever be;
+           Of roughing and rations he 's always sure,--
+           With a comrade's share he may well make free.
+
+     "Picardy first, and then Champagne,--
+           France to the battle I on boys, on!
+           Anjou, Brittany, and Maine,--
+           Hurrah for the Faubourg of St. Antoine!
+
+     "The great guns thunder on yonder hill,--
+           Closer than that they durst not go;
+           But the voltigeur comes nearer still,--
+           With his bayonet fixed he meets the foe.
+
+    "The hussar's coat is slashed with gold;
+         He rides an Arab courser fleet:
+         But is the voltigeur less bold
+         Who meets his enemy on his feet?
+
+    "The cuirassier is clad in steel;
+         His massive sword is straight and strong:
+         But the voltigeur can charge and wheel
+         With a step,--his bayonet is just as long.
+
+    "The artillery-driver must halt his team
+         If the current be fast or the water deep:
+         But the voltigeur can swim the stream,
+         And climb the bank, be it e'er so steep.
+
+    "The voltigeur needs no trumpet sound,--
+         No bugle has he to cheer him on:
+         Where the fire is hottest, that 's his ground,--
+         Hurrah for the Faubourg of St. Antoine!"
+
+
+As they came to the conclusion of this song, they kept up the air
+without words, imitating by their voices the roll of the drum in
+marching time. Joining the first party I came up with, I asked the
+officer in what direction of the field I should find the cuirassier
+brigade.
+
+"That I can't tell you, Comrade," said he. "No cavalry have appeared in
+our neighborhood, nor are they likely; for all the ground is cut up and
+intersected so much they could not act. But our maitre d'armes is the
+fellow to tell you. Halloo, Francois! come up here for a moment."
+
+Before I could ask whether this was not my old antagonist at Elchingen,
+the individual himself appeared.
+
+"Eh, what?" cried he, as he lifted a piece of firewood from the ground,
+and stared me in the face by its light. "Not my friend Burke, eh? By
+Jove! so it is."
+
+Our cordial greetings being over, I asked Maitre Francois if he could
+give me any intelligence of D'Auvergne's division, or put me in the way
+to reach them.
+
+"They're some miles off by this time," said he, coolly. "When I was
+below the Plateau de Jena last night, that brigade you speak of
+got their orders to push forward to Auerstadt, to support Davoust's
+infantry. I mind it well, for they were sorely tired, and had just
+picketed their horses, when the orderly came down with the despatch."
+
+"And where does Auerstadt lie?"
+
+"About four leagues to the other side of that tall mountain yonder."
+
+"What, then, shall I do? I am dismounted, to begin with."
+
+"And if you were not, if you had the best horse in the whole brigade,
+what would it serve you now, except to pass the day riding between two
+battle-fields, and see nothing of either? for we shall have hot work
+here, depend upon it. No, no; stay with us. Be a voltigeur for to-day,
+and we 'll show you something you 'll not see from your bearskin
+saddle."
+
+"But I shall be in a sad scrape on account of my absence."
+
+"Never mind that; the man that takes his turn with the voltigeurs of the
+Twenty-second won't be suspected of skulking. And here comes the major;
+report yourself to him at once."
+
+Without waiting for any reply, Maitre Francois accosted the officer in
+question, and in a very few words explained my position.
+
+"Nothing could come better timed," said the major. "One of ours has been
+sent with despatches to the rear, and we may not see him for some hours.
+Again, a light cavalryman must know how to skirmish, and we 'll try your
+skill that way. Come along with me."
+
+"To our next meeting, then," cried Francois, as I hurried on after the
+major; whilst once more the voltigeur ranks burst forth in full chorus,
+and the merry sounds filled the valley.
+
+I followed the major down a somewhat steep and rugged path, at the foot
+of which, and concealed by a low copse-wood, was a party consisting of
+two companies of the regiment, who formed the most advanced pickets, and
+were destined to exchange the first shots with the enemy.
+
+Before us lay a defile, partly overgrown with trees on either side,
+which ascended by a gradual slope to the foot of the hill on which the
+Prussian infantry was stationed, and whose lines were tracked out by a
+long train of watch-fires. A farmhouse and its out-buildings occupied
+the side of the hill about half-way up; and this was garrisoned by the
+enemy, and defended by two guns in position in the defile. To surprise
+the post and hold it until the main columns came up, was the object
+of the voltigeur attack; and for this purpose small bodies of men were
+assembling secretly and stealthily under cover of the brushwood, to
+burst forth on the word being given.
+
+There was something which surprised me not a little in the way all these
+movements were effected. Officers and men were mixed up, as it seemed,
+in perfect confusion; not approaching in regular order, or taking up
+a position like disciplined troops, they came in twos and threes,
+crouching and creeping, and suddenly concealing themselves at every
+opportunity of cover the ground afforded.
+
+Their noiseless and cautious gestures brought to my mind all that I
+had ever read of Indian warfare; and in their eager faces, and quick,
+piercing looks, I thought I could recognize the very traits of the red
+men. The commands were given by signals; and so rapidly interchanged
+were they from party to party, that the different groups seemed to move
+forward by one impulse, though the officer who led them was full a mile
+distant from where we were.
+
+"Can you use a firelock, comrade?" said the major, as he placed in my
+hand a short musket, such as the voltigeurs carried. "Sling it at your
+back; you may find it useful up yonder. And now I must leave you; keep
+to this party. But what is this? You mustn't wear that shako; you'd soon
+be picked off with that tower of black fur on your head. Corporal,
+have you no spare foraging-cap in your kit? Ah! that's something
+more becoming a tirailleur; and, by Jove! I think it improves you
+wonderfully."
+
+The circumstance of becomingness was not exactly uppermost in my mind
+at the moment; but certainly I felt no small gratification at being
+provided with the equipment both of cap and firearms which placed me on
+an equality with those about me.
+
+Scarcely had the major left us, when the corporal crept closely to
+my side, and with that mingled respect and familiarity a French
+sous-officier assumes so naturally, said,--
+
+"You wished to see something of a skirmish, Captain, I suppose? Well,
+you're like enough to be gratified; we're closing up rapidly now."
+
+"What may be the strength of your battalion, Corporal?"
+
+"Twelve hundred men, sir; and they're every one at this instant in the
+valley, though I'll wager you don't see a bough move nor a leaf stirring
+to show where they lie hid. You see that low copse yonder; well, there's
+a company of ours beneath its shelter. But there goes the word to move
+on."
+
+A motion with his sword, the only command he gave, communicated the
+order; and the men, creeping stealthily on, obeyed the mandate, till at
+another signal they were halted.
+
+From the little copse of brushwood where we now lay, to the farmhouse,
+the ground was completely open,--not a shrub nor a bush grew; a slight
+ascent of the road led up to the gate, which could not be more than
+three hundred paces in front of us. We were stationed at some distance
+to the right of the road, but the field presented no obstacle or
+impediment to our attack; and thither now were our looks turned,--the
+short road which would lead to victory or the grave.
+
+From my ambush I could see the two fieldpieces which commanded the road,
+and beside which the artillerymen stood in patient attention. With what
+a strange thrill I watched one of the party, as from time to time
+he stooped down to blow the fuse beside the gun, and then seemed
+endeavoring to peer into the valley, where all was still and noiseless!
+As well as I could judge, our little party was nearest to the front; and
+although a small clump to the left of the road offered a safe shelter
+still nearer the enemy, I could not ascertain if it were occupied.
+
+Not a word was now spoken. All save the corporal looked eagerly towards
+the enemy; he was watching for the signal, and knelt down with his drawn
+sword at his side. The deathlike stillness of the moment, so unlike the
+prelude to every movement in cavalry combat; the painful expectation
+which made minutes like years themselves; the small number of the party,
+so dissimilar to the closely crowded squadrons I was used to; but,
+more than all, the want of a horse,--that most stirring of all the
+excitements to heroism and daring,--unnerved me; and if my heart were
+to have been interrogated, I sadly fear it would have brought little
+corroboration to the song of the voltigeurs, which attributed so many
+features of superiority to their arm of the service above the rest of
+the army.
+
+A thousand and thousand times did I wish to be at the head of a cavalry
+charge up that narrow road in face of those guns; ay, though the
+mitraille should sweep the earth, there was that in the onward torrent
+of the horseman's course that left no room for fear. But this cold and
+stealthy approach, this weary watching, I could not bear.
+
+"See, see," whispered the corporal, as he pointed with his finger
+towards the clump to the left of the road, "how beautifully done! there
+goes another."
+
+As he spoke, I could perceive the dark shadow of something moving close
+to the ground, and finally concealing itself in the brushwood, beneath
+which now above twenty men lay hid. At the same instant a deep rolling
+sound like far-off thunder was heard; and then louder still, but less
+deep in volume, the rattling crash of musketry. At first the discharges
+were more prolonged, and succeeded one another more rapidly; but
+gradually the firing became less regular; then after an interval swelled
+more fully again, and once more relaxed.
+
+"Listen!" said the corporal; "can't you hear the cheering? There again;
+the skirmishers are falling back,--the fire is too heavy for them."
+
+"Which, the Prussians?"
+
+"To be sure, the Prussians. Hark! there was a volley; that was no
+tirailleur discharge; the columns are advancing. Down, men, down!"
+whispered he, as, excited by the sounds of musketry, some three or four
+popped up their heads to listen. At the same instant a noise in front
+drew our attention to that quarter; and we now saw that a party of horse
+artillerymen were descending the road with a light eight-pounder gun,
+which they were proceeding to place in position on a small knoll of
+ground about eighty yards from the coppice I have mentioned.
+
+"How I could pick off that fellow on the gray horse," whispered a
+soldier beside me to his comrade.
+
+"And bring the whole fire on us afterwards," said the other.
+
+"What can we be waiting for?" said the corporal, impatiently. "They are
+making that place as strong as a fortress; and there, see if that is not
+a reinforcement!"
+
+While he spoke, the heavy tramp of men marching announced the approach
+of fresh troops; and by the bustle and noise within the farmhouse it was
+clear the preparations for its defence were making with all the activity
+the exigency demanded.
+
+It was past seven o'clock; but as the day broke more out, the heavy
+fog increased, and soon grew so dense as to shut out from our view
+the Prussian picket and the guns upon the road. Meanwhile the firing
+continued at a distance, but, as it seemed, fainter than before.
+
+"Ha! there it comes now," said the corporal, as a shrill whistle was
+heard to our left. "Look to your pieces, men! steady." There was a
+pause; every ear was bent to listen, every breath drawn short, when
+again he spoke. "That 's it. _En avant_, lads! _en avant!_"
+
+With the word he sprang forward, but still crouching, he went as if the
+thick mist were not enough to conceal him. The men followed their leader
+with cautious steps, their carbines in hand and bayonets fixed. For some
+minutes we ascended the hill, gradually nearing the road, along which a
+low bank offered a slight protection against fire.
+
+The corporal halted here for a second or two, when another whistle, so
+faint as to be scarcely audible, was borne on the air. With a motion of
+his hand forwards he gave the order to advance, and led the way along
+the roadside.
+
+As we followed in single file, I found myself next the corporal, whose
+every motion I watched with an intensity of interest I cannot convey. At
+last he stopped and wheeled round; then, kneeling down, he levelled his
+piece upon the low bank,--a movement quickly followed by all the rest
+who in silence obeyed his signal.
+
+Directly in front of us now, and as it seemed not above a dozen yards
+distant, the yellow glare of the artillery fuse could be dimly discerned
+through the mist; thither every eye was bent and every musket pointed.
+Thus we knelt with beating hearts, when suddenly several shots rang out
+from the valley and the opposite side of the road; as quickly replied to
+by the enemy, and a smart but irregular clattering of musketry followed.
+
+"Now," cried the corporal, aloud, "now, and all together!"
+
+And then with one long, stunning report, every gun was discharged, and a
+wild cry of the wounded blended with the sounds as we cleared the fence
+and dashed at the guns.
+
+"Down, men, down!" called our leader, as we jumped into the road. The
+word was scarce uttered when a bright flash gleamed forth, a loud bang
+succeeded, and we heard the grapeshot crushing down the valley and
+tearing its way through the leaves and branches of the brushwood.
+
+"_En avant_, lads! now's your time!" cried the corporal, as he sprang to
+his feet and led towards the gun.
+
+With one vigorous dash we pushed up the height, just as the cannoneers
+were preparing to load. The gunners fell back, and a party of infantry
+as quickly presented themselves.
+
+The mist happily concealed the smallness of our force, otherwise the
+Prussians might have crushed us at once. For a second there was a pause;
+then both sides fired, an irregular volley was discharged, and the
+muskets were lowered to the charge. What must have been the fate of our
+little party now there could be no doubt; when suddenly, through the
+blue smoke which yet lingered near the guns, the bright gleaming of
+bayonets was seen to flash, while the loud _vivas_ of our own soldiers
+rent the air.
+
+So rapid was the rush, and so thronging did they come, it seemed as if
+the very ground had given them up. With a cry of "Forward!" on we went;
+the enemy retired and fell back behind the cover of the road, where they
+kept up a tremendous fire upon the gun, to which now all our efforts
+were directed, to turn against the walls of the farmhouse.
+
+The mist by this was cleared away, and we were exposed to the shattering
+fire which was maintained not only along the road, but from every window
+and crevice in the walls of the farmhouse. Our men fell fast,--several
+badly wounded; for the distance was less than half musket-range, even to
+the farthest.
+
+"The bayonet, men! the bayonet! Leave the gun, and sweep the road of
+those fellows yonder!" said the major, as, vaulting over the fence, he
+led the way himself.
+
+We were now reinforced, and numbered fully four companies; so that our
+attack soon drove in the enemy, who retreated, still firing, within the
+courtyard around the farmhouse.
+
+"Bring up the gun, lads, and we 'll soon breach them," said the major.
+But, unhappily, the party to whom it was committed, being annoyed at the
+service which kept them back when their companions were advancing, had
+hurled the piece off its carriage, and rolled it down the mountain.
+
+With a muttered _sacre_ on their stupidity, the officer cried out to
+scale the walls. If honor and rank and wealth had lain on the opposite
+side, and not death and agony, they could not have obeyed with more
+alacrity. Raised on one another's shoulders, the brave fellows mounted
+the wall; but it was only to fall back again into their comrades' arms,
+dead or mortally wounded. Still they pressed on: a reckless defiance of
+danger had shut out every other thought; and their cheers grew wilder
+and fiercer as the fire told upon them, while the shouts of triumph from
+those within stimulated them to the verge of madness.
+
+"Stand back, men! stand back!" called the major; "down! I say."
+
+As he spoke, a dead silence followed; the men retreated behind the cover
+of the fence, and lay down flat with their faces to the ground. A low,
+hissing noise was then heard; and then, with a clap like thunder, the
+strong gate was rent into fragments and scattered in blazing pieces
+about the field. The crash of the petard was answered by a cheer wild as
+a war-whoop, and onward the infuriated soldiers poured through the
+still burning timbers. And now began a scene of carnage which only a
+hand-to-hand encounter can ever produce. From every door and window the
+Prussians maintained a deadly fire: but the onward tide of victory was
+with us, and we poured down upon them with the bayonet; and as none
+gave, none asked for, quarter, the work of death was speedy. To the
+wild shouts of battle, the crash, the din, the tumult of the fight, a
+dropping irregular fire succeeded; and then came the low, wailing cries
+of the wounded, the groans of the dying, and all was over! We were the
+victors; but what a victory! The garden was strewn with our dead;
+the hall, the stairs, every room was covered with bodies of our brave
+fellows, their rugged faces even sterner than in life.
+
+For some minutes it seemed as though our emotions had unnerved us all,
+as we stood speechless, gazing on the fearful scene of bloodshed; when
+the low rolling of drums, heard from the mountain side, startled every
+listener.
+
+"The Prussians! the Prussians!" called out three or four voices
+together.
+
+"No, no!" shouted Francois; "I was too long a tambour not to know that
+beat; they 're our fellows."
+
+The drums rolled fuller and louder; and soon the head of a column
+appeared peering over the ascent of the road. The sun shone brightly on
+their gay uniforms and glancing arms, and the tall and showily-dressed
+tambour-major stepped in advance with the proud bearing of a conqueror.
+
+"Form, men, and to the front!" said the major of the voltigeurs, who
+knew that his place was in the advance, and felt a noble pride that he
+had won it bravely.
+
+As the column came up the road, the voltigeurs, scattered along the road
+on either side, advanced at a run. But no longer was there any obstacle
+to their course; no enemy presented themselves in sight, and we mounted
+the ascent without a single shot being fired.
+
+As I stopped for time to recover breath, I could not help turning to
+behold the valley, which, now filled with armed men, was a grand and
+a gorgeous sight. In long columns of attack they came, the artillery
+filling the interspaces between them. A brilliant sunlight shone out;
+and I could distinguish the different brigades, with whose colors I was
+now familiar. Still my eye ranged over the field in search of cavalry,
+the arm I loved above all others,--that which, more than all the rest,
+revived the heroic spirit of the chivalrous ages, and made the horseman
+feel the ancient ardor of the belted knight. But none were within sight.
+Indeed, the very nature of the ground offered an obstacle to their
+movement, and I saw that here, as at Austerlitz, the day was for the
+infantry.
+
+Meanwhile we toiled up the height, and at length reached the crest of
+the ridge. And then burst forth a sight such as all the grandeur I
+had ever beheld of war had never presented the equal to. On a vast
+tableland, slightly undulating on the surface, was drawn up the whole
+Prussian army in battle array,--a splendid force of nigh thirty thousand
+infantry, flanked by ten thousand sabres, the finest cavalry in Europe.
+By some inconceivable error of tactics, they had offered no other
+resistance to the French ascent of the mountain than the skirmishing
+troops, which fell back as we came on; and even now they seemed to wait
+patiently for the enemy to form before the conflict should begin. As our
+columns crowned the hill they instantly deployed, to cover the advance
+of those who followed: but the precaution seemed needless; for, except
+at the extreme left, where we heard the firing before, the Prussian army
+never moved a man, nor showed any disposition to attack.
+
+It was now nine o'clock; the sky clear and cloudless, and a bright
+autumnal day permitted the eye to range for miles on every side. The
+Prussian army, but forty thousand strong, was drawn up in the form of
+an arch, presenting the convexity to our front; while our troops, ninety
+thousand in number, overlapped them on either flank, and extended far
+beyond them.
+
+The battle began by the advance of the French columns and the retreat
+of the enemy,--both movements being accomplished without a shot being
+fired, and the whole seeming the manoeuvres of a field-day.
+
+At length, as the Prussians took up the position they intended to
+hold, their guns were seen moving to the front; squadrons of cavalry
+disengaged themselves from behind the infantry masses; and then a
+tremendous tire opened from the whole line. Our troops advanced _en
+tirailleurs_,--that is, whole regiments thrown out in skirmishing
+order,--which, when pressed, fell back, and permitted the columns to
+appear.
+
+The division to which I found myself attached received orders to move
+obliquely across the plain, in the direction of some cottages, which I
+soon heard was the village of Vierzehn Heiligen, and the centre of the
+Prussian position. A galling fire of artillery played upon the column
+as it went; and before we accomplished half the distance, our loss was
+considerable. More than once, too, the cry of "cavalry!" was heard; and
+quick as the warning itself, we were thrown into square, to receive the
+impetuous horsemen, who came madly on to the charge. Ney himself stood
+in the squares, animating the men by his presence, and cheering them at
+every volley they poured in.
+
+"Yonder, men! yonder is the centre of their position," said he, pointing
+to the village, which now bristled with armed men, several guns upon
+a height beyond it commanding the approach, and a cloud of cavalry
+hovering near, to pounce down upon those who might be daring enough to
+assail it. A wild cheer answered his words: both general and soldiers
+understood each other well.
+
+In two columns of attack the division was formed; and then the word
+"Forward!" was given. "Orderly time, men!" said General Dorsenne, who
+commanded that with which I was; and, obedient to the order, the ranks
+moved as if on parade.
+
+And now let me mention a circumstance, which, though trivial in
+itself, presents a feature of the peculiar character of courage which
+distinguished the French officer in battle. As the line advanced, the
+fire of the Prussian battery, which by this had found out our range most
+accurately, opened severely on us, but more particularly on the left;
+and as the men fell fast, and the grapeshot tore through the ranks, a
+wavering of the line took place, and in several places a broken front
+was presented. Dorsenne saw it at once, and placing himself in front of
+the advance, with his back towards the enemy, he called out, as if on
+parade, "Close order--close order! Move up there--left, right--left,
+right!" And so did he retire step by step, marking the time with
+his sword, while the shot flew past and about him, and the earth was
+scattered by the torrent of the grapeshot. Courage like this would seem
+to give a charmed life, for while death was dealing fast around him, he
+never received a wound.
+
+The village was attacked at the bayonet point, and at the charge the
+enemy received us. So long as their artillery could continue its fire,
+our loss was fearful; but once within shelter of the walls and close in
+with the Prussian ranks, the firing ceased, and the struggle was hand to
+hand. Twice did we win our way up the ascent; twice were we beaten back.
+Strong reinforcements were coming up to the enemy's aid; when a
+loud rolling of the drums and a hoarse cheer from behind revived our
+spirits,--it was Lannes's division advancing at a run. They opened to
+permit our retiring masses to re-form behind them, and then rushed on. A
+crash of musketry rang out, and through the smoke the glancing bayonets
+flashed and the red flame danced wildly.
+
+"En avant! en avant!" burst from every man, as, maddened with
+excitement, we plunged into the fray. Like a vast torrent tumbling
+from some mountain gorge, the column poured on, overwhelming all before
+it,--now struggling for a moment, as some obstacle delayed, but could
+not arrest, its march; now rushing headlong, it swept along. The village
+was won; the Prussians fell back. Their guns opened fiercely on us, and
+cavalry tore past, sabring all who sought not shelter within the walls:
+but the post was ours, the key of their position was in our hands; and
+Ney sent three messengers one after the other to the Emperor to let him
+know the result, and enable him to push forward and attack the Prussian
+centre.
+
+Suddenly a wild cry was heard from the little street of the village: the
+houses were in flames. The Prussians had thrown in heated shells, and
+the wooden roofs of the cottages caught up the fire. For an instant all
+became, as it were, panic-struck, and a confused movement of retreat was
+begun: but the next moment order was restored; the sappers scaled the
+walls of the burning houses, and with their axes severed the timbers,
+and suffered the blazing mass to fall within the buildings.
+
+But by this time the Prussians had re-formed their columns, and once
+more advanced to the attack. The moment was in their favor: the disorder
+of our ranks, and the sudden fear inspired by an unlooked-for danger
+still continued, when they came on. Then, indeed, began a scene of
+bloodshed the most horrible to witness: through the narrow streets,
+within the gardens, the houses themselves, the combatants fought hand
+to hand; neither would give way; neither knew on which side lay their
+supporting columns. It was the terrible carnage of deadly animosity on
+both sides.
+
+Meanwhile the flames burst forth anew, and amid the crackling of the
+burning timbers and the dense smoke of the lighted thatch, the fight
+went on.
+
+"Vandamme! Vandamme!" cried several voices, in ecstasy; "here come the
+grenadiers!" And, true enough, the tall shakos peered through the blue
+cloud.
+
+"Hurrah for the Faubourg!" shouted a wild voltigeur, as he waved his cap
+and sprang forward. "Let us not lose the glory now, boys!"
+
+The appeal was not made in vain. From every window and doorway the men
+leaped down into the street, and rushed at the Prussian column, which
+was advancing at the charge. Suddenly the column opened, a rushing
+sound was heard, and down with the speed of lightning rode a squadron
+of cuirassiers. Over us they tore, sabring as they went, nor halted till
+the head of Vandamme's column poured in a volley. Then wheeling, they
+galloped back, trampling on our wounded, and dealing death with their
+broadswords.
+
+As for me, a sabre-cut in the head had stunned me; and while I leaned
+for support against the wall of a house, a horseman tore past, and with
+one vigorous cut he cleft open my shoulder. I staggered back and fell,
+covered with bloody upon the door-sill. I saw our column pass on,
+cheering, and heard the wild cry, "En avant I en avant!" swelling from
+a thousand voices; and then, faint and exhausted, my senses reeled, and
+the rest was like an indistinct dream.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. A FRAGMENT OF A MAITRE d'ARMES EXPERIENCES
+
+Stunned, and like one but half awake, I followed the tide of marching
+men which swept past like a mighty river, the roar of the artillery and
+the crash of battle increasing the confusion of my brain. All distinct
+memory of the remainder of the day is lost to me. I can recollect
+the explosion of several wagons of the ammunition train, and how the
+splinters wounded several of those around me; I also have a vague,
+dreamy sense of being hurried along at intervals, and then seeing masses
+of cavalry dash past. But the great prevailing thought above all others
+is, of leaning over the edge of a charrette, where I lay with some
+wounded soldiers, to watch the retreat of the Prussians, as they were
+pursued by Murat's cavalry. Francois was at my side, and described to
+me the great events of the battle; but though I seemed to listen, the
+sounds fell unregarded on my ear. Even now, it seems to me like a dream;
+and the only palpable idea before me is the heated air, the dark and
+lowering sky, And the deafening thunder of the guns.
+
+It is well known how the victory of Jena was crowned by the glorious
+issue of the battle of Auerstadt, where the main body of the Prussians,
+under the command of the king himself, was completely beaten by Davoust
+with a force not half their number. The two routed armies crossed in
+their flight, while the headlong fury of the French cavalry pressed down
+on them; nor did the terrible slaughter cease till night gave respite to
+the beaten.
+
+The victors and the vanquished entered Weimar together, a distance of
+full six leagues from the field of battle. All struggle had long ceased.
+An unresisting massacre it was; and such was the disappointment and
+anger of the people of the country, that the Prussian officers were
+frequently attacked and slain by the peasantry, whose passionate
+indignation made them suspect treachery in the result of the battle.
+
+All whose wounds were but slight, and whose health promised speedy
+restoration, were mounted into wagons taken from the enemy, and sent
+forward with the army. Among this number I found myself, and that same
+night slept soundly and peacefully in the straw of the charrette in
+which I travelled from Jena.
+
+The Emperor's headquarters were established at Weimar, and thither all
+the ambulances were conveyed; while the marshals, with their several
+divisions, were sent in pursuit of the enemy. As for myself, before the
+week elapsed, I was sufficiently recovered to move about; for happily
+the stunning effects which immediately followed the injury were its
+worst consequences, and my wound in the shoulder proved but trifling.
+
+"And so you are determined to join the cavalry again?" said Francois,
+as he sat by my side under a tree, where a cheerful fire of blazing
+wood had drawn several to enjoy its comfort. "That is what I cannot
+comprehend by any stretch of ingenuity,--how a man who has once seen
+something of voltigeur life can go back to the dull routine of dragoon
+service."
+
+"Perhaps I have had enough of skirmishing, Francois," said I, smiling.
+
+"Is it of that knock on the pate you speak?" said he, contemptuously.
+"Bah! the heavy shako you wear would give a worse headache. Come, come;
+think better on 't. I can tell you"--here he lowered his voice to a
+whisper--"I can tell you, Burke, the major noticed the manner you
+held your ground in the old farmhouse. I heard him refuse to send a
+reinforcement when the Prussians made their second attack. 'No, no,'
+said he; 'that hussar fellow yonder does his work so well, he wants no
+help from us.' When he said that, my friend, be assured your promotion
+is safe enough. You were made for a voltigeur."
+
+"Come, Francois, it's no use; all your flattery won't make me desert.
+I 'll try and join my brigade to-morrow; that is, if I can find them."
+
+"You never told me in what way you first became separated from your
+corps. How was it?"
+
+"There's something of a secret there, Francois; you mustn't ask me."
+
+"Ah, I understand," said he, with a knowing look, and a gesture of his
+hand, as if making a pass with his sword. "Did you kill him?"
+
+"No, not exactly," said I, laughing.
+
+"Merely gave him that pretty lunge _en tierce_ you favored me with,"
+said he, putting his hand on his side.
+
+"Nor even that."
+
+"_Diable!_ then how was it?"
+
+"I have told you it was a secret."
+
+"Secret! Confound it, man, there are no secrets in a campaign, except
+when the military chest is empty or the commissary falls short of grub;
+these are the only things one ever thinks of hushing up. Come, out with
+it!"
+
+"Well, if it must be, I may as well have the benefit of your advice. So
+draw closer, for I don't wish the rest to hear it."
+
+In as few words as I was able, I explained to Francois the circumstances
+of the night march, and the manner of my meeting with the Emperor at the
+ravine, where the artillery train was stopped. But when I came to the
+incident of the picket, and mentioned how, in rescuing the Emperor, my
+horse had been killed under me, he could no longer restrain himself, but
+turned to the rest, who, to the number of fifteen or sixteen, sat around
+the fire, and burst forth,--
+
+"_Mille tonnerres!_ but the boy is a fool!" And then, before I could
+interpose a word, blurted out the whole adventure to the company.
+
+There was no use now to attempt any concealment at all; neither was
+there to feel anger at his conduct. One would have been as absurd as
+the other; and so I had to endure, as best I could, the various comments
+that were passed on my behavior, on the prudence of which certainly no
+second opinion existed.
+
+"You must be right certain of promotion, Captain," said an old sergeant,
+with a gray beard and mustache, "or you wouldn't refuse such a chance as
+that."
+
+"_Diable!_" cried Francois; "don't you see he wouldn't accept of it.
+He is too proud to wait on the Petit Caporal, though he asked him to do
+so."
+
+"He 'd have given you the cross of the Legion anyhow," said another.
+
+"Ay, by Jove!" exclaimed the riding-master of a dragoon regiment, "and
+sent him a remount from his own stud."
+
+"And you think that modesty!" said Francois, whose indignation at my
+folly knew no bounds. "_Par Saint Joseph!_ if I'd been as modest, it's
+not maitre d'armes of a voltigeur battalion I 'd be to-day; though I may
+say, without boasting, I'm not afraid to cross a rapier with any man in
+the army. No, no; that's not the way I managed."
+
+"How was that, Maitre Francois?" said a young officer, who felt curious
+to learn the circumstance to which he seemed to attach a story.
+
+"If the honorable society cares to hear it," said Francois, uncovering,
+and bowing courteously to all around, "I shall have great pleasure in
+recounting a little incident of my life."
+
+A general cry of acclamation and "bravo" met the polite proposal; while
+Francois, accepting a _goutte_ from a canteen presented to him, began
+thus:--
+
+"I began my soldier's life at the first step of the ladder. I was a
+drummer-boy at Jemappes; and, when I grew old enough to exchange the
+drumstick for the sword, I was attached to the _chasseurs a cheval_, and
+went with them to Egypt. I could tell you some strange stories of
+our doings there,--I don't mean with the Turks, mark you, but amongst
+ourselves,--for we had little affairs with the sword almost every
+day; and I soon showed them I was their master. But that is not to the
+purpose; what I am about to speak of happened in this wise.
+
+"At break of day, one morning, the picket to which I was joined received
+orders to mount, and accompany the general along the bank of the Nile
+to the village of Chebrheis, where we heard that a Mameluke force were
+assembling, whose strength and equipment it was important to ascertain.
+Our horses were far from fresh when we started; the day previous had
+been spent in a fatiguing march from Rhemanieh, crossing a dreary
+desert, with hot sands and no water. But General Bonaparte always
+expected us to turn out, as if we had got a general remount; and so we
+made the best of it, and set out in as good style as we could. We had
+not gone above a league and a half, however, when we found that the
+slapping pace of the general had left the greater part of the escort out
+of sight; and of a score of four squadrons, not above twenty horsemen
+were present.
+
+"The Emperor--you know he was only general then, but it 's all the
+same--laughed heartily when he found he had outridden the rest; indeed,
+for that matter, he laughed at our poor blown beasts, that shook on
+every limb, and seemed like to push their spare, gaunt bones through the
+trappings with which, for shame's sake, we endeavored to cover them. But
+his joke was but shortlived; for just then, from behind the wall of an
+old ruined temple--whiz!--there came a shattering volley of musketry in
+the midst of us; the only miracle is how one escaped. The next moment
+there was a wild hurrah, and we beheld some fifty Mameluke fellows,
+all glittering with gold, coming down full speed on us, on their Arab
+chargers. _Mille cadavres!_ what was to be done? Nothing, you'd say, but
+run for it. And so we should have done, if the beasts were able: but not
+a bit of it; they couldn't have raised a gallop if Mourad Bey had been
+there with his whole army. And so we put a good face on it, and drew up
+across the way, and looked as if going to charge. Egad! the Turks were
+amazed. They halted up short, and stared about them to see what infantry
+or artillery there might be coming up to our assistance, so boldly did
+we hold our ground.
+
+"'We'll keep them in check, General,' said the officer of the picket.
+'Lose no time now, but make a dash for it, and you'll get away.' And so,
+without more ado, Bonaparte turned his horse's head round, and, driving
+his spurs into him, set out at top speed.
+
+"This was the signal for the Mameluke charge; and down they came.
+_Sacristi!_ how the infidels rode us down! Over and over our fellows
+rolled, men and horses together, while they slashed with their keen
+cimeters on every side; few needed a second cut, I warrant you.
+
+[Illustration: 296]
+
+"By some good fortune, my beast kept his legs in the _melee_, and, with
+even better luck, got so frightened that he started off, and struck out
+in full gallop after the general, who, about two hundred paces in front
+of me, was dashing along, pursued by a Mameluke, with a cimeter held
+over his head. The Turk's horse, however, was wounded, and could not
+gain even on the tired animal before him, while mine was at every stride
+overtaking him.
+
+"The Mameluke, hearing the clatter behind, turned his head. I seized the
+moment, and discharged my only remaining pistol at him,--alas! without
+effect. With a wild war-cry the fellow swerved round and came down upon
+me, intending to take my horse in flank, and hurl me over. But the good
+beast plunged forward, and my enemy passed behind, and only grazed the
+haunches as he went; the moment after he was at my side. _Parbleu!_ I
+did n't like the companionship. I knew every turn of a broadsword or a
+rapier well; but a curved cimeter, keen as a razor, of Damascus steel,
+glittering and glistening over my head, was a different thing: the great
+dark eyes of the fellow, too, glared like balls of fire, and his white
+teeth were clenched. With a swing of his blade over his head, so loosely
+done I thought he had almost flung the weapon from his hand, he aimed
+a cut at my neck; but, quick as lightning, I dropped upon the mane,
+and the sharp blade shaved the red feather from my shako, and sent it
+floating in the air, while, with a straight point, I ran him through
+the body, and heard his death-shout as he fell bathed in blood upon the
+sands. The general saw him fall, and cried out something; but I could
+not hear the words, nor, to say truth, did I care much at the time: my
+happiest thought just then was to see the remainder of the escort, which
+we had left behind, coming up at a smart canter.
+
+"The Turks no sooner perceived them than they wheeled and fled; and so we
+returned to the camp, with a loss of some twenty brave fellows, and none
+the wiser for all our trouble.
+
+"'What shall I do for you, friend?' said the general to me, as I stood
+by his orders at the door of his tent, 'what shall I do for you?'
+
+"_Ma foi!_ said I, with a shrug of my shoulders, 'I can't well say at a
+moment; perhaps the best thing would be to promise you 'd never take
+me as one of your escort when you make such an expedition as this
+morning's.'
+
+"'No, no, I 'll not say that. Who are you? What's your grade?'
+
+"'Francois, maitre d'armes of the Fourth Chasseurs of the Guard,' said
+I, proudly. And, indeed, I thought he might have known me without the
+question.
+
+"'Ah, indeed!' replied he, gravely. 'Promotion is then of no use here;
+a maitre d'armes, like a general of division, is at the top of the tree.
+Come, I have it; a fellow of your sort is never out of scrapes,--always
+duelling and quarrelling, under arrest three days in every week; I know
+you well. Now, Maitre Francois, I 'll forgive you the first time you ask
+me for any offence within my power to pardon. Go; you are satisfied with
+that promise,--is it not so?'
+
+"'Yes, General; and I'll soon jog your memory about it,' said I,
+saluting and retiring from the tent.
+
+"I see some old 'braves' of the Pyramids about me now," continued
+Francois, "and so I need not dwell on the events of the campaign. You
+all know how General Bonaparte left the army to Kleber, and went back to
+France; and somehow we never had much luck after that. But so it was, I
+came back with the regiment, and was at the battle of Marengo when our
+brigade captured four guns of Skal's battery, and carried off eleven of
+their officers our prisoners. You'd wonder now, Comrades, how that piece
+of good fortune should turn out so ill for me; but such was the case.
+After the battle was gained, General Bonaparte retired to Gerofola with
+his staff, and I was ordered to proceed after him, with the Hauptmann
+Klingenswert of the Austrian army,--one of our prisoners who had served
+on Melas's staff, and knew everything about the effective strength of
+the army and all their plans.
+
+"We set off at daybreak. It was in June, and a lovely morning too; and
+as my prisoner was an officer and a man of honor, I took no escort, but
+rode along at his side. We halted at noon to dine in a little grove of
+cedars, where I opened my canteen and spread the contents on the grass:
+and after regaling ourselves pleasantly, we lighted our meerschaums
+and chatted away like old comrades over the war and its chances. A more
+agreeable fellow than the Austrian I never met. He told me his whole
+history, and I told him mine; and we drank Bruederschaft together, and
+swore I don't know how many eternal friendships. The devil was just
+amusing himself with us all this time though, as you 'll see presently;
+for we soon got into an argument about the charge in which our brigade
+captured the guns. He said that if the ammunition had not failed we
+never would have dared the attack; and I swore that the discharges were
+pouring in while we rode down on the battery.
+
+"We grew warm with the dispute, and drank deeper to cool us; and, what
+between the wine and our own passion, we became downright angry, and
+went so far as to interchange something not like Bruederschaft.
+
+"'Ah, how unfortunate I always am!' said I, sighing. 'If I had only the
+good luck to be the prisoner now, and you the escort--'
+
+"'What then?' said he.
+
+"'How easily, and how pleasantly too, could we settle this little
+affair. The ground is smooth as velvet; there is no sun; all still, and
+quiet, and peaceful.'
+
+"'No, no,' said the Austrian; 'I couldn't do what you propose,--I should
+be dishonored forever if I took such an advantage of you. You must
+know, Francois,' for he called me so, recurring at once to his tone of
+kindliness, 'I am the first swordsman of my brigade.'
+
+"I could scarcely avoid throwing myself into his arms as he spoke; never
+was there such a piece of fortune. 'And I,' cried I, in ecstasy, 'I the
+first of the whole French army!' You know, Comrades, I only said that
+_en gascon_, and to afford him the greater pleasure in our _rencontre_.
+
+"We soon measured our swords and threw off our jackets. 'Francois,' said
+he, 'I ought to mention to you that my lunge _en tierce_ is my famous
+stroke; I rarely miss running my adversary through the chest with it.'
+
+"'I know the trick well,' said I; 'take care of my "pass" outside the
+guard.'
+
+"'Oh! if that's your game,' said he, laughing, 'I'll make short work of
+it. Now, to begin.'
+
+"'All ready,' said I; 'en garde!' And we crossed our weapons. For
+a German he was a capital swordsman, and had a very pretty trick of
+putting in his point over the hilt, and wounding the sword-arm; but if
+it had not been for all the wine I drank the affair would have been over
+in a second or two. As it was, we both fenced loose, and without any
+judgment whatever.
+
+"'Ah! you got that,' said I, 'at last!' as I pierced him in the back,
+outside the guard.
+
+"'No, no!' cried he, passionately; for his temper was up, and he would
+not confess a touch.
+
+"'Well, then, that's home!' said I, thrusting beneath his hilt, till the
+blood spurted out along my blade and even in my eyes.
+
+"'Yes, that's home,' said he, staggering back, while one of his legs
+crossed over the other, and he fell heavily on the grass. I stooped down
+to feel his heart; and as I did so my senses failed, my limbs tottered,
+and I rolled headlong over him. Truth was, I was badly wounded, though I
+never knew when; for his sword had entered my chest, beneath a rib, and
+cut some large vessels in the lungs.
+
+"The end of it all was, the Austrian was buried, and I was broke the
+service without pay or pension, my wound being declared by the doctors
+an incapacity to serve in future.
+
+"Comrades, we often hear men talk of the happy day before them when they
+shall leave the army and throw off the knapsack, and give up the musket
+for the mattock. Well, trust me, it's no such pleasure as they deem it,
+after all. There was I, turned loose upon the world, with nothing but a
+suit of ragged clothes my comrades made up amongst them, my old rapier,
+and a bad asthma. Such was my stock-in-trade, to begin life anew, at the
+age of forty-seven. And so, I set out on my weary way back to Paris."
+
+"Didn't you try your chance with the Petit Caporal first?" asked one of
+the listeners.
+
+"To be sure I did. I sent him a long petition, setting forth the whole
+circumstance, and detailing every minute particular of the duel; but I
+received it back, unopened,--with Duroc's name, and the word 'Rejected,'
+on the back.
+
+"It is strange-how unfit we old soldiers are for any occupation in a
+civil way, when we 've spent half a lifetime campaigning. When I reached
+Paris, I could almost have wedged myself into the scabbard of my
+sword. Long marches and short rations had told heavily on me; and the
+custom-house officer at the barrier told me to pass on, without ever
+stopping to see that I carried no contraband goods about me.
+
+"I had a miserable time enough of it for twelve or fourteen months.
+The only way of support I could find was teaching recruits the sword
+exercise; and you know they could n't be very liberal in their rewards
+for the service. But even this poor trade was soon interdicted, as the
+police reported that I encouraged the young soldiers to fight duels,--a
+great offence, truly! But you see everything went unluckily with me at
+that time.
+
+"What was to become of me now I couldn't tell; when an old comrade,
+pensioned off from Moreau's army, had interest to get me appointed
+supernumerary, as they call it, in the Grand Opera, where I used to
+perform as a Roman soldier, or a friar, or a peasant, or some such
+thing, for five francs a week. Not a sou more had I, and the duty was
+heavier than on active service.
+
+"After two years, the 'big drum' died of a rheumatic fever, from beating
+a great solo in a new German Opera, and I was promoted to his place;
+for by this time I was quite recovered from the effects of my wound, and
+could use my arms as well as ever.
+
+"Some of the honorable company may remember the first night that
+Napoleon visited the Grand Opera after he was named Emperor. It was a
+glorious sight, and one can never forget it. The whole house was filled
+with generals and field-marshals: it was a grand field-day, by the glare
+of ten thousand wax-lights. And the Empress was there, and her whole
+suite, and all the prettiest women in France. Little time had I to look
+at them, though; for there was I, in the corner of the orchestra, with
+my big drum before me, on which I was to play the confounded thing that
+killed the other fellow.
+
+"It was a strange performance, sure enough: for in the midst of a great
+din and crash, came a dead pause; and then I was to strike three solemn
+bangs on the drum,--to be followed by a succession of blows, fast
+as lightning, for five minutes. This was the composer's notion of a
+battle,--distant firing! Heaven bless his heart! I was wishing he 'd
+seen some of it. This was to come on in the second act, up to which time
+I had nothing to do.
+
+"Why do I say nothing? I had to gaze at the Petit Caporal, who sat there
+in the box over my head, looking as stern and as thoughtful as ever, and
+not minding much what the Empress said, though she kept prattling into
+his ear all the time, and trying to attract his attention. _Parbleu!_ he
+was not thinking of all the nonsense before him,--his mind was on real
+battles: he had seen real smoke,--that he had! He was fatter and paler
+than he used to be; and I thought, too, his frown was darker than when
+I saw him last: but, to be sure, that was at Marengo, and he ever looked
+pleased on the field of battle. I could n't take my eyes from him: his
+fine thoughtful face, so full of determination and energy, reminded me
+of my old days of campaigning. I thought of Areola and Rivoli, of Cairo
+and the Pyramids, and the great charge at Marengo when Desaix's division
+came up,--and my heart was nigh bursting when I remembered that I wore
+the epaulette no longer. I forgot, too, where I was; and expected every
+instant to hear him call for one of the marshals, or see him stretch out
+his hand to point to a distant part of the field. And so absorbed was I
+in my reveries, that I had neither eyes nor ears for anything around
+me; when suddenly all the din of the orchestra ceased,--not a sound was
+heard; and a hand rudely shook me by the arm, while a voice whispered,
+'Now! now!'
+
+[Illustration: 303]
+
+"Mechanically I seized the drumsticks. But my eyes still were riveted
+in the Emperor,--my whole heart and soul were centred in him. Again
+the voice called to me to begin; and a low murmur of angry meaning ran
+through the orchestra.
+
+"I sprang to my legs, and in the excitement of the moment, losing all
+memory of time and place, I rolled out the _pas de charge!_
+
+"Scarce had the first _roulade_ of the well-known sounds reverberated
+through the house, when one cry of 'Vive l'Empereur!' burst forth. It
+was not a cheer; it was the heart-given outbreak of ten thousand devoted
+followers. Marshals, generals, colonels, ambassadors, ministers, all
+joined; and the vast assembly rocked to and fro like the sea in a
+storm, while Napoleon himself, slowly rising, bent his proud head in
+acknowledgment, and then sat down again amid the thundering shouts of
+acclamation. It was full twenty minutes before the piece could proceed;
+and even then momentary outbreaks of enthusiasm would occur to interrupt
+it, and continued to burst forth till the curtain fell.
+
+"Just then an aide-de-camp appeared beside the orchestra, and ordered
+me to the Emperor's box. _Satristi!_how I trembled! I did n't know what
+might come of it.
+
+"'Ah, _coquin!_ said he, as I stood ready to drop with fear at the door
+of the box, 'this has been one of thy doings, eh?'
+
+"'Yes, Sire,' muttered I in a half whisper.
+
+"'And how hast thou dared to spoil an opera in this fashion?' said he,
+frowning fiercely. 'Answer me, sirrah!'
+
+"'It was your Majesty's fault,' said I, becoming reckless of all
+consequences. 'You did n't seem to care much for all their scraping and
+blowing, and so I thought the old _roulade_ might raise you a bit. You
+used to like it once; and might still, if the times be not altered.'
+
+"'And they are not,' said he, sternly. 'Who art thou, that seem'st to
+know me thus well?'
+
+"'Old Francois, that was maitre d'armes of the Fourth in Egypt, and who
+saved you from the stroke of a Mameluke sabre at Chebrheis.'
+
+"'What! the fellow who killed an Austrian prisoner after Marengo? Why, I
+thought thee dead.'
+
+"'Better for me I had been!' said I. 'You would n't read my petition.
+('Yes, you may frown away, General,' said I to Duroc, who kept glowering
+at me like a tiger.) I began life at the tambour; I have come down to it
+again. You can't bring me lower, _parbleu!_
+
+"The Emperor whispered something to the Empress, who turned round
+towards me and laughed; and then he made a sign for me to withdraw.
+Before I had got a dozen paces from the box, an aide-de-camp overtook
+me.
+
+"'Francois,' said he, 'you are to appear before the medical commission
+to-morrow; and if their report be favorable, you are to have your old
+grade of maitre d'armes.'
+
+"And so it was. Not only was I restored, but they even placed me in the
+same regiment I served in during the campaigns of Egypt and Italy. The
+corps, however, was greatly changed since I knew it before; and so
+I asked the Emperor to appoint me to a voltigeur battalion, where
+discipline is not so rigid, and pleasant comrades are somewhat more
+plentiful. I had my wish, gentlemen. And now, with your permission,
+we'll drink the 'Faubourg St. Antoine,' the cradle of our arm of the
+service."
+
+In repeating Maitre Francois's tale, I could only wish it might have
+one half the success with my reader it met with from his comrades of the
+bivouac. This, however, I cannot look for, and must leave it and him to
+their fortunes, and now turn to follow the course of my own.
+
+Francois was not the only one who felt surprised at my being able to
+resist the pleasures of a voltigeurs life; and my companion the corporal
+looked upon my determination to join the hussar brigade as one of those
+extraordinary instances of duty predominating over inclination. "Not,"
+said he, "but there may be brave fellows and good soldiers among the
+dragoons; though having a horse to ride is a sore drawback on a man's
+courage. And when one has felt the confidence of standing face to face,
+and foot to foot, with the enemy, I cannot see how he can ever bring
+himself to fight in any other fashion."
+
+"A man can accustom himself to anything, Corporal," said an old,
+hardy-looking soldier, who sat smoking with the most profound air of
+thoughtful reflection. "I remember being in the 'dromedary brigade' at
+Cairo. Few of us could keep our seats at first; and when we fell off,
+it was often hard enough to resist the Mamelukes and hold the beasts
+besides; but even that we learned with time."
+
+This explanation, little flattering as it was to the cavalry, seemed to
+convince the listeners that time, which smoothes so many difficulties,
+will even make a man content to be a dragoon.
+
+"Well, since you will not be 'of ours,'" said Francois, "let us drink a
+parting cup, and say good-by, for I hear the bugle sounding the call."
+
+"A health to the 'Faubourg St. Antoine,' boys!" cried I, and a hearty
+cheer re-echoed the toast; and with many a shake-hands, and many a
+promise of welcome whenever I saw the error of my ways sufficiently to
+doff the dolman for the voltigeur's jacket, I took leave of the gallant
+Twenty-second, and set out towards Weimar.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. BERLIN AFTER "JENA."
+
+As the battle of Austerlitz was the deathblow to the empire of Austria,
+so with the defeat at Jena did Prussia fall, and that great kingdom
+became a prey to the conquering Napoleon. Were this a fitting place,
+it might be curious to inquire into the causes which involved a ruin so
+sudden and so complete; and how a vast and highly organized army seemed
+at one fell stroke annihilated and destroyed.
+
+The victories of Jena and Auerstadt, great and decisive as they were,
+were nevertheless inadequate to such results; and if the genius of the
+Emperor had not been as prompt to follow up as to gain a battle, they
+never would have occurred. But scarcely had the terrible contest ceased,
+when he sent for the Saxon officers who were taken prisoners, and
+addressing them in a tone of kindness, declared at once that they were
+at liberty and might return to their homes, first pledging their words
+not to carry arms against France or her allies. One hundred and twenty
+officers of different grades, from lieutenant-general downwards, gave
+this promise and retired to their own country, extolling the generosity
+of Napoleon. This first step was soon followed up by another and more
+important one; negotiations were opened with the Elector of Saxony,
+and the title of king offered to him on condition of his joining the
+Confederacy of the Rhine; and thus once more the artful policy already
+pursued with regard to Bavaria in the south, was here renewed in the
+north of Germany, and with equal success.
+
+This deep-laid scheme deprived the Prussian army of eighteen thousand
+men, and that on the very moment when defeat and disaster had spread
+their demoralizing influences through the entire army. Several of their
+greatest generals were killed, many more dreadfully or fatally wounded:
+Prince Louis, Ruchel, Schmettau, among the former; the Duke of Brunswick
+and Prince Henry both severely wounded. The Duke survived but a few
+days, and these in the greatest suffering; Marshal Moellendorf, the
+veteran of nigh eighty years, had his chest pierced by a lance. Here was
+misfortune enough to cause dismay and despair; for unhappily the nation
+itself was but an army in feeling and organization, and with defeat
+every hope died out and every arm was paralyzed. The patriotism of the
+people had taken its place beneath a standard, which when once lowered
+before a conqueror, nothing more remained. Such is the destiny of a
+military monarchy: its only vitality is victory; the hour of disaster is
+its deathblow.
+
+The system of a whole corps capitulating, which the Prussians had not
+scrupled to sneer at when occurring in Austria, now took place here with
+even greater rapidity. Scarcely a day passed that some regiment did not
+lay down their arms, and surrender _sur parole_. A panic spread through
+the whole length and breadth of the land; places of undoubted strength
+were surrendered as insecure and untenable. No rest nor respite was
+allowed the vanquished: the gay plumes of the lancers fluttered over the
+vast plains in pursuit; columns of infantry poured in every direction
+through the kingdom; and the eagles glittered in every town and every
+village of conquered Prussia.
+
+Never did the spirit of Napoleon display itself more pitiless than in
+this campaign; for while in his every act he evinced a determination to
+break down and destroy the nation, the "Moniteur" at Paris teemed with
+articles in derision of the army whose bravery he should never have
+questioned. Even the gallant leaders themselves--old and scarred
+warriors--were contemptuously described as blind and infatuated
+fanatics, undeserving of clemency or consideration. Not thus should he
+have spoken of the noble Prince Louis and the brave Duke of Brunswick;
+they fought in a good cause, and they met the death of gallant soldiers.
+"I will make their nobles beg their bread upon the highways!" was
+the dreadful sentence he uttered at Weimar. And the words were never
+forgotten.
+
+The conduct and bearing of the Emperor was the more insulting from its
+contrast with that of his marshals and generals, many of whom could not
+help acknowledging in their acts the devotion and patriotism of their
+vanquished foes. Murat lost no occasion to evince this feeling; and
+sent eight colonels of his own division to carry the pall at General
+Schmettau's funeral, who was interred with all the honors due to one who
+had been the companion of the Great Frederick himself.
+
+Soult, Bernadotte, Augereau, Ney, and Davoust, with the several corps
+under their command, pursued the routed forces with untiring hostility.
+In vain did the King of Prussia address a supplicating letter asking for
+a suspension of arms. Napoleon scarcely deigned a reply, and ordered the
+advanced guard to march on Berlin.
+
+But a year before and he had issued his royal mandates from the palace
+of the Caesars; and he burned now to date his bulletins from the palace
+of the Great Frederick. And on the tenth day after the battle of Jena
+the troops of Lannes's division bivouacked in the plain around Potsdam.
+I had joined my brigade the day previous, and entered Berlin with them
+on the morning of the 23d of October.
+
+The preparations for a triumphal entry were made on the day before; and
+by noon the troops approached the capital in all the splendor of full
+equipment. First came the grenadiers of Oudinot's brigade,--one of
+the finest corps in the French army; their bright yellow facings
+and shoulder-knots had given them the _sobriquet_ of the _Grenadiers
+jaunes_: they formed part of Davonst's force at Auerstadt, and were
+opposed to the Prussian guard in the greatest shock of the entire day.
+After them came two battalions of the _Chasseurs a pied_,--a splendid
+body of infantry, the remnant of four thousand who went into battle
+on the morning of the 15th. Then followed a brigade of artillery,
+each gun-carriage surmounted by a Prussian standard. These again were
+succeeded by the red lancers of Berg, with Murat himself at their
+head; for they were his own regiment, and he felt justly proud of such
+followers: the grand duke was in all the splendor of his full dress, and
+wore a Spanish hat, looped up, with an immense brilliant in front, and
+a plume of ostrich feathers floated over his neck and shoulders. Two
+hundred and forty chosen men of the Imperial Guard marched two and
+two after these, each carrying a color taken from the enemy in battle.
+Nansouty's cuirassiers came next; they had suffered severely at Jena,
+and were obliged to muster several of their wounded men to fill up the
+gaps in their squadrons. Then there were the horse artillery brigade,
+whose uniforms and equipments, notwithstanding every effort to
+conceal it, showed the terrible effects of the great battle. General
+d'Auvergne's division, with the hussars and the light cavalry attached,
+followed. These were succeeded by the voltigeurs, and eight battalions
+of the Imperial Guard,--whose ranks were closed up with the _Grenadiers
+a cheval_, and more artillery,--in all, a force of eighteen thousand,
+the _elite_ of the French army.
+
+Advancing in orderly time, they came,--no sound heard save the dull
+reverberation of the earth as it trembled beneath the columns, when
+the hoarse challenge to "halt" was called from rank to rank as often as
+those in the rear pressed on the leading files; but as they reached the
+Brandenburg gate, the band of each regiment burst forth, and the wide
+Platz resounded with the clang of martial music.
+
+In front of the palace stood the Emperor, surrounded by his staff, which
+was joined in succession by each general of brigade as his corps moved
+by. A simple acknowledgment of the military salute was all Napoleon gave
+as each battalion passed,--until the small party of the Imperial Guard
+appeared, bearing the captured colors. Then his proud features relaxed,
+his eye flashed and sparkled, and he lifted his chapeau straight above
+his head, and remained uncovered the whole time they were marching past.
+This was the moment when enthusiasm could no longer be restrained, and a
+cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" burst forth, that, caught up by those behind,
+rose in ten thousand echoes along the distant suburbs of Berlin.
+
+To look upon that glorious and glittering band, bronzed with battle,
+their proud faces lit up with all the pride of victory, was indeed a
+triumph; and one instinctively turned to see the looks of wondering
+and admiration such a sight must have inspired. But with what sense of
+sadness came the sudden thought: this is the proud exultation of the
+conqueror over the conquered; here come no happy faces and bright looks
+to welcome those who have rescued them from slavery; here are no voices
+calling welcome to the deliverer. No: it was a people crushed and
+trodden down; their hard-won laurels tarnished and dishonored; their
+country enslaved; their monarch a wanderer, no one knew where. Little
+thought they who raised the statue of brass to the memory of the Great
+Frederick, that the clank of French musketry would be heard around it.
+Rossbach was, indeed, avenged,--and cruelly avenged.
+
+Never did a people behave with more dignity under misfortune than the
+Prussians on the entrance of the French into their capital. The streets
+were deserted; the houses closed; the city was in mourning; and
+none stooped to the slavish adulation which might win favor with the
+conqueror. It was a triumph; but there were none to witness it. Of the
+nobles, scarce one remained in Berlin. They had fallen in battle, or
+followed the fortunes of their beaten army, now scattered and dispersed
+through the kingdom. Their wives and daughters, in deepest mourning,
+bewailed their ruined country as they would the death of a dearest
+friend. They cut off their blonde locks, and sorrowed like those without
+a hope. Their great country was to be reduced to the rank of a mere
+German province; their army disbanded; their king dethroned. Such
+was the contrast to our hour of triumph; such the sad reverse to the
+gorgeous display of our armed squadrons.
+
+Scarcely had the Emperor established his headquarters at Potsdam than
+the whole administration of the kingdom was begun to be placed under
+French rule. Prefects were appointed to different departments of the
+kingdom; a heavy contribution was imposed upon the nation; and all the
+offices of the state were subjected to the control of persons named by
+the Emperor.
+
+Among these, the first in importance was the post-office; for, while
+every precaution was taken that no interruption should occur in the
+transmission of the mails as usual, a _cabinet noir_ was established
+here, as at Paris, whose function it was to open the letters of
+suspected persons, and make copies of them; the latter, indeed, were
+often so skilfully executed as to be forwarded to the address, while the
+originals were preserved as "proofs" against parties, if it were found
+necessary to accuse them afterwards. (And here I might mention that the
+art of depositing metals in a mould by galvanic process was known and
+used in imitating and fabricating the seals of various writers, many
+years before the discovery became generally known in Europe.)
+
+The invasion of private right involved in this breach of trust gave, as
+might be supposed, the greatest offence throughout the kingdom. But the
+severity with which every case of suspicious meaning was followed up and
+punished converted the feelings of indignation and anger into those of
+fear and trepidation. For this was ever part of Napoleon's policy: the
+penalty of any offence was made to exclude the sense of ridicule its
+own littleness might have created, and men felt indisposed to jest where
+their mirth might end in melancholy.
+
+The most remarkable case, and that which more than any other impressed
+the public mind of the period, was that of the Prince de Hatzfeld, whose
+letter to the King of Prussia was opened at the post-office, and made
+the subject of a capital charge against him. Its contents were, as
+might be imagined from the channel of transmission, not such as could
+substantiate any treasonable intention on his part. A respectful homage
+to his dethroned sovereign; a detail of the mournful feeling experienced
+throughout his capital; and some few particulars of the localities
+occupied by the French troops, was the entire. And for this he was tried
+and condemned to death,--a sentence which the Emperor commanded to be
+executed before sunset that same day. Happily for the fate of the noble
+prince, as for the fair fame of Napoleon, both Duroc and Rapp were
+ardently attached to him, and at their earnest entreaties his life was
+spared. But the impression which the circumstances made upon the minds
+of the inhabitants was deep and lasting; and there was a day to come
+when all these insults were to be remembered and avenged. If I advert
+to the occurrence here, it is because I have but too good reason to bear
+memory of it, influencing, as it did, my own future fortunes.
+
+It chanced that one evening, when sitting in a cafe with some of my
+brother officers, the subject of the Prince de Hatzfeld's offence
+was mooted; and in the unguarded freedom with which one talks to his
+comrades, I expressed myself delighted at the clemency of the Emperor,
+and conceived that he could have no part in the breach of confidence
+which led to the accusation, nor countenance in any way his prosecution.
+My companions, who had little sympathy for Prussians, and none for
+aristocracy whatever, took a different view of the matter, and scrupled
+not to regret that the sentence of the court-martial had not been
+executed. The discussion grew warm between us; the more, as I was
+alone in my opinion, and assailed by several who overbore me with loud
+speaking. Once or twice, too, an obscure taunt was thrown out against
+aliens and foreigners, who, it was alleged, never could at heart forgive
+the ascendency of France and Frenchmen.
+
+To this I replied hotly, for while not taking to myself an insult which
+my conduct in the service palpably refuted, I was hurt and offended.
+Alas! I knew too well in my heart what sacrifices I had made in changing
+my country; how I had bartered all the hopes which attach to one's
+fatherland for a career of mere selfish ambition. Long since had I
+seen that the cause I fought in was not that of liberty, but despotism.
+Napoleon's glory was the dazzling light which blinded my true vision;
+and my following had something of infatuation, against which reason was
+powerless. I say that I answered these taunts with hasty temper; and
+carried away by a momentary excitement, I told them, that they it was,
+not I, who would detract from the fair renown of the Emperor.
+
+"The traits you would attribute to him," said I, "are not those of
+strength, but weakness. Is it the conqueror of Egypt, of Austria, and
+now of Prussia, who need stoop to this? We cannot be judges of his
+policy, or the great events which agitate Europe. We would pronounce
+most ignorantly on the greatness of his plans regarding the destinies of
+nations; but, on a mere question of high and honorable feeling, of manly
+honesty, why should we not speak? And here I say this act was never
+his."
+
+A smile of sardonic meaning was the only reply this speech met with; and
+one by one the officers rose and dropped off, leaving me to ponder over
+the discussion, in which I now remembered I had been betrayed into a
+warmth beyond discretion.
+
+This took place early in November; and as it was not referred to in any
+way afterwards by my comrades, I soon forgot it. My duties occupied me
+from morning till night; for General d'Auvergne, being in attendance on
+the Emperor, had handed me over for the time to the department of the
+adjutant-general of the army, where my knowledge of German was found
+useful.
+
+On the 17th of the month a general order was issued, containing the
+names of the various officers selected for promotion, as well as of
+those on whom the cross of the "Legion" was to be conferred. Need I say
+with what a thrill of exultation I read my own name among the latter,
+nor my delight at finding it followed by the words, "By order of his
+Majesty the Emperor, for a special service on the 13th October, 1806."
+This was the night before the battle; and now I saw that I had not been
+forgotten, as I feared,--here was proof of the Emperor's remembrance of
+me. Perhaps the delay was intended to test my prudence as to secrecy;
+and perhaps it was deemed fitting that my name should not appear except
+in the general list: in any case, the long-wished reward was mine,--the
+proud distinction I had desired for so many a day and night.
+
+The distribution of the "cordons" was always made the occasion of a
+grand military spectacle, and the Emperor determined that the present
+one should convey a powerful impression of the effective strength of his
+army, as well as of its perfect equipment; and accordingly orders
+were despatched to the different generals of division within twelve or
+fifteen leagues of Berlin, to march their corps to the capital. The 28th
+of November was the day fixed for this grand display, and all was bustle
+and preparation for the event.
+
+On the morning of the 22d, I received an official note from the bureau
+of the adjutant-general desiring me to wait on him before noon that same
+day. Concluding it referred to my promised promotion to the "Legion," it
+was with somewhat of a fluttered and excited feeling I found myself, at
+some few minutes after eleven o'clock, in the antechamber, which already
+was crowded with officers, some seeking, some summoned to an interview.
+
+In the midst of the buzz of conversation, which, despite the reserve
+of the place, still prevailed, I heard my name called, and followed
+an aide-de-camp along a passage into a large room, which opened into
+a smaller apartment, where, standing with his back to the fire, I
+perceived Marshal Berthier, his only companion being an officer in a
+staff uniform, busily engaged writing at a table.
+
+"You are Captain Burke, of the Eighth Hussars, I believe, sir?" said the
+marshal, reading slowly from a slip of paper he held twisted round one
+finger.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"By birth an Irishman," continued the marshal; "entered at the
+Polytechnique in August, 1801. Am I correct?" I bowed. "Subsequently
+accused of being concerned in the conspiracy of Georges and Pichegru,"
+resumed he, as he raised his eyes slightly from the paper, and fixed
+them searchingly upon me.
+
+"Falsely so, sir," was my only reply.
+
+"You were acquitted,--that's enough: a reprimand for imprudence, and
+a slight punishment of arrest, was all. Since that time, you have
+conducted yourself, as the report of your commanding officer attests,
+with zeal and steadiness."
+
+He paused here, and seemed as if he expected me to say something; but
+as I thought the whole a most strange commencement to the ceremony of
+investing me with a cross of the Legion, I remained silent.
+
+"At Paris, when attached to the _elite_, you appear to have visited the
+Duchess of Montserrat, and frequented her soirees."
+
+"Once, sir; but once I was in the house of the duchess. My visit
+could scarcely have occupied as many minutes as I have spent here this
+morning."
+
+"Dined occasionally at the 'Moisson d'Or," continued the marshal, not
+noticing in any way my reply. "Well, as I believe you are now aware that
+there are no secrets with his Majesty's Government, perhaps you will
+inform me what are your relations with the Chevalier Duchesne?"
+
+For some minutes previous my mind was dwelling on that personage; and
+I answered the question in a few words, by stating the origin of our
+acquaintance, and briefly adverting to its course.
+
+"You correspond with the chevalier?" said he, interrupting.
+
+"I have never done so; nor is it likely, from the manner in which we
+parted last, that I ever shall."
+
+"This scarcely confirms that impression, sir," said the marshal, taking
+an open letter from the table and holding it up before me. "You know his
+handwriting; is that it?"
+
+"Yes; I have no doubt it is."
+
+"Well, sir, that letter belongs to you; you may take and read it.
+There is enough there, sir, to make your conduct the matter of a
+court-martial; but I am satisfied that a warning will be sufficient.
+Let this be such then. Learn, sir, that the plottings of a poor and
+mischievous party harmonize ill with the duties of a brave soldier; and
+that a captain of the Guards might choose more suitable associates than
+the dupes and double-dealers of the Faubourg St. Germain. There is your
+brevet to the 'Legion,' signed by the Emperor. I shall return it to
+his Majesty; mayhap at some future period your conduct may merit
+differently. I need hardly say that a gentleman so very little
+particular in the choice of his friends would be a most misplaced
+subject for the honor of the 'Legion.'"
+
+He waved his hand in sign for me to withdraw, and overwhelmed with
+confusion, I bowed and left the room. Nor was it till the door closed
+behind me that I felt how cruelly and unjustly I had been treated; then
+suddenly the blood rushed to my face and temples, my head seemed as
+if it would burst at either side, and forgetting every circumstance of
+place and condition, I seized the handle of the door and wrenched it
+open.
+
+"Marshal," said I, with the fearlessness of one resolved at any risk to
+vindicate his character, "I know nothing of this letter; I have not
+read one line of it. I have no further intimacy with the writer than an
+officer has with his comrade; but if I am to be the subject of espionage
+to the police,--if my chance acquaintances in the world are to be matter
+of charges against my fealty and honor,--if I, who have nothing but my
+sword and my epaulette--"
+
+When I had got thus far I saw the marshal's face turn deadly pale, while
+the officer at the table made a hurried sign to me with his finger to be
+silent. The door closed nearly at the same instant, and I turned my head
+round, and there stood the Emperor. The figure is still before me;
+he was standing still, his hands behind his back, and his low chapeau
+deeply pressed upon his brows. His gray frock was open, and looked as if
+disordered from haste.
+
+"What is this?" said he, in that hissing tone he always assumed when in
+moments of passion,--"what is this? Are we in the bureau of a minister?
+or is it the _salle de police?_ Who are you, sir?"
+
+It was not until the question had been repeated that I found courage to
+reply. But he waited not for my answer, as, snatching the open letter
+from my fingers, he resumed,--
+
+"It is not thus, sir, you should come here. Your petition or memorial--
+Ha! _parbleu!_ what is this?"
+
+At the instant his eyes fell upon the writing, and as suddenly his face
+grew almost livid. With the rapidity of lightning he seemed to peruse
+the lines. Then waving his hand, he motioned towards the door, and
+muttered,--"Wait without!"
+
+Like one awaking from a dreadful dream, I stood, endeavoring to recall
+my faculties, and assure myself how much there might be of reality in
+my wandering fancies, when I perceived that a portion of the letter
+remained between my fingers as the Emperor snatched it from my hand.
+
+A half-finished sentence was all I could make out; but its tone made me
+tremble for what the rest of the epistle might contain:--
+
+"Surpassed themselves, of course, my dear Burke; and so has the Emperor
+too. It remained for the campaign in Prussia to prove that one hundred
+and eighty-five thousand prisoners can be taken from an army numbering
+one hundred and fifty-four thousand men. As to Davoust, who really had
+all the fighting, though he wrote no bulletin, all Paris feels--"
+
+Such was the morsel I had saved; such a specimen of the insolence of the
+entire.
+
+The dreadful fact then broke suddenly upon me that this letter had been
+written by Duchesne to effect my ruin; and as I stood stupefied with
+terror, the door was suddenly opened, and the Emperor passed, out.
+His eyes were turned on me as he went, and I shrank back from their
+expression of withering anger.
+
+"Captain Burke!" said a voice from within the room, for the door
+continued open.
+
+I entered slowly, but with a firm step. My mind was made up; and in the
+force of a resolute determination, I found strength for whatever might
+happen.
+
+"It would appear, sir," said the marshal, addressing me with a stern and
+severe expression of features, "it would appear that you permit yourself
+the widest liberty in canvassing the acts of his Majesty the Emperor;
+for I find you here mentioned "--he took a paper from the table as he
+spoke--"as declaiming, in a public cafe, on the subject of the Prince de
+Hatzfeld, and expressing, in no measured terms, your disapproval of his
+imprisonment."
+
+"All that I said upon the subject, sir, so far as I can recollect, was
+in praise of the Emperor for clemency so well bestowed."
+
+"There was no high-flown sentiment on the breach of honorable confidence
+effected in opening private letters?" said the marshal, sarcastically.
+
+"Yes, sir; I do remember expressing myself strongly on that head."
+
+"I am not surprised, sir," interrupted he, "at your indignation; your
+own conscience must have prompted you on the occasion. When a gentleman
+has such correspondents as the Chevalier Duchesne, he may well feel on
+a point like this. But enough of this. I have his Majesty's orders
+regarding you, which are as follows--"
+
+"Forgive me, I beg you, sir, the liberty of interrupting you for one
+moment. I am an alien, and therefore little versed in the habits and
+usages of the land for whose service I have shed my blood; but I am sure
+a marshal of France will not refuse a kindness to an officer of the
+army, however humble his station. I merely ask the answer to one
+question."
+
+"What is it?" said the marshal, quickly.
+
+"Am I, as an officer, at liberty to resign my grade, and quit the
+service?"
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_" said he, reddening, "yes, that you are."
+
+"Then here I do so," rejoined I, drawing my sword from its scabbard.
+"The career I can no longer follow honorably and independently, I shall
+follow no more."
+
+"Your corps, sir?" said the marshal.
+
+"The Eighth Hussars of the Guard."
+
+"Take a note of that, Gardanne. I shall spare you all unnecessary delay
+in tendering a written resignation of your rank; I accept it now. You
+leave Berlin in twenty-four hours."
+
+I bowed, and was silent.
+
+"Your passport shall be made out for Paris; you shall receive it
+to-morrow morning." He motioned with his hand towards the door as he
+concluded, and I left the room.
+
+The moment I felt myself alone, the courage which had sustained me
+throughout at once gave way, and I leaned against the wall, and covered
+my face with my hands. Yes, I knew it in my heart,--the whole dream of
+life was over; the path of glory was closed to me forever; all the hopes
+on which, in sanguine hours, I used to feed my heart, were scattered.
+And to the miseries of my exiled lot were now added the sorrows of an
+unfriended, companionless existence. The thought that no career was open
+to me came last; for at first I only remembered all I was leaving, not
+the dark future before me. Yet, when I called to mind the injustice with
+which I had been treated,--the system of espionage to which, as an alien
+more particularly, I was exposed,--I felt I had done right, and that
+to have remained in the service at such a sacrifice of my personal
+independence would have been base and unworthy.
+
+With a half-broken heart and faltering step I regained my quarters,
+where again my grief burst forth with more violence than at first.
+Every object about recalled to me the career I was leaving forever; and
+wherever my eye rested, some emblem lay to open fresh stores of sorrow.
+The pistols I carried at Elchingen, a gift from General d'Auvergne;
+an Austrian sabre I had taken from its owner, still ornamented with a
+little knot of ribbon Minette had fastened to the hilt,--hung above the
+chimney; and I could scarce look on them without tears. On the table
+still lay open the _ordre du jour_ which named me to the Legion of
+Honor; and now the humblest soldier that carried his musket in the ranks
+was my superior. Not all the principle on which I founded my resolve was
+proof against this first outburst of my sorrow.
+
+The chivalrous ardor of a soldier's life had long supplied to me the
+place of those appliances to happiness which other men possess. Each day
+I followed it the path grew dearer to me. Every bold and daring feat,
+every deed of enterprise or danger, seemed to bring me, in thought at
+least, nearer to him whose greatness was my idolatry. And now, all this
+was to be as a mere dream,--a thing which had been, and was to be no
+more.
+
+While I revolved such sad reflections, a single knock came to my door.
+I opened it, and saw a soldier of my own regiment. His dress was
+travel-stained and splashed, and he looked like one off a long journey.
+He knew me at once, and accosted me by name, as he presented a letter
+from General d'Auvergne.
+
+"You've had a smart ride," said I, as I surveyed his flushed face and
+disordered uniform.
+
+"Yes, Captain,--from the Oder. Our division is full twelve leagues from
+this. I left on yesterday morning; for the general was particular that
+the charger should not suffer on the way,--as if a beast like that would
+mind double the distance."
+
+By this time I had opened the letter, which merely contained the
+following few lines:--
+
+      Encampment on the Oder, Nov. 21, 1806.
+
+      My dear Burke,--Every new arrival here has brought me some
+      fresh intelligence of you, and of your conduct at Jena; nor
+      can I say with what pride I have heard that the Emperor has
+      included you among the list of the _decores_. This is the
+      day I often prophesied for you, and the true and only
+      refutation against the calumnies of the false-hearted and
+      the envious. I send you a Polish charger for your gala
+      review. Accept him from me; and believe that you have no
+      warmer friend, nor more affectionate, than yours,
+
+      D'Auvergne, Lieut-General.
+
+
+Before I had finished reading the letter, my eyes grew so dimmed I
+could scarcely trace the letters. Each word of kindness, every token of
+praise, now cut me to the heart. How agonizing are the congratulations
+of friends on those events in life where our own conscience bears
+reproach against us! how poignant the self-accusation that is elicited
+by undeserved eulogy! How would _he_ think of my conduct? By what means
+should I convince _him_ that no alternative remained to me? I turned
+away, lest the honest soldier should witness my trouble; and as I
+approached the window, I beheld in the courtyard beneath the beautiful
+charger which, with the full trappings of a hussar saddle, stood proudly
+flapping his deep flanks with his long silken tail. With what a thrill
+I surveyed him! How my heart leaped, as I fancied myself borne along on
+the full tide of battle, each plunge he gave responsive to the stroke of
+my sword-arm! For an instant I forgot all that had happened, and gazed
+on his magnificent crest and splendid shape with an ecstasy of delight.
+
+"Ay," said the dragoon, whose eyes were riveted in the same quarter,
+"there's not a marshal of France so well mounted; and he knows the
+trumpet-call like the oldest soldier of the troop."
+
+"You will return to-morrow," said I, recovering myself suddenly, and
+endeavoring to appear composed and at ease. "Well, then, to-night I
+shall give you an answer for the general; be here at eight o'clock."
+
+I saw that my troubled air and broken voice had not escaped the
+soldier's notice, and was glad when the door closed, and I was again
+alone.
+
+My first care was to write to the general; nor was it till after many
+efforts I succeeded to my satisfaction in conveying, in a few and simple
+words, the reasons of that step which must imbitter my future life. I
+explained how deeply continued mistrust had wounded me; how my spirit,
+as a soldier and a gentleman, revolted at the espionage established over
+my actions; that it was in weighing these insults against the wreck of
+all my hopes, I had chosen that path which had neither fame nor rank nor
+honor, but still left me an untrammelled spirit and a mind at peace with
+itself. "I have now," said I, "to begin the world anew, without one clew
+to guide me. Every illusion with which I had invested life has left me;
+I must choose both a career and a country, and bear with me from this
+nothing but the heartfelt gratitude I shall ever retain for one who
+befriended me through weal and woe, and whose memory I shall bless while
+I live."
+
+I felt relieved and more at ease when I finished this letter; the
+endeavor to set my conduct in its true light to another had also its
+effect upon my own convictions. I knew, besides, that I had sacrificed
+to my determination all my worldly prospects, and believed that where
+self-interest warred with principle, the right course could scarcely be
+doubtful.
+
+All this time, not one thought ever occurred to me of how I was to meet
+the future. It was strange; but so perfectly had the present crisis
+filled my mind, there was not room for even a glance at what was to
+come.
+
+My passport was made out for Paris, and thither I must go. So much was
+decided for me without intervention on my part; and now it only remained
+for me to dispose of the little trappings of my former estate, and take
+the road.
+
+The Jews who always accompanied the army, offered a speedy resource in
+this emergency. My anxiety to leave Berlin by daybreak, and thus avoid
+a meeting of any acquaintances there, made me accept of the sums they
+offered. To them such negotiations were of daily occurrence, and they
+well knew how to profit by them. My whole worldly wealth consisted of
+two hundred napoleons; and with this small pittance to begin life, I sat
+myself down to think whither I should turn, or what course adopt.
+
+The night passed over thus, and when day dawned, I had not closed my
+eyes. About four o'clock the diligence in which I had secured a place
+for Weimar drew up at my door. I hurried down, and mounting to a seat
+beside the _conducteur_, I buried my face in the folds of my cloak, nor
+dared to look up until we had passed beyond the precincts of the city,
+and were travelling along on the vast plain of sand which surrounds
+Berlin.
+
+The _conducteur_ was a Prussian, and divining my military capacity in my
+appearance, he maintained a cold and distant civility; never speaking,
+except when spoken to, and even then in as few words as possible. This
+was itself a relief to me; my heart was too full of its own sufferings
+to find pleasure in conversation, and I dreamed away the hours till
+nightfall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. A FOREST PATH.
+
+When I reached Wiemar I quitted the diligence, resolved to make the
+remainder of the journey on foot; for thus I should both economize
+the little means I possessed, and escape many of the questionings and
+inquiries to which as a traveller by public conveyance I was exposed.
+Knapsack on shoulder, then, and staff in hand, I plodded onward, and
+although frequently coming up with others on their way homeward, I
+avoided all companionship with those whom I could no longer think of as
+comrades.
+
+The two tides of population which met upon that great highway told the
+whole history of war. Here came the young soldiers, fresh enrolled
+in the conscription, glowing with ardor, and bounding with life and
+buoyancy, and mingling their village songs with warlike chants. There,
+footsore and weary, with tattered uniform and weather-beaten look,
+toiled along the tired veteran, turning as he went a glance of
+compassionate contempt on those whose wild _vivas_ burst forth in
+greeting. As for me, I could neither partake of the high hopes of
+the one, nor sympathize with the war-worn nature of the other.
+Disappointment, bitter disappointment, in every cherished expectation,
+had thrown a chill over me, and I wanted even the energy to become
+reckless. In this state, I did not dare to face the future, but in moody
+despondency reflected on the past. Was this the destiny Marie de Meudon
+predicted for me? was the ever-present thought of my mind. Is it thus I
+should appear before her?
+
+A hundred times came the thought to join the new levies as a soldier,
+to carry a musket in the ranks. But then came back in all its force
+the memory of the distrust and suspicion my services had met with: the
+conviction hourly became clearer to me, that I fought not for liberty,
+but despotism; that it was not freedom, but slavery, in whose cause I
+shed my blood.
+
+To avoid meeting with the detachments which each day occupied the road,
+I turned from the _chaussee_ on passing Eisenach, and took a forest
+path that led through Murbach to Fulda. My path led through the Creutz
+Mountains,--a wild and unfrequented tract of country, where few cottages
+were to be seen, and scarcely a village existed. Vast forests of dark
+pines, or bleak and barren mountains, stretched away on either side; a
+few patches of miserable tillage here and there met the view; but the
+scene was one of saddening influence, and harmonized but too nearly with
+my own despondency.
+
+To reach a place of shelter for the night, I was more than once obliged
+to walk twelve leagues during the day, and had thus to set out before
+daylight. This exertion, however, brought its own reward: the stimulant
+of labor, the necessity of a task, gradually allayed the mental
+irritation I suffered under; a healthier and more manly tone of thinking
+succeeded to my former regrets; and with a heart elevated, if not
+cheered, I continued my way.
+
+The third day of my toilsome journey was drawing to a close. A mass of
+heavy and lowering clouds, dark and thunder-charged, slowly moved along
+the sky; and a low, moaning sound, that seemed to sigh along the
+ground, boded the approach of a storm. I was still three leagues from my
+halting-place, and began to deliberate within myself whether the dense
+pine-wood, which came down to the side of the road, might not afford
+a safer refuge from the hurricane than the chances of reaching a house
+before it broke forth.
+
+The shepherds who frequented these dreary tracts often erected little
+huts of bark as a shelter against the cold and severity of the wintry
+days, and to find out one of these now was my great endeavor. Scarcely
+had I formed the resolve, when I perceived a small path opening into the
+wood, at the entrance to which a piece of board nailed against the
+trunk of a tree, gave tidings that such a place of security was not far
+distant. These signs of forest life I had learned in my wanderings, and
+now strode forward with renewed vigor.
+
+The path led gradually upwards, along the mountain-side, which soon
+became so encumbered with brushwood that I had much difficulty in
+pushing my way, and at last began to doubt whether I might not have
+wandered from the track. The darkness was now complete; night had
+fallen, and a heavy crashing rain poured down upon the tree-tops, but
+could not penetrate through their tangled shelter. The wind, too,
+swept in loud gusts above, and the long threatened storm began. A
+loud, deafening roar, like that of the sea itself, arose, as the leafy
+branches bent before the blast, or snapped with sudden shock beneath
+the hurricane; clap after clap of thunder resounded, and then the rain
+descended in torrents,--the heavy drops at last, trickling from leaf to
+leaf, reaching me as I stood. Once more I pushed forward, and had not
+gone many paces when the red glare of a fire caught my eye. Steadfastly
+fastening my gaze upon the flame, I hurried on, and at length perceived
+with ecstasy that the light issued from the window of a small hovel,
+such as I have already mentioned. To gain the entrance of the hut I was
+obliged to pass the window, and could not resist the temptation to give
+a glance at the interior, whose cheerful blaze betokened habitation.
+
+It was not without surprise that, instead of the figure of a shepherd
+reposing beside his fire, I beheld that of an old man, whose dress
+bespoke the priest, kneeling in deep devotion at the foot of a small
+crucifix attached to the wall. Not all the wild sounds of the raging
+storm seemed to turn his attention from the object of his worship;
+his eyes were closed, but the head thrown backwards showed his face
+upturned, when the lips moved rapidly in prayer. Never had I beheld
+so perfect a picture of intense devotional feeling; every line in his
+marked countenance indicated the tension of a mind filled with one
+engrossing thought, while his tremulous hands, clasped before him, shook
+with the tremor of strong emotion.
+
+What a contrast to the loud warring of the elements, that peaceful
+figure, raised above earth and its troubles, in the spirit of his holy
+communing! how deeply touching the calm serenity of his holy brow, with
+the rolling crash of falling branches, and the deep baying of the storm!
+I did not dare to interrupt him; and when I did approach the door it was
+with silent step and noiseless gesture. As I stood, the old priest--for
+now I saw that he was such--concluded his prayer, and detaching his
+crucifix from the wall, he kissed it reverently, and placed it in his
+bosom; then, rising slowly from his knees, he turned towards me. A
+slight start of surprise, as quickly followed by a smile of kindly
+greeting, escaped him, while he said in French,--
+
+"You are welcome, my son; come in and share with me the shelter, for it
+is a wild night."
+
+"A wild night, indeed, Father," said I, casting my eyes around the
+little hut, where nothing indicated the appearance of habitation.
+"I could have wished you a better home than this against the storms of
+winter."
+
+"I am a traveller like yourself," said he, smiling at my mistake; "and a
+countryman, too, if I mistake not."
+
+The accents in which these words were spoken pronounced him a Frenchman,
+and a very little sufficed to ratify the terms of our companionship; and
+having thrown a fresh billet on the fire, we both seated ourselves
+before it My wallet was, fortunately, better stored than the good
+father's; and having produced its contents, we supped cheerfully, and
+like men who were not eating their first bivouac meal.
+
+"I perceive, Father," said I, as I remarked the manner in which he
+disposed his viands, "I perceive you have campaigned ere now; the habits
+of the service are not easily mistaken."
+
+"I did not need that observation of yours," replied he, laughing
+slightly, "to convince me you were a soldier; for, as you truly say,
+the camp leaves its indelible traces behind it. You are hastening on to
+Berlin, I suppose?"
+
+I blushed deeply at the question; the shame of my changed condition had
+been hitherto confined to my own heart, but now it was to be confessed
+before a stranger.
+
+"I ask your pardon, my son, for a question I had no right to ask; and
+even there, again, I but showed my soldier education. I am returning to
+France; and in seeking a short path from Eisenach, found myself where
+you see; as night was falling, well content to be so well lodged,--all
+the more, if I am to have your companionship."
+
+Few and simple as these words were, there was a tone of frankness in
+them, not less than the evidence of a certain good breeding, by which
+he apologized for his own curiosity in speaking thus freely of
+himself, that satisfied me at once; and I hastened to inform him that
+circumstances had induced me to leave the service, in which I had been a
+captain, and that I was now, like himself, returning to France.
+
+"You must not think, Father," added I, with some eagerness, "you must
+not think that other reasons than my own free will have made me cease to
+be a soldier."
+
+"It would ill become me to have borne such a suspicion," interrupted he,
+quickly. "When one so young and full of life as you are leaves the
+path where lie honor and rank and fame, he must have cause to make the
+sacrifice; for I can scarce think, that at your age, these things seem
+nought to your eyes."
+
+"You are right, Father, they are not so. They have been my guiding stars
+for many a day; alas, that they can be such no longer!"
+
+"There are higher hopes to cherish than these," said he,
+solemnly,--"higher than the loftiest longings of ambition; but we all
+of us cling to the things of life, till in their perishable nature they
+wean us off with disappointment and sorrow. From such a trial am I now
+suffering," added he, in a low voice, while the tears rose to his eyes
+and slowly coursed along his pale cheeks.
+
+There was a pause neither of us felt inclined to break, when at length
+the priest said,--
+
+"What was your corps in the service?"
+
+"The Eighth Hussars of the Guard," said I, trembling at every word.
+
+"Ah, _he_ was in the Guides," repeated he, mournfully, to himself; "you
+knew the regiment?"
+
+"Yes, they belonged to the Guard also; they wore no epaulettes, but a
+small gold arrow on the collar."
+
+"Like this," said he, unfastening the breast of his cassock, and
+taking out a small package, which, among other things, contained the
+designation of the _Corps des Guides_ in an arrow of gold embroidery.
+"Had he not beautiful hair, long and silky as a girl's?" said he, as he
+produced a lock of light and sunny brown. "Poor Alphonse! thou wouldst
+have been twenty hadst thou lived till yesterday. If I shed tears, young
+man, it is because I have lost the great earthly solace of my solitary
+life. Others have kindred and friends, have happy homes, which, even
+when bereavements come, with time will heal up the wound; I had but
+him!"
+
+"He was your nephew, perhaps?" said I, half fearing to interfere with
+his sorrow.
+
+The old man shook his head in token of dissent, while he muttered to
+himself,--
+
+"Auerstadt may be a proud memory to some; to me it is a word of sorrow
+and mourning. The story is but a short one; alas! it has but one color
+throughout:--
+
+"Count Louis de Meringues--of whom you have doubtless heard that he rode
+as postilion to the carriage of his sovereign in the celebrated flight
+to Varennes--fell by the guillotine the week after the king's trial;
+the countess was executed on the same scaffold as her husband. I was the
+priest who accompanied her at the moment; and in my arms she placed her
+only child,--an infant boy of two years. There was a cry among the crowd
+to have the child executed also, and many called out that the spawn
+would be a serpent one day, and it were better to crush it while it was
+time; but the little fellow was so handsome, and looked so winningly
+around him on the armed ranks and the glancing weapons, that even
+_their_ cruel hearts relented, and he was spared. It is to me like
+yesterday, as I remember every minute circumstance; I can recall even
+the very faces of that troubled and excited assemblage, that at one
+moment screamed aloud for blood, and at the next were convulsed with
+savage laughter.
+
+"As I forced my way through the dense array, a rude arm was stretched
+out from the mass, and a finger dripping with the gore of the scaffold
+was drawn across the boy's face, while a ruffian voice exclaimed, 'The
+Meringues were ever proud of their blood; let us see if it be redder
+than other people's.' The child laughed; and the mob, with horrid
+mockery, laughed too.
+
+"I took him home with me to my _presbytere_ at Sevres,--for that was my
+parish,--and we lived together in peace until the terrible decree was
+issued which proclaimed all France atheist. Then we wandered southwards,
+towards that good land which, through every vicissitude, was true to its
+faith and its king,--La Vendee. At Lyons we were met by a party of the
+revolutionary soldiers, who, with a commissary of the Government, were
+engaged in raising young men for the conscription. Alphonse, who was
+twelve years old, felt all a boy's enthusiasm at the warlike display
+before him, and persuaded me to follow the crowd into the _Place des
+Terreaux_, where the numbers were read out.
+
+"'Paul Ducos,' cried a voice aloud, as we approached the stage on which
+the commissary and his staff were standing; 'where is this Paul Ducos?'
+
+"'I am here,' replied a fine, frank-looking youth, of some fifteen
+years; 'but my father is blind, and I cannot leave him.'
+
+"'We shall soon see that,' called out the commissary. 'Clerk, read out
+his _signalement_.'
+
+"'Paul Ducos, son of Eugene Ducos, formerly calling himself Count Ducos
+de la Breche--'
+
+"'Down with the Royalists! _a bas_ the tyrants!' screamed the mob, not
+suffering the remainder to be heard.
+
+"'Approach, Paul Ducos!' said the commissary.
+
+"'Wait here, Father,' whispered the youth; 'I will come back presently.'
+
+"But the old man, a fine and venerable figure, the remnant of a noble
+race, held him fast, and, as his lips trembled, said, 'Do not leave me,
+Paul; my child, my comforter, stay near me.'
+
+"The boy looked round him for one face of kindly pity in this emergency,
+when, turning towards me, he said rapidly, 'Stand near him!' He broke
+from the old man's embrace, and rushing through the crowd, mounted the
+scaffold.
+
+"'You are drawn for the conscription, young man,' said the commissary;
+'but in consideration of your father's infirmity, a substitute will be
+accepted. Have you such?'
+
+"The boy shook his head mournfully and in silence.
+
+"'Have you any friend who would assist you here? Bethink you awhile,'
+rejoined the commissary, who, for his station and duties, was a kind and
+benevolent man.
+
+"'I have none. They have left us nothing, neither home nor friends,'
+said the youth, bitterly; 'and if it were not for his sake, I care not
+what they do with me.'
+
+"'Down with the tyrants!' yelled the mob, as they heard these haughty
+words.
+
+"'Then your fate is decreed,' resumed the commissary.
+
+"'No, not yet!' cried out Alphonse, as, breaking from my side, he gained
+the steps and mounted the platform; 'I will be his substitute!'
+
+"Oh! how shall I tell the bitter anguish of that moment, which at once
+dispelled the last remaining hope I cherished, and left me destitute
+forever. As I dashed the tears from my eyes and looked up, the two boys
+were locked in each other's arms. It was a sight to have melted any
+heart, save those around them; but bloodshed and crime had choked up
+every avenue of feeling, and left them, not men, but tigers.
+
+"'Alphonse de Meringues,' cried out the boy, in answer to a question
+regarding his name.
+
+"There is no such designation in France,' said a grim-looking,
+hard-featured man, who, wearing the tri-colored scarf, sat at the table
+beside the clerk.
+
+"'I was never called by any other,' rejoined the youth, proudly.
+
+"'Citizen Meringues,' interposed the commissary, mildly, 'what is your
+age?'
+
+"'I know not the years,' replied he; 'but I have heard that I was but an
+infant when they slew my father.'
+
+"A fierce roar of passion broke from the mob below the scaffold as they
+heard this; and again the cry broke forth, 'Down with the tyrants!'
+
+"'Art thou, then, the son of that base sycophant who rode courier to the
+Capet to Varennes?' said the hard-featured man at the table.
+
+"'Of the truest gentleman of France,' called out a loud voice from below
+the platform; 'Vive le roi!' It was the blind man who spoke, and waved
+his cap above his head.
+
+"'To the guillotine! to the guillotine!' screamed a hundred voices, in
+tones wilde than the cries of famished wolves, as, seizing the aged man,
+they tore his clothes to very rags.
+
+"In an instant all attention was turned from the platform to the scene
+below it, where, with shouts and screams of fury, the terrible mob
+yelled aloud for blood. In vain the guards endeavored to keep back the
+people, who twice rescued their victim from the hands of the soldiery;
+and already a confused murmur arose that the commissary himself was a
+traitor to the public, and favored the tyrants, when a dull, clanking
+sound rose above the tumult, and a cheer of triumph proclaimed the
+approach of the instrument of torture.
+
+"In their impetuous torrent of vengeance they had dragged the guillotine
+from the distant end of the 'Place,' where it usually stood; and there
+now still knelt the figure of a condemned man, lashed with his arms
+behind him, on the platform, awaiting the moment of his doom. Oh, that
+terrible face, whereon death had already set its seal! With glazed,
+lack-lustre eye, and cheek leaden and quivering, he gazed around on the
+fiendish countenances like one awakening from a dream, his lips parted
+as though to speak; but no sound came forth.
+
+"'Place! place for Monsieur le Marquis!' shouted a ruffian, as he
+assisted to raise the figure of the blind man up the steps; and a ribald
+yell of fiendish laughter followed the brutal jest.
+
+"'Thou art to make thy journey in most noble company,' said another to
+the culprit on the platform.
+
+"'An he see not his way in the next world better than in this, thou must
+lend him a hand, friend,' said a third. And with many a ruffian joke
+they taunted their victims, who stood on the last threshold of life.
+
+"Among the crowd upon the scaffold of the guillotine I could see the
+figure of the blind man as it leaned and fell on either side, as the
+movement of the mob bore it.
+
+"'_Parbleu!_ these Royalists would rather kneel than stand," said a
+voice, as they in vain essayed to make the old man place his feet under
+him; and ere the laughter which this rude jest excited ceased, a cry
+broke forth of--'He is dead! he is dead!' And with a heavy sumph, the
+body fell from their hands; for when their power of cruelty ended, they
+cared not for the corpse.
+
+"It was true: life was extinct, none knew how,--whether from the
+violence of the mob in its first outbreak, or that a long-suffering
+heart had burst at last; but the chord was snapped, and he whose proud
+soul lately defied the countless thousands around, now slept with the
+dead.
+
+"In a few seconds it seemed as though they felt that a power stronger
+than their own had interposed between them and their vengeance, and
+they stood almost aghast before the corpse, where no trace of blood
+proclaimed it to be their own; then, rallying from this stupor, with
+one voice they demanded that the son should atone for the crimes of the
+father.
+
+"'I am ready,' cried the youth, in a voice above the tumult. 'I did not
+deem I could be grateful to ye for aught, but I am for this.'
+
+"To no purpose did the commissary propose a delay in the sentence; he
+was unsupported by his colleagues. The passions of the mob rose
+higher and higher; the thirst for blood, unslaked, became intense and
+maddening; and they danced in frantic glee around the guillotine, while
+they chanted one of the demoniac songs of the scaffold.
+
+"In this moment, when the torrent ran in one direction, Alphonse might
+have escaped all notice, but that the condemned youth turned to embrace
+him once more before he descended from the people.
+
+"'They are so sorry to separate, it is a shame to part them,' cried a
+ruffian in the crowd.
+
+"'You forget, Citizen, that this boy is his substitute,' said the
+commissary, mildly; 'the Republic most not be cheated of its defenders.'
+
+"'Vive la Republique!' cried the soldiers; and the cry was re-echoed by
+thousands, while amid their cheers there rose the last faint sigh of an
+expiring victim.
+
+"The scene was over; the crowd dispersed; and the soldiers marched back
+to quarters, accompanied by some hundred conscripts, among whom was
+Alphonse,--a vague, troubled expression betokening that he scarce knew
+what had happened around him.
+
+"The regiment to which he was appointed was at Toulon, and there I
+followed him. They were ordered to the north of Italy soon after,
+and thence to Egypt. Through the battlefields of Mount Tabor and the
+Pyramids I was ever beside him; on the heights of Austerlitz I stanched
+his wounds; and I laid him beneath the earth on the field of Auerstadt."
+
+The old man's voice trembled and became feeble as he finished speaking,
+and a settled expression of grief clothed his features, which were pale
+as death.
+
+"I must see Sevres once more," said he, after a pause. "I must look on
+the old houses of the village, and the little gardens, and the venerable
+church; they will be the only things to greet me there now, but I must
+gaze on them ere I close my eyes to this world and its cares."
+
+"Come, come, Father," said I; "to one who has acted so noble a part as
+yours, life is never without its own means of happiness."
+
+"I spoke not of death," replied he, mildly; "but the holy calm of a
+convent will better suit my seared and worn heart than all that the
+world calls its joys and pleasures. You, who are young and full of
+hope--"
+
+"Alas! Father, speak not thus. One can better endure the lowering skies
+of misfortune as the evening of life draws near than when the morn
+of existence is breaking. To me, with youth and health, there is no
+future,--no hope."
+
+"I will not hear you speak thus," said the priest; "fatigue and
+weariness are on you now. Wait until to-morrow,--we shall be
+fellow-travellers together; and then, if you will reveal to me your
+story, mayhap my long experience of the world may suggest comfort and
+consolation where you can see neither."
+
+The storm by this time had abated much of its violence, and across the
+moon the large clouds were wafted speedily, disclosing bright patches of
+light at every moment.
+
+"Such is our life here," said the father,--"alternating with its days of
+happiness and sorrow. Let us learn, in the dark hour of our destiny, to
+bear the glare of our better fortunes; for, believe me, that when our
+joys are greatest, so are our trials also."
+
+He ceased speaking, and I saw that soon afterwards his lips moved as if
+in prayer. I now laid myself down in my cloak beside the fire, and was
+soon buried in a sleep too sound even for a dream.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII. A CHANCE MEETING.
+
+With the good priest of Sevres I journeyed along towards the frontier of
+France, ever selecting the least frequented paths, and such as were not
+likely to be taken by the troops of soldiery which daily moved towards
+Berlin. The frankness of my companion had made me soon at ease with
+him; and I told him, without reserve, the story of my life, down to the
+decisive moment of my leaving the army.
+
+"You see, Father," said I, "how completely my career has failed; how,
+with all the ardor of a soldier, with all the devotion of a follower, I
+have adhered to the Emperor's fortunes; and yet--"
+
+"Your ambition, however great it was, could not stifle conscience. I
+can believe it well. They who go forth to the wars with high hopes and
+bounding hearts, who picture to their minds the glorious rewards of
+great achievements, should blind their eyes to the horrors and injustice
+of the cause they bleed for. Any sympathy with misfortune would sap the
+very principle of that heroism whose essence is success. Men cannot
+play the double game, even in matters of worldly ambition. Had you not
+listened to the promptings of your heart, you had been greater; had you
+not followed the dazzling glare of your hopes, you had been happier:
+both you could scarcely be. Be assured of this, my son, the triumphs
+of a country can only be enjoyed by the child of the soil; the brave
+soldier, who lends his arm to the cause, feels he has little part in the
+glory."
+
+"True, indeed,--most true; I feel it."
+
+"And were it otherwise, how unsatisfying is the thirst for that same
+glory! how endless the path that leads to it! how many regrets accompany
+it! how many ties broken! how many friendships forfeited! No, no; return
+to your own land,--to the country of your birth; some honorable career
+will always present itself to him who seeks but independence and the
+integrity of his own heart. Beneath the conquering eagles of the Emperor
+there are men of every shade of political opinion; for the conscription
+is pitiless. There are Royalists, who love their king and hate the
+usurper; there are Jacobins, who worship freedom and detest the tyrant;
+there are stern Republicans--Vendeens, and followers of Moreau: but yet
+all are Frenchmen. 'La belle France' is the watchword that speaks to
+every heart, and patriotism is the bond between thousands. _You_ have
+no share in this; the delusion of national glory can never throw its
+deception around you. Return, then, to your country; and be assured,
+that in _her_ cause your least efforts will be more ennobling to
+yourself than the boldest deeds the hand of a mercenary ever achieved."
+
+The inborn desire to revisit my native land needed but the counsels
+of the priest to make it all-powerful; and as, day by day, I plodded
+onward, my whole thoughts turned to the chances of my escape, and
+the means by which I could accomplish my freedom; for the war still
+continued between France and England, and the blockade of the French
+ports was strictly maintained by a powerful fleet. The difficulty of the
+step only increased my desire to effect it; and a hundred projects did I
+revolve in my mind, without ever being able to fix on one where success
+seemed likely. The very resolve, however, had cheered my spirits, and
+given new courage to my heart; and an object suggested a hope,--and with
+a hope, life was no longer burdensome.
+
+Each morning now I set forward with a mind more at ease, and more open
+to receive pleasure from the varied objects which met me as I went. Not
+so my poor companion; the fatigue of the journey, added to great mental
+suffering, began to prey upon his health, and brought back an ague he
+had contracted in Egypt, from the effect of which his constitution had
+never perfectly recovered. At first the malady showed itself only in
+great depression of spirits, which made him silent for hours of the way.
+But soon it grew worse; he walked with much difficulty, took but little
+nourishment, and seemed impressed with a sad foreboding that the disease
+must be fatal.
+
+"I wanted to reach my village; my own quiet churchyard should have been
+my resting-place," said he, as he sank wearied and exhausted on a
+little bank at the roadside. "But this was only a sick man's fancy. Poor
+Alphonse lies far away in the dreary plain of Auerstadt."
+
+The sun was just setting of a clear day in December as we halted on a
+little eminence, which commanded a distant view on every side. Behind
+lay the dark forest of Germany, the tree-tops presenting their massive
+wavy surface, over which the passing clouds threw momentary shadows;
+before, but still some miles away, we could trace the Rhine, its bright
+silver current sparkling in the sun; beyond lay the great plains of
+France, and upon these the sick man's eyes rested with a steadfast gaze.
+
+"Yes!" said he, after a long silence on both sides, "the fields and the
+mountains, the sunshine and the shade, are like those of other lands;
+but the feeling which attaches the heart to country is an inborn
+sense, and the very word 'home' brings with it the whole history of our
+affections. Even to look thus at his native country is a blessing to an
+exile's heart."
+
+I scarcely dared to interrupt the reverie which succeeded these few
+words; but when I perceived that he still remained seated, his head
+between his hands and lost in meditation, I ventured to remind him that
+we were still above a league from Heimbach, the little village where we
+should pass the night, and that on a road so wild and unfrequented there
+was little hope of finding shelter any nearer.
+
+"You must lean on me, Father; the night air is fresh and bracing, and
+after a little it will revive you."
+
+The old man rose without speaking, and taking my arm, began the descent
+of the mountain. His steps, however, were tottering and uncertain, his
+breathing hurried and difficult, and his carriage indicated the very
+greatest debility.
+
+"I cannot do it, my son," said he, sinking upon the grassy bench which
+skirted the way; "you must leave me. It matters little now where this
+frail body rests; a few hours more, and the rank grass will wave above
+it and the rain beat over it unfelt. Let us part here: an old man's
+blessing for all your kindness will follow you through life, and may
+cheer you to think on hereafter."
+
+"Do you then suppose I could leave you thus?" said I, reproachfully. "Is
+it so you think of me?"
+
+"My minutes are few now, my child," replied he, more solemnly, "and I
+would pass the last moments of my life alone. Well, then, if you will
+not,--leave me now for a little, and return to me; by that time my mind
+will be calmer, and mayhap, too, my strength greater, and I may be able
+to accompany you to the village."
+
+I acceded to this proposal the more willingly, because it afforded me
+the hope of finding some means to convey him to Heimbach; and so, having
+wrapped him carefully in my cloak, I hastened down the mountain at the
+top of my speed.
+
+The zigzag path by which I went discovered to me from time to time the
+lights of the little hamlet, which twinkled star-like in the valley; and
+as I drew nearer, the confused hum of voices reached me. I listened,
+and to my amazement heard the deep, hoarse bray of a trumpet. How well
+I knew that sound! it was the night-call to gather in the stragglers.
+I stopped to listen; and now, in the stillness, could mark the tramp of
+horsemen and the clank of their equipments: again the trumpet sounded,
+and was answered by another at some distance. The road lay straight
+below me at some hundred yards off, and leaving the path, I dashed
+directly downwards just as the leading horsemen of a small detachment
+came slowly up. To their loud _Qui vive?_ I answered by giving an
+account of the sick man, and entreating the sergeant who commanded the
+party to lend assistance to convey him to the village.
+
+"Yes, _parbleu!_ that we will," said the honest soldier; "a priest who
+has made the campaign of Egypt and Austria is worthy of all our care.
+Where is he?"
+
+"About a mile from this; but the road is not practicable for a
+horseman."
+
+"Well, you shall have two of my men; they will soon bring him hither."
+And as he spoke, he ordered two troopers to dismount, who, quickly
+disencumbering themselves of their sabres, prepared to follow me.
+
+"We shall expect you at the bivouac," cried the sergeant, as he resumed
+his way; while I, eager to return, breasted the mountain with renewed
+energy.
+
+"You belong to the Guard, my friends," said I, as I paused for breath at
+a turn of the path.
+
+"The Fourth Cuirassiers of the Guard," replied the soldier I addressed;
+"Milhaud's brigade."
+
+How my heart leaped as he said these words! They were part of the
+division General d'Auvergne once commanded; it was the regiment of poor
+Pioche, too, before the dreadful day of Austerlitz.
+
+"You know the Fourth, then?" rejoined the man, as he witnessed the
+agitation of my manner.
+
+"Know the Fourth?" echoed his comrade, in a voice of half-indignant
+meaning. "_Sacrebleu!_who does not know them? Does not all the world
+know them by this time?"
+
+"It is the Fourth who wear the motto 'Dix contre un' on their caps,"
+said I, desirous to flatter the natural vanity of my companions.
+
+"Yes, Monsieur; I see you have served also."
+
+I answered by a nod, for already every word, every gesture, recalled to
+me the career I had quitted; and my regrets, so late subdued by reason
+and reflection, came thronging back, and filled ray heart to bursting.
+
+Hurrying onward now, I mounted the steep path, and soon regained the
+spot I sought. The poor father was sleeping; overcome by fatigue and
+weariness, he had fallen on the mossy bank, and lay in a deep, soft
+slumber. Lifting him gently, the strong troopers crossed their hands
+beneath, and bore him along between them. For an instant he looked up;
+but seeing me at his side, he merely pressed my hand, and closed his
+eyes again.
+
+"_Ma foi!_" said one of the dragoons, in a low voice, "I should not be
+surprised if this were the Pere Arsene, who served with the army in
+Italy. We used to call him 'old Scapulaire'. He was the only priest I
+ever saw in the van of a brigade. You knew him too, Auguste."
+
+"Yes, that I did," replied the other soldier. "I saw him at Elkankah,
+where one of ours was unhorsed by a Mameluke, spring forward, and
+seizing a pistol at the holster, shoot the Turk through the head, and
+then kneel down beside the dying man he was with before, and go on with
+his prayers. _Ventrebleu!_ that's what I call discipline."
+
+"Where was that, Comrade?"
+
+"At Elkankah."
+
+"At Quoreyn, rather, my friend, two leagues to the southward," whispered
+a low voice.
+
+"_Tonnerre de ciel!_" cried the two soldiers in a breath, "it is
+himself;" for the words were spoken by the priest, who was no other than
+the Pere Arsene they spoke of.
+
+The effort of speech and memory was, however, a mere passing one; for
+to all their questions he was now deaf, and lay apparently unconscious
+between them. On me, therefore, they turned their inquiries, but with
+little more of success; and thus we descended the mountain, eager to
+reach some place of succor for the good father.
+
+As we approached the village, I was soon made aware of the objects of
+the party who occupied it. The little street was crowded with cattle,
+bullocks, and sheep, fast wedged up amid huge wagons of forage and carts
+of corn; mounted dragoons urging on the jaded animals, regardless of
+the angry menaces or the impatient appeals incessantly making by the
+peasantry, who in great numbers had followed their stock from their
+farms.
+
+[Illustration: BrowneForagingParty121]
+
+The soldiers, who were detachments of different corps, were also
+quarrelling among themselves for their share of the spoil; and these
+altercations, in which more than once I saw a sabre flash, added to
+the discord. It was, indeed, a scene of tumult and confusion almost
+inconceivable. Here were a party of cuirassiers, carbine in hand,
+protecting a drove of sheep; around which the country people were
+standing, seemingly irresolute whether they should essay an attack,--a
+movement often prompted by the other soldiers, who hoped in the _melee_
+to seize a part of the prey. Many of the oxen were bestrode by hussars
+or lancers, whose gay trappings formed a strange contrast with the
+beasts they rode on; while more than one stately horseman held a sheep
+before him on the saddle, for whose protection a cocked pistol seemed no
+ineffectual guarantee.
+
+The task of penetrating this dense and turbulent mob seemed to me almost
+impossible, and I expressed my fears to the soldiers. But they replied
+that there were too many _braves_ of Egypt there not to remember the
+Pere Arsene; saying which, one of the soldiers, whispering a word to
+his companion, laid the priest gently upon the ground, and then mounting
+rapidly on a forage-cart, he shouted, in a voice heard above the din,--
+
+"Comrades of the Fourth, we have found an old companion; the Pere
+Scapulaire is here. Place for the good father! place there!"
+
+A hundred loud _vivas_ welcomed this announcement; for the name was well
+known to many who never had seen the priest, and cheer after cheer for
+the _bon pere_ now rang through this motley assemblage.
+
+To the wild confusion of a moment before the regularity of discipline
+at once succeeded, and a lane was quickly formed for the soldiers to
+advance with the priest between them, each horseman saluting as he
+passed as if to his general on parade.
+
+"To the Trauben,--the Trauben!" cried several voices, as we went
+along; and this I learned was the little inn of the village, where the
+non-commissioned officers in charge of the several parties were seated
+in council to arrange the subdivision of the booty.
+
+Had not a feeling stronger than mere personal consideration occupied me,
+I would have now left the good priest among his old comrades, with
+whom he was certain to meet kindness and protection. But I could not so
+readily part with one whom, even in the few hours of our intercourse, I
+had learned to like; and therefore, enduring as well as I was able
+the rugged insubordination of a soldiery free from the restraint of
+discipline, I followed on, and soon found myself at the door of the
+Trauben.
+
+A dismounted dragoon, with drawn sword, guarded the entrance, around
+which a group of angry peasants were gathered, loudly protesting against
+the robbery of their flocks and farmyards. It was with great difficulty
+I could persuade the sentry to suffer me to enter; and when I at last
+succeeded, I found none willing to pay any attention to my request
+regarding a billet for the priest, for unhappily his name and character
+were unknown to those to whom I addressed myself. In this dilemma I was
+deliberating what step to take, when one of the soldiers, who with such
+zealous devotion had never left us, came up to say that his corporal
+had just given up his own quarters for the good father's use; and this,
+happily, was a small summer-house in the garden at the back of the inn.
+
+"He cannot come with us himself," said the soldier, "for he is engaged
+with the forage rations, but I have got his leave to take the quarters."
+
+A small wicket beside the inn led us into a large, wildly-grown orchard,
+through which a broad path led to the summer-house in question; at
+least such we guessed to be the little building from whose windows there
+gleamed the bright glare of a cheerful fire.
+
+The door lay open into a little hall, from which two doors led
+into different chambers. Over one of these was marked in chalk
+"quartier-general," in imitation of the title assigned to a general's
+quarters, and this the soldiers pronounced must belong to the corporal.
+I opened it accordingly and entered. The room was small and neatly
+furnished, and with the blazing wood upon the hearth, looked most
+comfortable and inviting.
+
+"Yes, we are all right here; I know his helmet,--this is it," said the
+dragoon. "So here we must leave you. You'll tell the good father it was
+two troopers of the Fourth who carried him hither, won't ye? Ay, and say
+Auguste Prevot was one of them; he 'll know the name,--he nursed me in a
+fever I had in Italy."
+
+"I wish he were able to give me his blessing again," said the other; "I
+had it before that affair at Brescia, and there were four of my comrades
+killed about me, and never a shot touched me. But good-night, Comrade;
+goodnight." And so saying, having left the father at his length upon a
+couch, they made their military salute and departed.
+
+A rude-looking flagon of beer which stood on the table was the only
+thing I could discover in the chamber, save a canvas bag of tobacco
+and some pipes. I filled a goblet with the liquor and placed it to the
+priest's lips. He swallowed a little of it, and then opening his eyes,
+slowly looked around him, while he murmured to my question a faint sound
+of "Better,--much better." I knew enough of such matters to be aware
+that perfect rest and repose were the greatest aids to his recovery;
+and so, replenishing the fire, I threw myself down on the large dragoon
+cloak which lay on the floor, and prepared to pass my night where I was.
+
+The long-drawn breathings of the sleeping man, the perfect quiet and
+stillness of all around,--for though not far distant from the village,
+the thick wood of trees intercepted every sound from that quarter,--and
+my fatigue combined, soon brought on drowsiness.
+
+I struggled, so long as I was able, against the tendency; but a humming
+sound filled my ears, the objects grew fainter before my vision, and I
+sank into that half-dreamy state when consciousness remains, but clouded
+and indistinct in all its perceptions. Twice the door was opened and
+some persons entered; but though they spoke loudly, I heard not their
+words, nor could I recognize their appearance. To this succeeded a deep,
+sound sleep, the recompense of great fatigue.
+
+The falling of a piece of firewood on the hearth awoke me. I opened my
+eyes and looked about. The room had no other light than from the embers
+of the wood fire and the piece of blazing pine which had just fallen;
+but even by that uncertain glare I could see enough to amaze and confuse
+me.
+
+On the couch where I had left the priest sleeping, the old man was now
+seated, his head uncovered, and a scarf of light blue silk across his
+shoulders and falling to his feet. Before him, and kneeling, was a
+figure, of which for some minutes I in vain endeavored to ascertain the
+traits; for while in the military air of the dress there was something
+to mark the soldier, a waving mass of hair loosely falling on the back
+bespoke another sex. While I yet doubted, the flickering flame burst
+forth and showed me the small and beautiful shaped foot which from
+beneath a loose trouser peeped forth, and in the neat boot and
+tastefully ornamented spur I recognized in an instant it was a
+vivandiere of the army,--one of those who, amid all the reckless abandon
+of the life of camps and battlefields, can yet preserve some vestige of
+coquetry and feminine grace.
+
+So strange the sight, so complete the heavy stupor of my faculties, that
+again and again I doubted whether the whole might not be the creation of
+a dream; but the well-known tones of the old man's voice soon reassured
+me, as I heard him say,--
+
+"I know it too, my child; I have followed too long the fortunes of an
+army not to feel and to sorrow for these things. But be comforted."
+
+A passionate burst of tears from her who knelt at his feet interrupted
+him here; nor did it seem that all he could speak of consolation was
+able to assuage the deep sorrow of the poor girl, whose trembling frame
+bespoke her agony.
+
+By degrees, however, she grew calmer. A deep sob or a long-drawn
+sigh alone would be heard, as the venerable father, with impassioned
+eloquence, depicted the happiness of those who sought the blessings of
+religion, and could tear themselves from the world and its ambitions.
+Warming with his theme, he descanted on the lives of those saints
+on earth whose every minute was an offering of heavenly love; and
+contrasted the holy calm of a convent with the wild revelry of the camp,
+or the more revolting carnage of the battlefield.
+
+"Speak not of these things, Father; your own voice trembles with proud
+emotion at the mention of glorious war. Tell me, oh! tell me that I may
+have hope, and yet leave not all that makes life endurable."
+
+The old man spoke again; but his tones were low, and his words seemed a
+reproof, for she bowed her head between her hands and sobbed heavily.
+
+To the long and impassioned appeal of the priest there now succeeded a
+silence, only broken by the deep-drawn sighs of her who knelt in sadness
+and penitence before him.
+
+"And his name?" said the father; "you have not told his name."
+
+A pause followed, in which not even a breathing was heard; then a low,
+murmuring sound came, and it seemed to meas though I heard my own name
+uttered. I started at the sound, and with the noise the vivandiere
+sprang to her feet.
+
+"I heard a noise there," said she, resolutely.
+
+"It is my companion of the journey," said the priest. "Poor fellow! he
+is tired and weary; he sleeps soundly."
+
+"I did not know you had a fellow-traveller, Father."
+
+"Yes; we met in the Creutz Mountains, and since that" have wended our
+way together. A soldier--"
+
+"A soldier! Is he wounded, then?"
+
+"No, my child; he is leaving the army."
+
+"Leaving the army, and not wounded! He is old and disabled, perhaps."
+
+"Neither; he is both young and vigorous."
+
+"Shame on him, then, that he turn his back on fame and fortune, and
+leave the path that brave men tread! He never was a soldier! No, Father;
+he in whose heart the noble passion once has lived can never forget it."
+
+"Hush, child, hush!" said the priest, motioning with his hand to her to
+be silent.
+
+"Let me look on him!" said the vivandiere, as she stooped down and took
+from the hearth a piece of lighted wood; "let me see this man, and learn
+the features of one who can be so craven of spirit, so poor of heart, as
+to fly the field, while thousands are flocking towards it."
+
+Burning with shame and indignation, I arose, just as she approached me.
+The pine-branch threw its red gleam over her bright uniform, and then
+upon her face.
+
+"Minette! Minette!" I exclaimed. But with a wild shriek she let fall the
+burning wood, and fell senseless to the ground.
+
+It was some time before, with all our care, she recovered consciousness;
+and even then, in her wild, excited glance, one might read the struggles
+of her mind to credit what had occurred. A few broken, unconnected
+phrases would escape her at intervals; and she seemed laboring to regain
+the lost clew to her recollections, when again she turned her eyes
+towards me. At the same instant, the trumpet sounded without for the
+_reveil_, and was answered by many a call from other parties around.
+With a steadfast gaze of wonderment she fixed her look on me; and twice
+passed her hands across her eyes, as though she doubted the evidence of
+her senses.
+
+[Illustration: 346]
+
+"Minette, hear me! let me speak but one word." "There it is again,"
+cried she, as the blast rang out a second time, and the clatter of
+horsemen resounded from the street. "Adieu, sir; our roads lie not
+together. Father, your blessing; if your good counsel this night has
+not made its way to my heart, the lesson has come elsewhere. Good-by!
+good-by!" She pressed the old man's hand to her lips, and darted from
+the room.
+
+Stunned, and like one spell-bound, I could not move for a few seconds;
+and then, with a wild cry, I bounded after her through the garden.
+The wicket, however, was fastened on the outside, and it was some time
+before I could scale the wall and reach the street.
+
+The day was just breaking, but already the village was thronged with
+soldiers, who were preparing for the march, and arranging their parties
+to conduct the wagons. Hurrying on through the crowded and confused
+mass, I looked on every side for the vivandiere; but in vain. Groups
+of different regiments passed and repassed me; but to my questions they
+returned either a jeering reply, or a mere laugh of derision. "But a few
+days ago," thought I, "and these fellows had scarce dared to address me;
+and now--" Oh, the blighting misery of that thought! I was no longer a
+soldier; the meanest horseman of his troop was my superior.
+
+I passed through the village, and reached the highroad. Before me was a
+party of dragoons, escorting a drove of cattle; I hastened after them,
+but on coming near, discovered they were a light cavalry detachment.
+Sick at heart, I leaned against a tree at the wayside, when again
+I heard the tramp of horses approaching. I looked, and saw the tall
+helmets of the Fourth, who were coming slowly along, conducting some
+large wagons, drawn by eight or ten horses. In front of the detachment
+rode a man, whose enormous stature made him at once remarkable, as well
+as the air of soldierly bearing he displayed. Beside him was Minette;
+the reins had fallen on her horse's neck, and her face was buried in her
+hands.
+
+"Ah! if I had thought that priest would have made thee so sad,
+Mademoiselle, I'd have let him spend his night beneath a wagon rather
+than in my quarters," said a deep, hollow voice I at once recognized
+as that of Pioche. "But the morning air will revive thee; so let us
+forward: by threes--open order--trot."
+
+The word was obeyed; the heavy tramp of the horses, with the dull roll
+of the wagons, drowned all other sounds The cortege moved on, and I was
+alone.
+
+[Illustration: BrowneDeathOfMinette127]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII. THE PENSION DE LA RUE MI-CAREME.
+
+When I returned to the garden, I found that the Pere Arsene was seized
+by an access of that dreadful malady, whose intervals of comparative
+release are but periods of dread or despondence. The tertian of Egypt,
+so fatal among the French troops, now numbered him among its victims,
+and he looked worn and exhausted, like one after weeks of illness.
+
+My first care was to present myself to the official whose business it
+was to inspect the passports, and by explaining the condition of my poor
+friend, to entreat permission to delay my journey,--at least until
+he should be somewhat recovered. The gruff old sergeant, however,
+deliberately examined my passport, and as rigidly decided that I could
+not remain. The words of the minister were clear and definite,--"Day
+by day, without halt, to the nearest frontier of France," was the
+direction; and with this I must comply. In vain I assured him that no
+personal convenience, no wish of my own, urged the request, but the duty
+of humanity towards a fellow-traveller, and one who had strong claims on
+every soldier of the Empire.
+
+"Leave him to me, Monsieur," was the only reply I could obtain; and the
+utmost favor he would grant was the permission to take leave of my poor
+friend before I started.
+
+Amid all the sufferings of his malady, I found the good priest dwelling
+in his mind on the scene with the vivandiere,--which, perhaps, from
+the impressionable character of a sick man's temperament, had entirely
+filled his thoughts; and thus he wandered from the subject of his
+sorrows to hers, with scarcely a transition between them.
+
+When I mentioned the necessity of our parting, he seemed to feel it more
+on my account than his own.
+
+"I wished to have reached Paris with you," he repeated over and over.
+"It was not impossible I could have arranged your return home. But you
+must go down to Sevres,--the priest there, whoever he may be, will know
+of me; tell him everything without reserve. I am too ill to write, but
+if I get better soon--Well, well; that poor girl is an orphan too; and
+Alphonse was an orphan. With what misery have we struggled in France
+since this man has ruled our destinies! how have the crimes of a people
+brought their retribution to every heart and every home!--none
+too low, none too humble, to feel them. Leave this land; no blessing can
+rest upon it now. Poor thing! how worthy of a better lot she is! If this
+same officer should know,--it is not impossible. But, why do I say this?
+No, no; you'll never meet him now."
+
+He continued to mutter thus some broken and disjointed sentences,
+half-aloud, for some minutes, apparently unconscious of my presence.
+
+"He was in a regiment of the Guard. Alas! she told me which, but I
+forget it now; but his name, surely I remember his name! Well, well, it
+is a sad story. Adieu, my dear child! good-by! We have each a weary
+road before us; but my journey, although the longest, will be soonest
+accomplished. Do not forget my words to you. Your own country, and your
+country's cause, above every other; all else is the hireling's part. The
+sense of duty alone can sustain a man in the trials which fit him for
+this world, or that better one which is to follow. Adieu!" He threw his
+arm around me as he said this, and leaned exhausted and faint upon my
+shoulder.
+
+The few who journey through life with little sympathy or friendship from
+their fellow-men, may know how it rent my heart to part with one to whom
+I clung every hour closer; my throat swelled and throbbed, and I could
+only articulate a faint good-by as we parted. As the door was closing, I
+heard his voice again.
+
+"Yes, I have it now; I remember it well,--'Le Capitaine Burke.'"
+
+I started in amazement, for during all our intercourse he had never
+asked nor had I told my name, and I stood unable to speak; when he
+continued,--"You 'll think of the name,--she said, too, he was on the
+staff,--'Burke!' Poor girl!"
+
+I did not wait for more, but like one flying from some dreaded enemy I
+rushed through the garden, and gained the road, my heart torn with many
+a conflicting thought; the bitterest of all being the memory of Minette,
+the orphan girl, who alone of all the world cared for me. Oh! if strong,
+deep-rooted affection, the love of a whole heart, can raise the spirit
+above the every-day contentions of the world,--can ennoble thought,
+refine sentiments, and divest life of all its meaner traits, making a
+path of flowers among the rocks and briers of our worldly pilgrimage; so
+does the possession of affection for which we cannot give requital throw
+a gloom over the soul, for which there is no remedy. Better, a thousand
+times better, had I borne all the solitary condition of my lot,
+unrelieved by one token of regard, than think of her who had wrecked her
+fortunes on my own.
+
+With many a sad thought I plodded onward. The miles passed over seemed
+like the events in some troubled dream; and of my journey I have not a
+recollection remaining. It was late in the evening when I reached the
+Barriere de l'Etoile, and entered Paris. The long lines of lamps along
+the quays, the glittering reflection in the calm river, the subdued but
+continual hum of a great city, awoke me from my reverie, and I bethought
+me that my career of life must now begin anew, and all my energies must
+be called on to fashion out my destiny.
+
+On the morning after my arrival I presented myself, in compliance with
+the requisite form, before the minister of police. Little information
+of mine was necessary to explain the circumstances under which I was
+placed. He was already thoroughly acquainted with the whole, and seemed
+in nowise disposed to evince any undue lenity towards one who had
+voluntarily quitted the service of the Emperor.
+
+"Where do you purpose to remain, sir?" said the prefet, as he concluded
+a lengthened and searching scrutiny of my appearance.
+
+"In Paris," I replied, briefly.
+
+"In Paris, I suppose," said he, with a slight derisive curl of the
+lip,--"of that I should think there can be little doubt; but I wished to
+ascertain more accurately your address,--in what part of the city."
+
+"As yet I cannot tell; I am almost a stranger here. A day or two will,
+however, enable me to choose, and then I shall return here with the
+intelligence."
+
+"That is sufficient, sir; I shall expect to see you soon."
+
+He waved his hand in sign to me to withdraw, and I was but too happy to
+follow the indication. As I hastened down the stairs, and forced my way
+through the crowd of persons who awaited an audience with the prefet,
+I heard a voice close to my ear whisper, "A word; one word with you,
+Monsieur." Conceiving, however, it could not have been intended for me,
+to whom no face there was familiar, I passed on, and reached the court.
+
+The noise of footsteps rapidly moving on the grave behind me induced
+me to turn; and I beheld a small, miserably-dressed man, whose spare and
+wasted form bespoke the sorest trials of poverty, advancing towards me,
+hat in hand.
+
+"Will you deign me one word, Monsieur?" said he, in a voice whose tone,
+although that of entreaty, was yet remote from the habitual accent of
+one asking alms.
+
+"You must mistake me," said I, desirous to pass on; "I am unknown to
+you."
+
+"True, sir; but it is as a stranger I take the liberty of addressing
+you. I heard you say just now that you had not fixed on any place of
+abode in Paris; now, if I might venture to entreat your preference for
+this establishment, it would be too much honor for me, its poor master."
+
+Here he placed in my hands a small card, inscribed with the words,
+"Pension Bourgeoise, Rue de Mi-Careme, Boulevard Mont Parnasse, No. 46,"
+at top; and beneath was a paragraph, setting forth the economical fact
+that a man might eat, drink, and sleep for the sum of twelve francs a
+week, enjoying the delights of "agreeable society, pleasant environs,
+and all the advantages of a country residence."
+
+It was with difficulty I could avoid a smile at the shivering figure
+who ventured to present himself as an inducement to try the fare of his
+house. Whether my eyes did wander from the card to his countenance, or
+any other gesture of mine betrayed my thoughts, the old man seemed to
+divine what was passing in my mind, and said,--
+
+"Monsieur will not pronounce on the 'pension' from the humble guise of
+its master. Let him but try it; and I promise that these poor rags, this
+miserable figure, has no type within the walls."
+
+There was a tone of deep dejection, mingled with a sense of conscious
+pride, in which he said these few words, that at once decided me not to
+grieve him by a refusal.
+
+"You may count on me, then, Monsieur," said I. "My stay here is so far
+uncertain, that it depends not altogether on myself; but for the present
+I am your guest."
+
+I took my purse from my pocket as I spoke, knowing the custom in these
+humbler boarding-houses was to pay in advance; but the old man reddened
+slightly, and motioned with his hand a refusal.
+
+"Monsieur is a captain in the Guards," said he, proudly; "no more is
+necessary."
+
+"You mistake, friend, I am no longer so; I have left the army."
+
+"Left it, _en retraite?_" said he, inquiringly.
+
+"Not so; left it at my own free will and choice. And now, perhaps, I
+had better tell you, that as I may not enjoy any considerable share of
+goodwill from the police authorities here, my presence might be less
+acceptable to your other guests, or to yourself."
+
+The old man's eyes sparkled as I spoke, and his lips moved rapidly, as
+though he were speaking to himself; then, taking my hand, he pressed it
+to his lips, and said,--
+
+"Monsieur could not be more welcome than at present. Shall we expect you
+to-day at dinner?"
+
+"Be it so. Your hour?"
+
+"Four o'clock, to the moment. Do not forget the number, 46 Monsieur
+Rubichon; the house with a large garden in front."
+
+"Till then," said I, bowing to my host, whose ceremonious politeness
+made me feel my own salute an act of rudeness in comparison.
+
+As I parted from the old man, I was glad at the relief to my own
+thoughts which even thus much of speculation afforded, and sauntered on,
+fancying many a strange conceit about the "pension" and its inhabitants.
+At last the hour drew near; and having placed my few effects in a
+cabriolet, I set out for the distant boulevard of Mont Parnasse.
+
+I remarked with pleasure, that as we went along the streets and
+thoroughfares became gradually less and less crowded; scarcely a
+carriage of any kind was to be met with. The shops were, for the most
+part, the quiet, unpretending-looking places one sees in a provincial
+town; and an air of peacefulness and retirement prevailed, strongly at
+variance with the clamor and din of the heart of the capital. This was
+more than ever so as we emerged upon the boulevard itself: on one side
+of which houses, at long straggling intervals, alone were to be seen;
+at the other, the country lay open to the view, with its orchards and
+gardens, for miles away.
+
+"_Saprelotte!_" said the driver, who, like so many of his calling, was a
+blunt son of Alsace,--"_saprelotte!_ we have come to the end of the world
+here. How do you call the strange street you are looking for?"
+
+"The Rue de Mi-Careme."
+
+"Mi-Careme? I 'd rather you lived there than me; that name does not
+promise much in regard to good feeding. Can this be it?"
+
+As he spoke he pointed with his whip to a narrow, deserted-looking
+street, which opened from the boulevard. The houses were old and
+dilapidated, but stood in small gardens, and seemed like the remains
+of the villa residences of the Parisians in times long past. A few more
+modern edifices, flaring with red brick fronts, were here and there
+scattered amongst them; but for all the decay and dismantlement of the
+others, they seemed like persons of rank and condition in the company of
+their inferiors.
+
+Few of the larger houses were inhabited. Large placards, "a louer,"
+on the gateways or the broken railings of the garden, set forth the
+advantages of a handsome residence, situated between court and garden;
+but the falling roofs and broken windows were in sad discordance with
+the eulogy.
+
+The unaccustomed noise of wheels, as we went along, drew many to the
+doors to stare at us, and in the gathering groups I could mark the
+astonishment so rare a spectacle as a cabriolet afforded in these
+secluded parts.
+
+"Is this the Rue Mi-Careme?" said the driver to a boy, who stood gazing
+in perfect wonderment at our equipage.
+
+"Yes," muttered the child,--"yes. Who are you come for now?"
+
+"Come for, my little man? Not for any one. What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I thought it was the commissary," said the boy.
+
+"Ah, _sapperment!_ I knew we were in a droll neighborhood," murmured the
+driver. "It would seem they never see a cabriolet here except when it
+brings the _commissaire de police_ to look after some one."
+
+If this reflection did not tend to allay my previous doubts upon the
+nature of the locality, it certainly aided to excite my curiosity, and
+I was determined to persist in my resolution of at least seeing the
+interior of the "pension."
+
+"Here we are at last," cried the driver, throwing down his whip on the
+horse's back, as he sprang to the ground, and read aloud from a board
+fastened to a tree, "'Pension Bourgeoise. M. Rubichon, proprietaire.'
+Shall I wait for monsieur?"
+
+"No. Take out that portmanteau and cloak; I'm not going back now."
+
+A stare of most undisguised astonishment was the only reply he made, as
+he took forth my baggage, and placed it at the little gate.
+
+"You 'll be coming home at night," said he, at length; "shall I come
+to fetch you? Not to-night," repeated he, in amazement. "Well, adieu,
+Monsieur,--you know best; but I 'd not come a-pleasuring up here, if I
+was a young fellow like you."
+
+As he drove away, I turned to look at the building before me, which up
+to this time I had not sufficiently noted. It was a long, two-storied
+house, which evidently at an early period had been a mansion of no mean
+pretension. The pilasters which ornamented the windows, the balustrades
+of the parapet, and the pediment above the entrance, were still
+remaining, though in a dilapidated condition. The garden in front showed
+also some signs of that quaint taste originally borrowed from the Dutch,
+and the yew-trees still preserved some faint resemblance to the beasts
+and animals after which they had once been fashioned, though time and
+growth had altered the outlines, and given to many a goodly lion or stag
+the bristly coat of a porcupine. A little fountain, which spouted from
+a sea-monster's nostrils, was grass-grown and choked with weeds.
+Everything betokened neglect and ruin; even the sundial had fallen
+across the walk, and lay moss-grown and forgotten; as though to say that
+Time had no need of a record there. The _jalousies_, which were closed
+in every window, permitted no view of the interior; nor did anything,
+save a faint curl of light blue smoke from one chimney, give token of
+habitation.
+
+I could not help smiling to myself at the absurd fancy which had
+suffered me to feel that this deserted quarter, this lonesome dwelling,
+contained anything either adventurous or strange about it, or that
+I should find either in the "pension" or its guests wherewithal to
+interest or amuse me. With this thought I opened the wicket, and,
+crossing the garden, pulled the bell-rope that hung beside the door.
+
+The deep clanging echoed again and again to my summons, and ere it
+ceased the door was opened, and M. Rubichon himself stood before me: no
+longer, however, the M. Rubichon of the morning, in garments of worn
+and tattered poverty, but attired in a suit which, if threadbare, was
+at least clean and respectable-looking,--a white vest, and ruffles also,
+added to the air of neatness of his costume; and whether from his
+own deserts, or my surprise at the transformation, he seemed to me to
+possess the look and bearing of a true gentleman.
+
+Having welcomed me with the well-bred and easy politeness of one who
+knew the habits of society, he gave orders to a servant girl to conduct
+me to a room, adding, "May I beg of monsieur to make a rapid toilet, for
+the dinner will be served in less than ten minutes?"
+
+The M. Rubichon of the morning no more prepared me for that gentleman at
+evening than did the ruinous exterior of the dwelling for the neat and
+comely chamber into which I was now installed. The articles of furniture
+were few, but scrupulously clean; and the white curtains of the little
+bed, the cherry-wood chairs, the table, with its gray marble top,--all
+were the perfection of that propriety which gives even to humble things
+a look of elegance.
+
+I had but time to make a slight change in my dress when the bell sounded
+for dinner, and at the same instant a gentle knock came to my door. It
+was M. Rubichon, come to conduct me to the _salle_, and anxious to know
+if I were satisfied with my chamber.
+
+"In summer, Monsieur, if we shall have the happiness of possessing you
+here at that season, the view of the garden is delightful from this
+window; and,--you have not noticed it, of course, but there is a little
+stair, which descends from the window into the garden, which you will
+find a great convenience when you wish to walk. This way, now. We are a
+small party to-day, and indeed shall be for a few weeks. What name shall
+I have the honor to announce?"
+
+"Mr. Burke."
+
+"Ah! an Irish name," said he, smiling, as he threw open the door of a
+spacious but simply furnished apartment, in which about a dozen persons
+were standing or sitting around the stove.
+
+I could not help remarking, that as Monsieur Rubichon presented me to
+his other guests, my name seemed to meet a kind of recognition from each
+in turn. My host perceived this, and explained it at once by saying,--
+
+"We have a namesake of yours amongst us; not exactly at this moment,
+for he is in Normandy, but he will be back in a week or so. Madame de
+Langeac, let me present Mr. Burke."
+
+Monsieur Rubichon's guests were all persons somewhat advanced in life;
+and though in their dress evincing a most unvarying simplicity and
+economy, had yet a look of habitual good tone and breeding which could
+not be mistaken. Among these, the lady to whom I was now introduced was
+conspicuous, and in her easy and graceful reception of me, showed the
+polished manners of one accustomed to the best society.
+
+After some half-jesting observations, expressive of surprise that a
+young man--and consequently, as she deemed, a gay one--should have
+selected as his residence an unvisited quarter and a very retired house,
+she took my arm, and proceeded to the dinner-room.
+
+The dinner itself, and the table equipage, were in keeping with the
+simplicity of the whole establishment; but if the fare was humble and
+the wine of the very cheapest, all the habitudes of the very highest
+society presided at the meal, and the polished ease and elegance, so
+eminently the gift of ancient French manners, were conspicuous.
+
+There prevailed among the guests all the intimacy of a large family;
+at the same time a most courteous deference was remarkable, which never
+approached familiarity. And thus they talked lightly and pleasantly
+together of mutual friends and places they had visited; no allusion ever
+being made to the popular topics of the day,--to me a most inexplicable
+circumstance, and one which I could not avoid slightly expressing my
+astonishment at to the lady beside me. She smiled significantly at my
+remark, and merely said,--
+
+"It is so agreeable to discuss matters where there can be no great
+difference of opinion,--at least, no more than sharpens the wit of the
+speakers,--that you will rarely hear other subjects talked of here."
+
+"But have the great events which are yet passing no interest?"
+
+"Perhaps they interest too deeply to admit of much discussion," said
+she, with some earnestness of manner.
+
+"But I am myself transgressing; and, what is still worse, losing you the
+observations of Monsieur de Saint George on Madame de Sevigne."
+
+The remark was evidently made to change the current of our conversation;
+and so I accepted it,--listening to the chit-chat around me, which, from
+its novelty alone, possessed a most uncommon charm to my ears. It was
+so strange to hear the allusions to the courtiers and the beauties of
+bygone days made with all the freshness of yesterday acquaintance; and
+the stores of anecdotes about the court of Louis the Fifteenth and the
+Regency told with a piquancy that made the event seem like an occurrence
+of the morning.
+
+Before we retired to the drawing-room for coffee, I saw that the
+"pension" was a Royalist establishment, and wondered how it happened
+that I should have been selected by the host to make one of his guests.
+Yet unquestionably there seemed no reserve towards me; on the contrary,
+each evinced a tone of frankness and cordiality which made me perfectly
+at ease, and well satisfied at the fortune which led me to the Rue
+Mi-Careme.
+
+The little parties of dominoes and piquet scattered through the _salon_;
+some formed groups to converse; the ladies resumed their embroidery; and
+all the occupations of indoor life were assumed with a readiness that
+betokened habit, and gave to the "pension" the comfortable air of a
+home.
+
+Thus passed the first evening. The next morning the party assembled at
+an early hour to breakfast; after which the gentlemen went out, and did
+not appear until dinnertime,--day succeeding day in unvarying but to me
+not unpleasing monotony. I rarely wandered from the large wilderness of
+a garden near the house, and saw weeks pass over without a thought ever
+occurring to me that life must not thus be suffered to ebb.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX. MY NAMESAKE
+
+About a month after I came to live in the "pension," I was sitting one
+evening at the window, watching, with the interest an idle man will ever
+attach to slight things,--the budding leaves of an early spring,--when I
+heard a step approach my chair, and on turning my head perceived Madame
+de Langeac. She carried her taboret in her hand, and came slowly towards
+me.
+
+"I am come to steal some of your sunshine, Monsieur Burke," said the old
+lady, smiling good-naturedly, as I rose to present a chair, "but not to
+drive you away, if you will be generous enough to keep me company."
+
+I stammered out some commonplace civility in reply, and was silent,
+for my thoughts were bent upon my future, and I was ill disposed to
+interruption.
+
+"You are fond of flowers, I have remarked," continued she, as if
+perceiving my preoccupation, and willing to relieve it by taking the
+burden of the conversation. "And it is a taste I love to witness; it
+seems to me like the evidence of a homely habit. It is only in childhood
+we learn this love; we may cultivate it in after life as we will."
+
+"My mother was passionately fond of them," said I, calling up a
+long-buried memory of home and kindred.
+
+"I thought so. These simple tastes are the inheritance a mother gives
+her child; and happily they survive every change of fortune."
+
+I sighed heavily as she spoke, for thus accidentally was touched the
+weakest chord of my heart.
+
+"And, better still," resumed she, "they are the links that unite us to
+the past, that bind the heart of manhood to infancy, that can bring down
+pride and haughtiness, and call forth guileless affection and childlike
+faith."
+
+"They are happy,"' said I, musing, "who can mingle such early memories
+with the present."
+
+"And who cannot?" interrupted she, rapidly. "Who has not felt the love
+of parents,--the halo of a home? Old as I am, even I can recall the
+little walks I trod in infancy, and the hand that used to guide me. I
+can bring up the very tones of that voice which vibrated on my heart as
+they spoke my name. But how much happier they to whom these memories
+are linked with tokens of present affection, and who, in their manhood's
+joys, can feel a father's or a mother's love!"
+
+"I was left an orphan when a mere child," said I, as though the
+observation had been specially addressed to me.
+
+"But you have brothers,--sisters, perhaps."
+
+I shook my head. "A brother, indeed; but we have never met since we were
+children."
+
+"And yet your country has not suffered the dreadful convulsion of ours;
+no social wreck has scattered those who once lived in close affection
+together. It is sad when such ties are broken. You came early to
+France, I think you told me?"
+
+"Yes, Madame. When a mere child my heart conceived a kind of devotion
+to the Emperor: his fame, his great exploits, seemed something more
+than human,--filled every thought of my brain; and to be a soldier,_his_
+soldier, was the limit of my ambition. I fancied, too, that the cause he
+asserted was that of freedom; that liberty, universal liberty, was the
+watchword that led to victory."
+
+"And you have discovered your error," interrupted she. "Alas! it were
+better to have followed the illusion. A faith once shaken leaves an
+unsettled spirit, and with such there is little energy."
+
+"And less of hope," said I, despondingly.
+
+"Not so, if there be youth. Come, you must tell me your story. It is
+from no mere curiosity I ask you; but that I have seen much of the
+world, and am better able than you to offer counsel and advice. I have
+remarked, for some time past, that you appear to have no acquaintance
+in Paris,--no friend. Let me be such. If the confidence have no other
+result, it will relieve your heart of some portion of its burden;
+besides, the others here will learn to regard you with less distrust."
+
+"And is such their feeling towards me?"
+
+"Forgive me; I did not exactly use the word I sought for. But now that
+I have ventured so far, I may as well confess that you are an object of
+the greatest interest in their eyes; nor can they divest themselves of
+the impression that some deep-laid plot had led you hither."
+
+"Had I known this before--"
+
+"You had left us. I guessed as much: I have remarked it in your
+character already, that a morbid dread of being suspected is ever
+uppermost in your thoughts; and accounted for it by supposing that you
+might have been thrown at too early an age into life. But you must
+not feel angry with us here. As for me, I have no merit in my right
+appreciation of you: Monsieur Rubichon told me how you met,--a mere
+accident, at the bureau of the prefet."
+
+"It was so; nor have I been able to divine why he addressed himself to
+me, nor what circumstance could have led him to believe my sentiments in
+accordance with those of his guests."
+
+"Simple enough the reason. He heard from your own lips you were a
+stranger, without any acquaintance in Paris. The police for a time
+have been somewhat frequent in their visits here, when the exclusively
+Royalist feature of the 'pension' excited some dissatisfaction. To
+overcome the impression, M. Rubichon determined to wait each day at the
+bureau of the prefet, and solicit at hazard among the persons there
+to patronize his house. We all here consented to the plan, feeling
+its necessity. Our good fortune sent us you. Still, you must not be
+surprised if long sorrows and much suffering have engendered suspicion,
+nor that the old followers of a king look distrustfully on the soldier
+of"--she hesitated and blushed slightly, then added, in a low voice--"of
+the Emperor."
+
+The word seemed to have cost a pang in its utterance; for she did not
+speak for several minutes after.
+
+"And these gentlemen,--am I to conclude that they cherish disaffection
+to the present Government, or harbor a hope of its downfall?"
+
+Whether some accidental expression of disdain escaped me as I said this,
+I cannot say; but Madame de Langeao quickly replied,--
+
+"They are good Frenchmen, sir, and loyal gentlemen; what they _hope_
+must be a matter for their own hearts."
+
+"I entreat your pardon, Madame, if I have said one syllable which could
+reflect upon their motives."
+
+"I forgive you readily," said she, smiling courteously; "he who has worn
+a sabre so long, may well deem its influence all-powerful. But believe
+me, young man, there is that within the heart of a nation against which
+mere force is nothing; opposed to it, armed squadrons and dense ranks
+are powerless. Devotion to a sovereign, whose claim comes hallowed by a
+long line of kings, is a faith to which religion lends its sanction and
+tradition its hope. Look on these very persons here; see, has adversity
+chilled their affection, or poverty damped their ardor? You know them
+not; but I will tell you who they are.
+
+"There, at the fire, that venerable old man with the high, bold
+forehead, he is Monsieur de Plessis (Comte Plessis de Riancourt). His
+grandfather entertained Louis the Fourteenth and his suite within his
+chateau; he himself was grand falconer to the king. And what is he
+now? I shame to speak it,--a fencing-master at an humble school of the
+Faubourg.
+
+"And the other opposite to him (he is stooping to pick something from
+the floor), I myself saw him kneel at the levee of his Majesty, and
+beheld the king assist him to rise, as he said, 'Monsieur de Maurepas, I
+would make you a duke, but that no title could be so dear to a Maurepas
+as that his ancestors have borne for six hundred years.' And he, whose
+signature was but inferior to the royal command, copies pleadings of a
+lawyer to earn his support.
+
+"And that tall man yonder, who has just risen from the table,--neither
+years nor poverty have erased the stamp of nobility from his graceful
+figure,--Comte Felix d'Ancelot, captain of the Gardes du Corps; the
+same who was left for dead on the stairs at Versailles pierced by eleven
+wounds. He gives lessons in drawing! two leagues from this, at the other
+extremity of Paris.
+
+"You ask me if they hope; what else than hope, what other comforter,
+could make such men as these live on in want and indigence, declining
+every proffer of advancement, refusing every temptation that should warp
+their allegiance? I have read of great deeds of your Emperor,--I have
+heard traits of heroism of his generals, compared to which the famed
+actions of the Crusaders paled away; but tell me if you think that all
+the glory ever won by gallant soldier, tried the courage or tested the
+stout heart like the long struggle of such men as these? And here, if I
+mistake not, comes another, not inferior to any."
+
+As she spoke, the steps of a _caleche_ at the door were suddenly
+lowered, and a tall and powerfully built man stepped lightly out. In
+an instant we heard his footstep in the hall, and in another moment the
+door of the _salon_ opened, and M. Rubichon announced "Le General Count
+Burke."
+
+The general had just time to divest himself of his travelling pelisse as
+he entered, and was immediately surrounded by the others, who welcomed
+him with the greatest enthusiasm.
+
+"Madame la Marquise de Langeac," said he, approaching the old lady, as
+she sat in the recess of the window, and lifted her hand to his lips,
+"I am overjoyed to see you in such health. I passed three days with
+your amiable cousin, Arnold de Rambuteau; who, like yourself, enjoys the
+happiest temperament and the most gifted mind."
+
+"If you flatter thus, General," said Madame de Langeac, "my young friend
+here will scarcely recognize in you a countryman,--a kinsman, perhaps.
+Let me present Mr. Burke."
+
+The general's face flushed, and his eyes sparkled, as taking my hand in
+both of his own, he said,--
+
+"Are you indeed from Ireland? Is your name Burke? Alas! that I cannot
+speak one word of English to you. I left my country thirty-eight years
+since, and have never revisited it."
+
+The general overwhelmed me with questions: first about my family, of
+which I could tell him little; and then of my own adventures, at which,
+to my astonishment, he never evinced those symptoms of displeasure I
+so confidently expected from an old follower of the Bourbons. This he
+continued to do, as he ate a hurried meal which was laid out for him in
+the _salon_; all the rest standing in a circle around, and pressing him
+with questions for this friend or that at every pause he made.
+
+"You see, gentlemen," cried he, as I replied to some inquiry about my
+campaign, "this is an instance of what I have so often spoken to you.
+Here is a youth who leaves his country solely for fighting sake; he
+does not care much for the epaulette, he cares less for the cause. Come,
+come, don't interrupt me; I know you better than you know yourself.
+You longed for the conflict and the struggle and the victory; and,
+_parbleu!_ we may say as we will, but you could have scarcely made a
+better selection than with his Majesty, Emperor and King, as they style
+him."
+
+This speech met with a sorry reception from the bystanders, and in the
+dissatisfied expression of their faces, a less confident speaker might
+have read his condemnation; but the general felt not this, or, if he
+did, he effectually concealed it.
+
+"You have not inquired for Gustave de Me is in," said he, looking round
+at the circle.
+
+"You have not seen him, surely?" cried several together; "we heard he
+was at Vienna."
+
+"No, _parbleu!_ he lives about a league from his old home,--the very
+house we spent our Christmas at eighteen years ago. They have made a
+barrack of his chateau, and thrown his park into a royal _chasse_; but
+he has built a hut on the river-side, and walks every day through his
+own ground, which he says he never saw so well stocked for many a year.
+He is as happy as ever, and loves to look out on the Seine before his
+door when the bright stream is rippling through many a broad leaf; ay,
+Messieurs, of good augury, too,--the lilies of France." He lifted a
+bumper to his lips as he spoke, and drank the toast with enthusiasm.
+
+This sudden return to loyalty, so boldly announced, served to reinstate
+him in their estimation; and once again all their former pleasure at
+his appearance came back, and again the questions poured in from every
+quarter.
+
+"And the abbe," said one; "what of him? Has he made up his mind yet?"
+
+"To be sure he has, and changed it too, at least twice every twenty-four
+hours. He is ever full of confidence and brimming with hope when the
+wind is from the eastward; but let it only come a point west, his
+spirits fall at once, and he dreams of frigates and gunboats, and the
+hulks in the Thames; and though they offered him a cardinal's hat, he 'd
+not venture out to sea."
+
+The warning looks of the bystanders, and even some signals to be
+cautious, here interrupted the speaker, who paused for a few seconds,
+and then fixed his eyes on me.
+
+"I have no fears, gentlemen, on that score. I know my countrymen well,
+though I have lived little among them. My namesake here may like the
+service of the Emperor better than that of a king,--he may prefer the
+glitter of the eagle to the war-cry of Saint Louis,--but he 'll never
+betray the private conversations nor expose the opinions expressed
+before him in all the confidence of social intercourse.
+
+"We are speaking, Mr. Burke, of an abbe who is about to visit Ireland,
+and whose fears of the English cruisers seem little reasonable to some
+of my friends here, though you can explain, perhaps, that they are not
+groundless. I forgot,--you were but a boy when you crossed that sea."
+
+"But he will go at last," said Madame de Langeac; "I suppose we may rely
+on that?"
+
+"We hope," said the general, shrugging his shoulders with an air of
+doubt, "because, when we can do nothing else, we can always hope." And
+so saying he arose from the table, and taking a courteous leave of each
+person in turn, pleading the fatigue of his journey, he retired for the
+night.
+
+I left the saloon soon after, and went to my room full of all I had
+heard, and pondering many thoughts about the abbe and his intended
+voyage. I spent a sleepless night. Thoughts of home, long lost in the
+excitement of my career, came flocking to my brain, and a desire
+to revisit my country--stronger, perhaps, because undefined in its
+object--made me restless and feverish. It was with delight I perceived
+the day dawning, and dressing myself hastily, I descended into the
+garden. To my surprise, I found General Burke already there. He was
+sauntering along slowly by himself, and seemed wrapped in meditation.
+The noise of my approach startled him, and he looked up.
+
+"Ah! my countryman,--so early astir?" said he, saluting me courteously.
+"Is this a habit of yours?"
+
+"No, sir; I cannot claim the merit of such wakefulness. But last night
+I never closed my eyes. A few words you dropped in conversation in the
+drawing-room kept possession of my heart, and even yet I cannot expel
+them."
+
+"I saw it at the time I spoke," replied the general, with a keen, quick
+glance; "you changed color twice as I mentioned the Abbe Gernon. Do you
+know him?"
+
+"No, sir; it was his intended journey, not himself, for which I felt
+interested."
+
+"You would wish to accompany him, perhaps. Well, the matter is not
+impossible; but as time presses, and we have little leisure for
+mysteries, tell me frankly why are you here?"
+
+In few words, and without a comment on any portion of my conduct, I told
+him the principal circumstances of my life, down to the decisive moment
+of my leaving the army.
+
+"After that step," said I, "feeling that no career can open to me here,
+I wish to regain my own country."
+
+"You are right," said the general, slowly; "it is your only course now.
+The venture is not without risk,--less from the English cruisers than
+the French, for the abbe is well known in England, and Ireland too;
+but his Royalist character would find slight favor with Fouche. You are
+willing to run the risk, I suppose?"
+
+"I am."
+
+"And to travel as the abbe's servant, at least to Falaise? there the
+disguise will end."
+
+"Perfectly so."
+
+"And for this service, are you also ready to render us one in return?"
+said he, peering at me beneath his eyelashes.
+
+"If it involve the good faith I once swore to preserve towards the
+Emperor Napoleon, I refuse it at once. On such a condition, I cannot
+accept your aid."
+
+"And does your heart still linger where your pride has been so
+insulted?"
+
+"It does, it does; to be his soldier once more, I would submit to
+everything but dishonor."
+
+"In that case," said he, smiling good-naturedly, "my conscience is a
+clear one; and I may forward your escape with the satisfying reflection
+that I have diminished the enemies of his Majesty Louis the Eighteenth
+by one most inveterate follower of Napoleon. I shall ask no conditions
+of you. When are you ready?"
+
+"To-day,--now."
+
+"Let me see; to-morrow will be the 8th,--to-morrow will do. I will write
+about it at once. Meanwhile, it is as well you should not drop any hint
+of your intended departure, except to Madame de Langeac, whose secrecy
+may be relied on."
+
+"May I ask," said I, "if you run any risk in thus befriending me? It is
+an office, believe me, of little promise."
+
+"None whatever. Rarely a month passes over without some one or other
+leaving this for England. The intercourse between Rome and Ireland is
+uninterrupted, and has been so during the hottest period of the war."
+
+"This seems most unaccountable to me; I cannot understand it."
+
+"There is a key to the mystery, however," said he, smiling. "The English
+Government have confidence in the peaceful efforts of the priesthood as
+regards Ireland, and permit them to hold unlimited intercourse with the
+Holy See, which fears France and the spirit of her Emperor. The Bourbons
+look to the Church as the last hope of the Restoration. It is in the
+Catholic religion of this country, and its traditions, that monarchy
+has its root. Sap one, and you undermine the other. Legitimacy is a holy
+relic,--like any other, the priests are the guardians of it; and as for
+the present ruler of France, he trusts in the spirit of the Church to
+increase its converts, and believes that Ireland is ripening to revolt
+through the agency of the priests. Fouche alone is not deceived. Between
+him and the Church the war is to the knife; and but for him the high
+seas would be more open than the road to Strasburg,--at least, to
+all with a shaven crown and a silk frock. Here, then, is the simple
+explanation of what seemed so difficult; and I believe you will find it
+the true one."
+
+"But two out of the three parties must be deceived," said I.
+
+"Perhaps all three are," replied he, smiling sarcastically. "There are
+some, at least, who deem the return of the rightful sovereign is more to
+be hoped from the sabre than the crosier, and think that Rome never was
+true except to Rome. As to your journey, however, its only difficulty
+or danger is the transit through France; once at the coast, and all
+is safe. Your passport shall be made out as a retired sous-officier
+returning to his home. You will take Marboeuf in the route, and I will
+give you the necessary directions for discovering the abbe."
+
+"Is it not possible," said I, "that _he_ may feel no inclination
+to encumber himself with a fellow-traveller, and particularly one a
+stranger to him?"
+
+"Have no fear on that head. Your presence, on the contrary, will give
+him courage, and we must let him suppose you accompany him at our
+suggestion."
+
+"Not with any implied knowledge or any connection with your views,
+however," said I. "This is well understood between us?"
+
+"Perfectly so. And now meet me here this evening, after coffee, and I
+will give you your final instructions, Adieu, for the present."
+
+He waved his hand and left me. Then, after walking a few paces, turned
+quickly round, and said,--
+
+"You will remember, a blouse and knapsack are indispensable for your
+equipment. Adieu!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX. AN OLD SAILOR OF THE EMPIRE
+
+No circumstance of any interest occurred on my journey to Marboeuf; my
+passport, made out in my own name as a sous-officier on leave, secured
+me against any interruption or delay; and on the third evening I reached
+the little wayside cabaret, about a league beyond the town, where I was
+informed by the count that the abbe would await me.
+
+To my surprise, however, I discovered that the house was occupied by a
+detachment of the Marines of the Guard, proceeding from Marboeuf to the
+coast; with these, assuming the "camaraderie" of the service, I soon
+made acquaintance, and being possessed of some information about
+the army, my company was at once coveted by the sailors, who had no
+opportunity of learning the events of the campaign.
+
+The flurried manner and the over-solicitous desire of the landlord
+to please, did not escape me; and taking the first opportunity that
+offered, I followed him into his room, and closed the door behind me.
+
+"Has _he_ arrived?" said I, assuming at once the tone of one with whom
+there need be no secrecy.
+
+"Ha! you are the captain, then, and I was right?" said he, not replying
+to my question, but showing that he was aware who I was. But in an
+instant he resumed, "Alas! no, sir; the orders to have quarters ready
+for ten men reached me yesterday; and though I told his messenger that
+he might come in safety,--the marines never noticing any traveller,--he
+has evidently been afraid to venture. This is the 10th; on the 12th the
+vessel is to be off the coast; after that it will be too late."
+
+"But he may come yet."
+
+The man shook his head and sighed; then muttered half aloud, "It was a
+foolish choice to take a coward for a hazardous enterprise. The Comte de
+Chambord has been here twice to-day to see him, but in vain."
+
+"Where is he, then? at what distance from here?"
+
+"No one knows. It must be some leagues away, however, for his messenger
+seems tired and weary when he comes, and never returns the same day."
+
+"Is it not possible he may have pushed on to the coast, finding this
+place occupied?"
+
+"Ah, sir, it is plain you know him not; he has no daring like this, and
+would never seek a new path if the old were closed against him. But
+after all, it would be useless here."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"The letters have not come yet, and without them he could not leave the
+coast. Meanwhile, be cautious: take care lest your absence should be
+remarked by the men; return to them now, and if anything occur, I will
+make a signal for you."
+
+The landlord's advice was well timed, for I found that the party were
+already becoming impatient at my delay, and wondering what had caused
+it.
+
+"They say, Comrade," said a short-set, dark-featured Breton, whose black
+beard and mustache left little vestige of a human face visible,--"they
+say that the cavalry of the Guard give themselves airs with us marines,
+and that our company is not good enough for them. Is this the case?"
+
+"It is the first time I have heard the remark," replied I, "and I hope
+it may be the last; with us of the Eighth I know such a feeling never
+existed; and yet we thought ourselves not inferior to our neighbors."
+
+"Then why did you leave us just now?" grumbled out two or three in a
+breath.
+
+"You shall know that presently," said I, smiling; at the same time I
+arose and opened the door. "You may bring in the Burgundy now, Master
+Joseph; we are all ready for it."
+
+A hearty cheer welcomed this speech, and many a rude hand was stretched
+forth to grasp mine; at the same instant the host, accurately divining
+the necessity of the moment, entered with a basket containing six
+bottles, whose cobwebbed necks and crusted surface bespoke the choicest
+bin of his cellar.
+
+"_Macon!_ gentlemen," said he, drawing the cork of a flask with all the
+steadiness of hand of one accustomed to treat Burgundy properly.
+
+"Ah, _parbleu!_ a generous grape, too," said the short sailor, who spoke
+first, as he drained his glass and refilled it. "_Allons_, Comrades,
+'The Emperor! '"
+
+"The Emperor!" repeated each voice in turn, even to the poor landlord,
+whose caution was stronger than his loyalty.
+
+"The Emperor, and may Heaven preserve him!" said the dark-whiskered
+fellow.
+
+"The Emperor, and may Heaven forgive him!" said the host, who this time
+uttered the true sentiments of his heart, without knowing it.
+
+"Forgive him!" roared three or four together,--"forgive him what?"
+
+"For not making thee an admiral of the fleet," said the landlord,
+slapping the stout sailor familiarly on the shoulder.
+
+A burst of rude laughter acknowledged the success of this speech, and
+by common consent the host was elected One of the company. As the wine
+began to work upon the party, the dark fellow, whose grade of sergeant
+was merely marked by a gold cord on his cuff, and which had hitherto
+escaped my notice, assumed the leadership, and recounted some stories
+of his life; which, treating of a service so novel to me in all its
+details, were sufficiently interesting, though the materials themselves
+were slight and unimportant.
+
+One feature struck me in particular through all he said, and gave a
+character most distinctive to the service he belonged to, and totally
+unlike what I had observed among the soldiers of the army. With _them_
+the armies of all Europe were accounted the enemy,--the Austrian, the
+Russian, the Italian, and the Prussian were the foes he had met and
+conquered in so many fields of glory. The pride he felt in his triumphs
+was a great but natural sentiment; involving, however, no hatred of his
+enemy, nor any desire to disparage his courage or his skill. With the
+sailor of the Empire, however, there was but one antagonist, and that
+one he detested with his whole heart: England was a word which stirred
+his passion from its very inmost recesses, and made his blood boil
+with intense excitement. The gay insolence of the soldier, treating his
+conquest as a thing of ease and certainty, had no resemblance to the
+collected and impassioned hate of the sailor, who felt that _his_
+victories were not such as proclaimed his superiority by evidence
+incontestable. The victories on land contrasted, too, so strongly
+with even what were claimed as such at sea, that the sailors could not
+control their detestation of those who had robbed them of a share of
+their country's praise, and made the hazardous career they followed one
+of mere secondary interest in the eyes of France.
+
+A more perfect representative of this mingled jealousy and hate could
+not be found than Paul Dupont, the sous-officier in command of this
+little party. He was a Breton, and carried the ruling trait of his
+province into the most minute feature of his conduct. Bold, blunt,
+courageous, open-hearted, and fearless, but passionate to the verge of
+madness when thwarted, and unforgiving in his vengeance when insulted,
+he only believed in Brittany, and for the rest of France he cared as
+little as for Switzerland. His whole life had been spent at sea, until
+about two years previous, when from boatswain he was promoted to be a
+sergeant of the Marines of the Guard,--a step he regretted every day,
+and was now actually petitioning to be restored to his old grade, even
+at the sacrifice of pay and rank; such was the impression a short life
+ashore had made on him, and so complete his contempt for any service
+save that in blue water.
+
+"Come, old 'sea-wolf,'"--such was the sobriquet Paul went by among his
+comrades,--"thou art dull to-night," said an old sailor with a head as
+white as snow. "I haven't seen thee so low of heart this many a day."
+
+"What wonder, Comrade, if I am so?" retorted Paul, gruffly. "This shore
+service is bad enough, not to make it worse by listening to such yarns
+as these we have been hearing, about platoons and squadrons; of charges
+here and counter-marches there. _Ventre d'enfer!_ that may amuse
+those who never saw a broadside or a boarding; but as for me, look ye,
+Comrade!"--here he addressed himself to me, laying his great hand upon
+my shoulder as he spoke,--"until ye can bring your mounted lines to
+charge up to the mouth of a battery vomiting grape and roundshot, ye
+must not tell your stories before old sailors, ay, though they be only
+Marines' of the Guard, some of them."
+
+"Don't be angry with old Paul, Comrade," said the man who spoke before;
+"he does not mean to offend you."
+
+"Who told you that?" said Paul, sternly. "Why can't you sheer off, and
+leave me to' lay alongside of my enemy my own way?"
+
+"You must not call me by such a name," said I; "we all serve the
+Emperor, and have no enemies save his. Come, Paul, let us have a cup of
+wine together."
+
+"Agreed! an ye promise to tell no more tales of dragoons and hussars,
+and such like cattle, I'll drink with you. Bah! it's not Christianlike
+to fight a-horse-back,--it's only fit for Turks and Arabs; but for men
+that are made to stand fast on their own stout timbers, they have no
+need of four-footed beasts to carry them against an enemy. Here's my
+hand, Comrade; is it a bargain?"
+
+"Willingly," said I, laughing. "If you consent, instead, to tell us some
+of your own adventures, I promise faithfully not to trouble you with one
+of mine."
+
+"That's like a man," said Paul, evidently flattered by the successful
+assertion of his own superiority. "And now, if the host will let us have
+some more wine, I'm ready."
+
+"Ay, ay," cried several together; "replenish the basket once more."
+
+"This time, gentlemen, you must permit me to treat you. It is not every
+day such guests assemble under my poor roof," said the landlord, bowing
+courteously, "nor am I likely soon to pass so pleasant an evening."
+
+"That's as you please it," said Paul, carelessly. "If you are too good
+a fellow to care for money, there's three naps for the poor of the
+village; mayhap there may be an old sailor amongst them."
+
+A murmur of satisfaction at their comrade's conduct ran round the
+circle, as the host disappeared for the fresh supply of wine. In an
+instant he was back again, carrying a second basket under his arm, which
+he placed carefully on the table, saying, "Pomard of '87, gentlemen; I
+wish it were Chambertin for your sakes."
+
+"_Tete bleue!_that's what I call wine," said one, smacking his lips, as
+he tasted the generous liquor.
+
+"Yes," said Paul, "that's better than drinking the pink water they serve
+us out on service. _Morbleu!_ how we 'd fight, if they'd tap an aume of
+that when they beat to quarters."
+
+The bottle now passed freely from hand to hand; and Paul, leaning
+back in his chair, crossed his arms before him, as, with his eyes
+half closed, he seemed to be occupied in remembering some long passed
+occurrence.
+
+"Ay, Comrades," said he, after a long pause, "the landlord was not so
+far out as you may think him. I might have been, if not an admiral of
+the fleet, at least a captain or a commodore by this time, if I only
+wished it, but I wouldn't."
+
+"You wouldn't, Paul?" cried three or four in a breath. "How do you mean,
+you wouldn't? Is it that you didn't like it?"
+
+"That's it: I didn't like it," replied he, glaring around him as he
+spoke, with a look which had repressed any tendency to mirth, if such
+an inclination existed in the party. "Mayhap there are some here don't
+believe this," he continued, as if anxious to extort a contradiction
+from any one bold enough to adventure it; but none seemed disposed to
+meet his wishes. He resumed. "The way of it was this:--
+
+"We sailed from Brest, seven sail and two frigates, on a cruise, in the
+Messidor of the year '13, (it was the time of the Republic then), and
+our orders were to keep together, and afford protection to all vessels
+of our flag; and wherever an opportunity offered to engage the enemy, to
+do so, if we had a fair chance of success. There was one heavy sailer
+of the fleet, the 'Old Torch,' and by good luck I was in her; and so,
+before we were eight days out, it came on to blow a hurricane from the
+northeast, with a great sea that threatened to poop us at every stroke.
+How the others weathered it I can't say; we rolled so badly that we
+carried away our mainmast and half our bulwarks, and when day broke we
+could see nothing of the rest. We were lying floundering there in the
+trough of the sea, with nothing left but a storm-jib to keep her head
+straight, and all hands at the pumps; for in working she had opened her
+old seams, and leaked like a basket. Well, we cut away the wreck of the
+mast, and we threw twelve of our guns over,--short eighteens they were,
+and all heavy metal,--and that lightened her a bit, and we began to have
+hopes of weathering out the gale, when the word was passed of a strange
+sail to windward.
+
+"We looked, and there saw a great vessel looming, as large as a
+three-decker, coming down towards us with close-reefed topsails, but
+going through the water like a swordfish. At first we hoped it was one
+of our own; but that hope did not last long, for as she neared us we
+saw floating from the peak that confounded flag that never boded us good
+fortune. She was an English eighty-gun ship; the 'Blanche' they called
+her. _Ventrebleu!_ I didn't know how they ever got so handsome a model;
+but, I learned after, she was a French ship, and built at Toulon,--for
+you see, Comrades, they never had such craft as ours. Well, down they
+came, as if they were about to come right over us, and never once made
+a signal, nor took any notice of us whatever, till quite close; when
+a fellow from the poop-deck shouted out in French,--bad enough it was,
+too,--desiring us to keep close till the sea went down a bit, and then
+to send a boat to them. _Sacristi!_there was no more about it than that;
+and they made a prize of us at once.
+
+"But our captain was not one of that mould, and he answered by beating
+to quarters; and just as the 'Blanche' swept past, up flew our ports,
+and eight carronades threw in a fire of grape along her deck that made
+them dance to the music. _Diable!_ the fun was short, though. Round she
+came in stays like a pinnace, down helm, and passed us again; when, as
+if her sides slit open, forty guns flashed forth their flame, and sent
+us a broadside that made the craft tremble again, and left our deck one
+mass of dead and wounded. There was no help for it now. The clear
+water came gushing up the hatchways from many a shothole; the craft was
+settling fast, and so we hauled down the ensign and made the signal of
+distress. The answer was, 'Keep her afloat if you can.' But, faith, our
+fellows didn't care much to save a prize for the English, and they would
+n't lend a hand to the pumps, but crossed their arms and stood still,
+waiting for her to go down; when what did we see but two boats lowered
+from the 'Blanche' and dropped into the sea, which was then running
+mountains high. _Feu d'enfer!_ they don't know where there is danger and
+where not, these English; and that's the reason they seem so brave!
+For a minute or two we thought they were swamped, for they were hidden
+entirely; then we saw them on the top of a wave, balancing, as it might
+be; and again they disappeared, and the huge dark swell seemed to have
+swallowed them. And so we strained eyes after them, just as if our own
+danger was not as great as theirs; when suddenly a fearful cry for'ed
+was heard, and a voice called out. 'She is sinking by the head!'
+
+"And so it was. A crash like falling timber was heard above the storm
+and the sea, and the 'Torch' rolled heavily from side to side, and then
+plunged bowsprit down, and the boiling surf met over her. There was
+a wild yell; some said it was a cheer; I thought it like a drowning
+cry,--and I remember no more. That is, I have a kind of horrid dreamy
+remembrance of buffeting in the waves, and shaking off a hand that
+grasped me by the shoulder, and then feeling the water gathering over me
+as I grew more and more exhausted. But the end of it was, I came to
+my senses some hours after, and found myself in a hammock on board the
+'Blanche,' with twenty-eight of my comrades. All the rest--above two
+hundred and fifty--had perished, the captain and the officers among
+them.
+
+"The 'Blanche' was under orders for St. Domingo, and was in no way
+anxious to have our company; and before a week was over we were drafted
+into a small sloop of war, carrying eight guns, and called the 'Fawn,'
+She was bound for England with despatches from Nelson,--one of their
+English admirals they 're always talking about. This little craft could
+sail like the wind, but she was crowded with sick and invalided men from
+some foreign station, and there was not a place the size of a dog-kennel
+on board of her that was not occupied. As for us, we were only
+prisoners, and you may think they were n't very particular about
+our comforts; and so they ranged us along under the bulwarks to
+leeward,--for they would n't spoil her sailing trim by suffering us to
+sit to windward; and there we were, drenched to the skin, and shivering
+from day to dark.
+
+"Four days went over in this way, when, on the fifth, about eight
+o'clock in the morning, the lookout announced several strange sail
+in sight; and the same instant we perceived the officers setting the
+glasses to observe them. We could remark that the sight did not seem to
+please them much; but more we knew not, for we were not allowed to stand
+up nor look over the bulwarks. The lieutenant of the watch called up the
+commander; and when he came on deck he ordered the men to cram on more
+sail, and hold her head a point or so off the wind; and as soon as
+it was done, the rushing noise at the cutwater told the speed she was
+making through the sea. It was a fine day, with a fresh breeze and a
+nice curl from the water; and it was a handsome thing to see how the
+sloop bent to the gale and rose again, her canvas white as snow and
+steady as a board; and we soon knew, from the manner of the officers
+and the anxious looks they 'd give to leeward from time to time, that
+another vessel was in chase of the 'Fawn.' Not a man stirred on the deck
+save the lieutenant of the watch, who walked the quarterdeck with his
+glass in his hand; now lifting it to his eye, and now throwing a glance
+aloft to see how the sails were drawing.
+
+"'She's gaining on us, sir,' cried the boatswain, as he went aloft, to
+the lieutenant. 'Shall we ease her off a little more?'
+
+"'No, no,' said he, impatiently. 'She's coming handover-hand now. Clear
+the deck, and prepare for action.'
+
+"My heart jumped to my throat as I heard the words; and waiting until
+the lieutenant's back was turned, I stole my eyes above the bulwark,
+and beheld the tall masts and taper spars of a frigate, all covered
+with canvas, about two miles astern of us. She was a good-sized craft,
+apparently of thirty-eight guns; but what I liked best about her was the
+broad tricolor that fluttered from her masthead. Every curl that floated
+on the breeze whispered liberty to my heart.
+
+"'You know her?' said the lieutenant, laying his hand on my shoulder,
+before I was aware he was behind me. 'What is she?'
+
+"'Lend me your glass, Lieutenant, and perhaps I can tell you,' said
+I; and with that he gave the telescope into my hand, and leaned on the
+bulwark beside me. 'Ha!' said I, as soon as I caught the side of her
+hull, 'I ought to know her well; I sailed in her for two years and a
+half. She's the "Creole," of thirty-eight guns, the fastest frigate in
+our navy; she has six carronades on her quarterdeck, and never goes to
+sea without three hundred and twenty men.'
+
+"'If she had three tiers of them we 'd not flinch from her,' said a
+voice behind. It was the commander himself, who was now in full uniform,
+and wore a belt with four pistols stuck around it.
+
+"There is no use in denying it,--the English prepared for action like
+brave fellows, and soon cleared the deck of everything in the way of the
+guns. But what use was it? In less than an hour the 'Creole' worked to
+windward, and opened a fire from her long guns to which the other could
+make no reply. There they came plumping in,--some into the hull, some
+splintering through the bulwarks, and some crashing away through the
+rigging; and all the crew could do was to repair the mischief the
+distant cannonade was making.
+
+"'It's a cowardly way your countrymen come into action, after all,' said
+the lieutenant, as he watched the shot hopping and skipping along the
+water to leeward. 'With four times our strength, they don't bear down
+and encourage us.'
+
+"As he spoke, a shot cut the peak halyards in two, and down came the
+spar with a crash, carrying with it in its fall that ensign they 're so
+proud of. It was all we could do, prisoners as we were, not to cheer at
+this; but the faces around us did not encourage us to such a course, and
+we sat silently watching them.
+
+"The moment the accident happened, twenty stout fellows were clambering
+up the rigging, and as many more engaged to repair the mischief. But
+suddenly the commander whispered something to the lieutenant; the
+men were called down again, and the craft was let fall off the wind,
+trailing the sails and the tangled rigging over her sides.
+
+"'And the prisoners, sir?' said the lieutenant, at the close of
+something I could not hear.
+
+"'Send them below,' was the short reply.
+
+"'We cannot; the space between decks is crowded to suffocation. But here
+she comes.' And, as he spoke, the frigate came bearing down in gallant
+style, her whole deck swarming with men.
+
+"'Down, men, down!' whispered the lieutenant, and he dropped on his
+knee behind the bulwark, and motioned to the rest to kneel. And I now
+perceived that every sailor had a drawn cutlass in his hand and pistols
+in his belt, as he lay crouching on the deck.
+
+"The frigate was now so close, I could hear the commands of the officers
+on the quarterdeck, and the words 'Bas les branles'--the signal to
+board--passed from mouth to mouth. The next instant, she closed on us,
+and showed her tall sides towering above us.
+
+"'Now, men!' cried the commander of the 'Fawn,' 'now, forward! 'All who
+care to live, there's your ground,' said he, pointing to the frigate.
+'Such as like to die on a British deck, remain with me.' The boarders
+sprang up the side of the 'Creole' before the crew could fasten the
+grapples. _Tonnerre de Dieu!_ what a moment it was! The fellows cheered
+like madmen, as they poured in to certain death; the lieutenant himself
+was one of the first on board, and fell back the same instant, dead upon
+his own deck. The struggle was a bloody but brief one; for a few
+minutes the English pressed our men back, and gained a footing on
+the quarterdeck, but a murderous fire from the tops cut them down in
+numbers, and they now fought, not for victory, but vengeance.
+
+"'Now, Captain, now!' screamed a youth, in a lieutenant's uniform, but
+all covered with blood, and his face gashed with a cutlass-wound, as he
+leaned over the bulwark of the 'Creole,' and waved his cap in the air.
+
+"'I'm ready,' replied the English commander, and sprang down the main
+hatchway as he spoke, with a pistol in his hand. At the same instant,
+a fearful cry burst forth from the prisoners; for, with the instinct of
+despair, they guessed his desperate resolve was to blow up the vessel.
+We were tied, wrist to wrist, and the rope run through the blocks at our
+back in such a way as to prevent our moving more than a few inches. But
+what will not the fear of a dreadful death do? With one unanimous effort
+we tore the lashings in pieces, and got free. I was myself the first
+at liberty, and sprang towards the 'Creole.' Alas! they had divined
+the awful doom awaiting us, and were endeavoring to shove off at once.
+Already there were some ten or twelve feet between the vessels. I rushed
+forward to gain the bowsprit, a vague hope of escape suggesting the
+effort. As I did so, my eyes caught sight of a book, which, with his
+hat, the captain threw from him as he hastened below. I stooped down
+and put it in my bosom,--why, I know not. Life, and life only, was my
+thought at that moment. Then, with lightning's speed, I ran along the
+deck, and out on the bowsprit.
+
+"At this instant, the frigate shot ahead of us; I made a leap, the last
+effort of despair, and caught the fluke of the anchor; a friendly
+hand threw me a rope and dragged me on the deck. As I gained it, a
+thunderclap, louder than ten broadsides, broke forth, and the frigate
+fell over on one side as if sinking; while over her rigging and her
+masts flew spars and timbers, blazing and burning, amid a black smoke
+that filled the air on every side. Every man about dropped wounded
+or terrified on the deck, where they lay amid the falling fire of the
+wreck, and the terrible carnage. I wiped the blood from my eyes, for
+I was bleeding profusely from a splinter cut, and looked about me. The
+deck was a mass of dead and dying; their piercing cries and groans were
+maddening to hear. The frigate, however, was flying fast through the
+water; the 'Fawn' was gone!"
+
+"_Tete-bleue!_ he blew her up?" said three or four in a breath.
+
+Paul nodded, and resumed:--
+
+"Ay, Comrades, and the half-dozen of her crew who stood alive on our
+quarterdeck cheered the explosion as if it was a victory; and one
+fellow, as he lay bleeding on the planks, cried out, 'See, there; look,
+if our gay flag is not high above yours, as it always will be! 'And that
+time he was right, for the spar that bore it was nigh the clouds.
+
+"Well, to finish my story: In eight days we made Brest, and all of us
+who were wounded were sent on shore to the naval hospital. A sorry set
+we were; most of us disabled by splinter-wounds, and many obliged to
+suffer amputation. I was about again sooner than the rest, and was sent
+for one morning on board the admiral's ship, to give some account of the
+'Fawn,' of which they never could hear enough; and when I came to that
+part where I made my escape, they all began a-laughing at my stopping
+to take up a book at such a moment. And one of the lieutenants said,
+jokingly,--
+
+"'Well, Paul, I suppose it was the Englishman's breviary saved your
+life, was n't it?'
+
+"'No, Lieutenant,' said I; 'but you 'd be mighty proud this day to have
+that same breviary in your possession.'
+
+"'How so, good fellow?' said the admiral himself, old Villaret Joyeuse,
+who always talked like one of ourselves. 'What is this book, then, that
+is so precious?'
+
+"'I 'll show it you, sir, because I 've no fear of foul play at your
+hands; but there's not another man of the fleet I 'd let see it,' And
+with that I took it out of my breast, where I always carried it, and
+gave it to him. Ah! if you'd seen his face,--how it flushed up as he
+turned over the leaves, and how his eyes sparkled with fire!
+
+"'Paul Dupont,' said he, 'are you aware what this is?'
+
+"'Yes, Admiral,' said I, 'as well as you are.'
+
+"'Your fortune's made, then, my brave fellow,' said he, slapping me on
+the shoulder. 'The finest frigate in the English navy is a less prize
+than this.'
+
+"_Mille tonnerres!_ how the others stared at me then. But I stood
+without minding how they looked, for I was the same Paul Dupont they
+laughed at a few minutes before.
+
+"Meanwhile the admiral laid down the book on the table, and covered
+it with his cocked hat; and then taking a pen he wrote some lines on a
+piece of paper before him.
+
+"'Will that do, Paul?' said he, handing it towards me.
+
+"It was just this: 'Bureau of the Marine, Brest. Pay Paul Dupont the sum
+of ten thousand francs, for service rendered to his Imperial Majesty,
+and attested in a note by me Villaret Joyeuse, Admiral of France.'
+
+"I could scarce read the lines, Comrades, for pure passion.
+
+"'Ten thousand francs!' said I at last, as soon as I found breath,--'ten
+thousand francs!'
+
+"'What!' cried the admiral, 'not content? Well, then, thou shalt have
+more; but I have rarely met one of your cloth with so mercenary a
+spirit.'
+
+"'Stay, Admiral,' said I, as I saw him about to write a new order; 'we
+both are in an error here. You mistake me, and I you. An old admiral of
+the fleet ought to know his sailors better than to think that money is
+their highest reward; it never was so at least with Paul Dupont Let me
+have my book again.'
+
+"'Come, come, Paul; I believe I understand you now,' laid he. 'Your
+warrant shall be made out this day.'
+
+"'No, Admiral, it's too late,' said I. 'If that had come first, and from
+yourself, all well; but it looks like a bargain now, and I 'll not have
+promotion that way.'
+
+"'Mort du diable!' said he, stamping with passion. 'But they 're all
+the same; these Bretons are as brutal in their obstinacy as their own
+cattle.'
+
+"'You say true, Admiral,' said I; 'but if they're obstinate in wrong,
+they're resolute in right. You are a Breton gentleman; give me back my
+book.'
+
+"'Take it,' said he, flinging it at me, 'and let me never see your face
+again.' And with that he left the cabin, and banged the door after him
+in a rage.
+
+"And so, I went my way, Comrades, back to my ship, and served for many a
+long year after, carrying that book always in my breast, and thinking
+to myself, 'Well, what if thou art only a boatswain, Paul; thou hast
+wherewithal in thy keeping to make thee a commodore any day.'"
+
+"And what can it be, then, this book?" said the party, in a breath.
+
+"You shall see," said Paul, solemnly; "for though I have never shown it
+since, nor have I ever told the story before, here it is."
+
+With these words he drew from his bosom a small square volume, bound in
+vellum, and fastened by a clasp; lettered on the cover, "Signals of the
+Channel Fleet."
+
+This was the secret of honest Paul's life; and as he turned over the
+leaves, he expatiated with eloquent delight on the various British
+emblems which were represented there, in all their brilliant coloring.
+
+"That double streak of yellow on the black is to make all sail,
+Comrades," said he. "Whenever they see us standing out to sea you may
+remark that signal flying."
+
+"And what is this large blue flag here, with all the colored bars across
+it?" said one.
+
+"Ay," cried another, "they're very fond of that ensign; what can it be?"
+
+"Close action," growled out Paul, sullenly, who didn't fancy even the
+reflective praise this question implied to the hated rival.
+
+"_Sacrebleu!_" said a third, "they've no other to announce a victory.
+Look here; it is the same flag for both."
+
+Paul shut up the book at this, with a muttered curse, which might have
+been intended either for his comrades or the English, or both together,
+and the whole party became suddenly silent.
+
+It was now that the landlord's tact became conspicuous; for instead
+of any condoling expressions on what might have been deemed the
+unsuccessful result of Paul's career, he affected to think that the
+brave seaman was more to be envied for the possession of that volume
+than if he walked the deck an admiral of France.
+
+This flattery, aided by a fresh supply of Burgundy, had full success;
+and from story-telling the party fell to singing,--the songs being
+only a more boastful detail of their prowess at sea than their prose
+narratives; and even here Paul maintained his supremacy.
+
+Sleep, however, stronger than self-glorification and pride, fell on the
+party one by one, and they lay down at last on the tables and benches,
+and slumbered heavily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.  A MOONLIGHT RECOGNITION
+
+I sat on my bed in the little chamber allotted me, and as the bright
+moonlight streamed along the floor, and lit up the wide landscape
+without, I hesitated within myself whether I should await the morning,
+or at once set forth on my way to the coast. It was true the abbe had
+not arrived; and without him I knew nothing of the vessel, nor where she
+lay, much less by what means I should induce the crew to receive me as
+a passenger. But my heart was fixed on gaining the coast; once there,
+I felt that the sea alone rolled between me and my country, and I had
+little doubt some means of escape would present itself.
+
+The desire to return to Ireland, long stilled, was now become a passion.
+I thought some new career must there open for me, and in its active
+vicissitudes I should make amends for the wearisome languor of my late
+life. What this novel path was to be, and where to lead, I cannot
+say; nor am I able now, in looking back, to guess by what sophistry I
+persuaded myself into this belief. It was the last ray of hope within
+me, however, and I cherished it only the more fondly for its very
+uncertainty.
+
+As I sat thus deliberating with myself what course to take, the door was
+cautiously opened, and the landlord entered.
+
+"He is come," whispered he; "and, thank Heaven! not too late."
+
+"The abbe?" inquired I.
+
+"No, not the abbe; but the Comte de Chambord. The abbe will not venture;
+but it matters not, if you will. The letters are all ready; the sloop is
+off the coast; the wind is fair--"
+
+"And not a moment to be lost," added a deep, low voice, as the figure of
+a tall man, wrapped in a travelling cloak, darkened the doorway. "Leave
+us, Pierre; this is the gentleman, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the landlord. "Should you need a light, I 'll bring
+one."
+
+"Thank you, friend; we can dispense with any, save what the moon affords
+us."
+
+As the door closed on the retiring figure of the host, the stranger took
+his place beside me on the bed, and in a low voice thus began:--
+
+"I only know, sir, that you have the full confidence of one of my
+stanchest and best friends, who tells me that you are willing to incur
+great risk, provided you gain the chance of reaching your native land.
+That chance--nay, I will call it that certainty--lies in my power; and,
+in return for the assistance, are you willing to do me a service?"
+
+"I served the Emperor, sir; ask me not anything unworthy of one who wore
+his epaulette. Aught else, if it be but honorable and fair, I 'll do."
+
+"I have no leisure for casuistry, nor is it my humor, sir," replied he
+angrily. "Neither do I seek any wondrous devotion at your hands. The
+service is an easy one: costs nothing at the present; involves nothing
+for the future."
+
+"The slight value you place upon it may detract but little from my
+objection," said I.
+
+"_Sacre ciel!_" exclaimed he, in a louder voice, as he sprang from the
+bed and clasped his hands before him. "Is it to be ever thus? Is every
+step we take to be marred by some unlooked for casualty? Is the stamp
+of fear and vacillation to be on every act of our lives? This abbe, the
+creature we have made, the man whose fortune is our handiwork, could
+render but one service to our cause; and he fails us in our need. And
+now, you--"
+
+"Beware, sir, how you speak to one who has never been accustomed to
+hear his name slightingly used nor his honor impugned. With your cause,
+whatever it be, I have no sympathy. Remember that; and remember, also,
+we are strangers to each other."
+
+"No, _par Saint Denis!_ that we are not!" said he, seizing me by the
+arm, as he turned his head round, and stared me steadfastly in the face.
+"It was but this instant I deemed my fortune at the worst; and now I
+find myself mistaken. Do you know me now?" said he, throwing off his
+travelling cap, and letting his cloak fall from his shoulders to the
+ground.
+
+"De Beauvais!" exclaimed I, thunderstruck at the sight.
+
+"Yes, sir; the same De Beauvais whose fortunes you have blighted,
+whose honor you have tarnished--Interrupt me not. The mill at Holbrun
+witnessed the latter, if even the former were an error; and now we meet
+once more."
+
+"Not as enemies, however; at least on my side. You may persist, if you
+will, in attributing to me wrongs I never inflicted. I can better bear
+the imputation, unjust though it be, than involve myself in any quarrel
+with one I feel no anger towards. I was in hopes a few hours hence might
+have seen me on my way from France forever; but here, or elsewhere, I
+will not reply to your enmity."
+
+De Beauvais made no reply as I concluded, but with his arms crossed, and
+head bent down, seemed lost in thought.
+
+"And so," said he, at length, in a slow, sad voice, "you have not found
+the service of the Usurper as full of promise as you hoped; you have
+followed his banner long enough to learn how mean a thing even ambition
+may be, and how miserably selfish is the highest aspiration of an
+adventurer!"
+
+"The Emperor was my good master," said I, sternly; "it would ill become
+me to vent my disappointment on aught save my own demerits."
+
+"I have seen as slight deservings bring a high reward, notwithstanding,"
+replied he; "ay, and win their meed of praise from lips whose eulogy was
+honor. There was a service, Burke--"
+
+"Stay, no more of this!" said I. "You are unjust to your own cause and
+to me, if you deem that the hour of baffled hopes is that in which I
+could see its justice. _You_ are true and faithful to one whose fortunes
+look darkly. I respect the fidelity, while I will not follow its
+dictates. I leave the path where fame and riches abound; I only ask you
+to believe that I do so with honor. Let us part, then."
+
+"Where do you mean to go, hence?"
+
+"I know not; a prospect of escape had led me hither. I must now bethink
+me of some other course."
+
+"Burke, I am your debtor for one kindness, at least," said De Beauvais,
+after a brief pause. "You saved my life at the risk of your own. The
+night at the Chateau d'Ancre should never be forgotten by me; nor had
+it been, if I did not revenge my own disappointed hopes, in not
+seducing you to our cause, upon yourself. It may be that I wrong you in
+everything as in this."
+
+"Believe me, that you do, De Beauvais."
+
+"Be it as it may, I am your debtor. I came here to-night to meet one who
+had pledged himself to perform a service. He has failed in his promise;
+will you take his place? The same means of escape shall be yours. All
+the precautions for his safety and sure conduct shall be taken in your
+behalf. I ask no pledge for the honorable discharge of what I seek at
+your hands, save your mere assent."
+
+"What is it you require of me?"
+
+"That you deliver these letters to their several addresses; that you
+do so with your own hands; that when questioned, as you may be, on the
+state of France, you will not answer as the partisan of the Usurper."
+
+"I understand you. Enough: I refuse your offer. Your zeal for the cause
+you serve must indeed be great when it blinds you to all consideration
+for one placed as I am."
+
+"It has made me forget more, sir, far more than that, as I might prove
+to you, were I to tell what my life has been for two years past. But for
+such forgetfulness there is an ample recompense, a glorious one,--the
+memory of our king." He paused at these words, and in his tremulous
+voice and excited gesture I could read the passion that worked within
+him. "Come, then; there shall be no more question of a compact between
+us. I ask no conditions, I seek for no benefits: you shall escape.
+Take my horse; my servant, who is also mounted, will accompany you to
+Beudron, where you will find fresh horses in readiness. This passport
+will prevent all interruption or delay; it is countersigned by Fouche
+himself. At Lisieux, which you will reach by sunset, you can leave the
+cattle, and the boy of the cabaret will be your guide to the Falaise
+de Biville. The tide will ebb at eleven o'clock, and a rocket from the
+sloop will be your signal to embark."
+
+"And for this I can render nothing in return?" said I, sadly.
+
+"Yes. It may be that in your own country you will hear the followers
+of our king scoffed at and derided,--called fools or fanatics, perhaps
+worse. I would only ask of you to bear witness that they are at least
+ardent in the cause they have sworn to uphold, and firm to the faith
+to which they have pledged themselves. This is the only service you can
+render us, but it is no mean one. And now, farewell!"
+
+"Farewell, De Beauvais! But ere we separate forever, let me hear from
+your lips that you bear me no enmity; that we are friends, as we used to
+be."
+
+"Here is my hand. I care not if you injured me once; we can be friends
+now, for we are little likely to meet again as enemies. Adieu!"
+
+While De Beauvais left the room to order the horses to be in readiness,
+the landlord entered it, and seemed to busy himself most eagerly in
+preparing my knapsack for the road.
+
+"I trust you will be many a mile hence ere the day breaks," said
+he, with an anxiety I could ill comprehend, but which at the time
+I attributed to his desire for the safety of one intrusted with an
+important mission. "And now, here come the horses.'"
+
+A moment more, and I was seated in the saddle. A brief word at parting
+was all De Beauvais spoke, and turned away; and the minute after I was
+hurrying onward towards Beudron.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII. THE FALAISE DE BIVILLE.
+
+Everything occurred as De Beauvais had predicted. The authorities in the
+little villages we passed glanced at my passport, and as instantaneously
+handed it back, and we journeyed like couriers of the Emperor, without
+halt or impediment.
+
+We reached Lisieux early in the evening, where, having dismissed the
+servant and horses, I took my way on foot towards a small fishing
+village, called La Hupe, where at a certain cabaret I was to find my
+guide to Biville.
+
+The address of the sailor written on a card, and marked with a peculiar
+cipher by De Beauvais, was at once recognized by the old Norman, who
+welcomed me with a rude but kindly hospitality.
+
+"Thou art more like a man to make this venture than the last three who
+came down here," said he, as he slowly measured me with his eye from
+head to foot. "These priests they sent us never dared even to look at
+the coast, much less to descend the cliffs; but thou hast a look about
+thee of another fashion. And now, the first thing is to have something
+to eat, and I promise thee a _goutte_ of brandy will not be amiss to
+prepare thee for what is before thee."
+
+"Is there, then, so much of danger in the descent?"
+
+"Not if a man's head be steady and his hand firm; but he must have both,
+and a stout heart to guide them, or the journey is not over-pleasant.
+Art thou cool enough in time of peril to remember what has been told
+thee for thy guidance?"
+
+"Yes; I hope I can promise so much."
+
+"Then thou art all safe; so eat away, and leave the rest to me."
+
+Although the sailor's words had stimulated my curiosity in the highest
+degree, I repressed every semblance of the feeling, and ate my supper
+with a well-feigned appearance of easy indifference; while he questioned
+me about the hopes of the Bourbon party in their secret machinations,
+with a searching inquisitiveness that often nearly baffled all my
+ingenuity in reply.
+
+"Ah! _par Saint Denis!_" said he, with a deep sigh, "I see well thou
+hast small hope now; and, in truth, I feel as thou dost. When George
+Cadoudal and his brave fellows failed, where are we to look for success?
+I mind well the night he supped here."
+
+"Here, said you?"
+
+"Ay, where you sit now,--on the same seat. There was an English
+officer with him. He wore a blue uniform, and sat yonder, beneath that
+fishing-net; the others were hid along the shore."
+
+"Was it here they landed, then?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure, at the Falaise; there is not another spot to land on
+for miles along the coast."
+
+The old sailor then began a circumstantial account of the arrival of
+George and his accomplices from England; and told how they had one by
+one scaled the cliffs by means of a cord, well known in these parts,
+called the "smuggler's rope." "Thou shalt see the spot now," added he,
+"for there's the signal yonder."
+
+He pointed as he spoke to an old ruined tower, which crowned a cliff
+about half a mile distant, and from a loophole in which I could see a
+branch of ivy waving, as though moved by the wind.
+
+"And what may that mean?"
+
+"The cutter is in sight; as the wind is off shore, she 'll be able to
+come in close to-night. Indeed, if it blew from the westward, she dared
+not venture nearer, nor thou, either, go down to meet her. So, now let's
+be moving."
+
+About twenty minutes' walking brought us to the old signal-tower, on
+looking from the window of which I beheld the sea plashing full three
+hundred feet beneath. The dark rocks, fissured by time and weather, were
+abrupt as a wall, and in some places even overhung the waves that rolled
+heavily below. Masses of tangled seaweed and shells, which lay in the
+crevices of the cliffs, showed where in times of storm the wild waters
+were thrown; while lower down, amid fragments of rocks, the heavy beams
+and planks of shipwrecked vessels surged with every motion of the tide.
+
+"You cannot see the cutter now," said the old sailor,--"the setting sun
+leaves a haze over the sea; but in a few minutes more we shall see her."
+
+"I am rather looking for the pathway down this bold cliff," replied I,
+as I strained my eyes to catch something like a way to descend by.
+
+"Then throw thine eyes in this direction," said the sailor, as he
+pointed straight down beneath the window of the tower. "Seest thou that
+chain there? Well, follow it a little farther, and thou may'st mark a
+piece of timber jutting from the rock."
+
+"Yes, I see it plainly."
+
+"Well, the path thou asketh for is beneath that spar. It is a good rope
+of stout hemp, and has carried the weight of many a brave fellow before
+now."
+
+"The smuggler's rope?"
+
+"The same. Art afraid to venture, now thou seest the place?"
+
+"You'll not find me so, friend. I have seen danger as close before now,
+and did not blink it."
+
+"Mark me well, then," said he, laying his hand on my arm. "When thou
+readiest that rope, thou wilt let thyself cautiously down to a small
+projecting point of rock; we cannot see it here, but thou wilt soon
+discern it in the descent. The rope from this goes no farther, for that
+spot is nigh sixty fathom below us. From thence the cliff slopes sharply
+down about thirty or forty feet. Here thou must creep cautiously,--for
+the moss is dry and slippery at this season,--till thou nearest the
+edge. Mark me well, now: near the edge thou'lt find a large stone
+fast-rooted in the ground; and around that another rope is fastened, by
+which thou may'st reach the bottom of the precipice. There is but one
+place of peril in the whole."
+
+"The sloping bank, you mean?"
+
+"Yes; that bit will try thy nerve. Remember, if thy foot slip, there's
+nothing to stop thy fall; the cliff is rounded over the edge, and the
+blue sea beats two hundred feet below it. And see! look yonder, far away
+there! Seest thou the twinkling, as of a small star, on the water?"
+
+"The cutter will throw up a rocket, will she not?"
+
+"A rocket!" repeated he, contemptuously; "that's some landsman's story
+thou hast been listening to. A rocket would bring the whole fleet of
+boats from Treport on her. No, no; they know better than that: the
+faintest glimmer of a fishing-craft is all they 'll dare to show. But
+see how steadily it burns now! we must make the signal seawards."
+
+"Halloo, Joseph! a light there."
+
+A boy's voice answered from the upper part of the tower,--the same
+figure who made the signal towards the shore, and whose presence there I
+had altogether forgotten; and in a few minutes a red glare on the rocks
+below showed that the old man's command was obeyed, and the beacon
+lighted.
+
+"Ah! they see it already," cried he, triumphantly, pointing seawards;
+"they've extinguished the light now, but will show it again, from time
+to time."
+
+"But tell me, friend, how happens it that the marines of the Guard, who
+line this coast, do not perceive these signals?"
+
+"And who tells thee that they do not? They may be looking, as we are
+now, at that same craft, and watching Her as she beats in shore; but
+they know better than to betray us. Ah, _ma foi!_ the 'contrebande'
+is better than the Government. Enough for them if they catch some poor
+English prisoner now and then, and have him shot; that contents the
+Emperor, as they call him, and he thinks the service all that is brave
+and vigilant. But as to us, it is our own fault if we fall in with them;
+it would need the rocket you spoke of a while ago to shame them into it.
+There, look again,--thou seest how far in shore they've made already;
+the cutter is stealing fast along the water. Answer the signal, Joseph."
+
+The boy replenished the fire with some dry wood, and it blazed up
+brilliantly, illuminating the gray cliffs and dark rocks, on which the
+night was fast falling, but leaving all beyond its immediate sphere in
+deepest blackness.
+
+"I see not, friend, by what means I am to discover this sloping cliff,
+much less guide my way along it," said I, as I gazed over the precipice,
+and tried to penetrate the gloomy abyss below me.
+
+"Thou 'lt have the moon at full in less than two hours; and if thou 'lt
+take a friend's counsel, thou 'lt have a sleep ere that time. Lay thee
+down yonder on those rushes; I 'll awake thee when time comes for it."
+
+The rather that I resolved to obey my old guide in his every direction,
+than from any desire for slumber at such a time, I followed his advice,
+and threw myself full length in a corner of the tower. In the perfect
+stillness of the hour, the sea alone was heard, surging in slow, minute
+peals through many a deep cavern below; and then, gathering for fresh
+efforts, it swelled and beat against the stern rocks in passionate fury.
+Such sounds, heard in the silence of the night, are of the saddest; nor
+was their influence lightened by the low, monotonous chant of the old
+sailor, who, seated in a corner, began to repair a fishing-net, as he
+sang to himself some ditty of the sea.
+
+How strangely came the thought to my mind, that all the peril I once
+incurred to reach France, the hoped-for, wished-for land, I should
+again brave to escape from its shores! Every dream of boyish ambition
+dissipated, every high hope flown, I was returning to my country as poor
+and humble as I left it, but with a heart shorn of all the enthusiasm
+that gave life its coloring. In what way I could shape my future career
+I was not able even to guess; a vague leaning to some of England's
+distant colonies, some new world beyond the seas, being all my
+imagination could frame of my destiny. A sudden flash of light,
+illuminating the whole interior of the tower, startled me from my
+musings, while the sailor called out,--
+
+"Come, wake up, friend! The cutter is standing in close, and a signal to
+make haste flying from her mast."
+
+I sprang to my legs, and looked out. The sea was all freckled with the
+moonlight, and the little craft shone like silver, as the bright beams
+glanced on her white sails. The tall cliffs alone preserved their gloom,
+and threw a dark and frowning shadow over the waves beneath them.
+
+"I can see nothing close to shore," said I, pointing to the dark rocks
+beneath the window.
+
+"Thou'lt have the moon presently; she's rising above the crest of the
+hill, and then the cliffs are clear as at noonday. So, make haste! strap
+on that knapsack on your shoulder; high up, mind; and give thine arms
+full play,--that's it. Now fasten thy shoes over all; thou wert not
+about to wear them, surely?" said he in a tone almost derisive. "Take
+care, in keeping from the face of the rock, not to sway the rope; it
+wears the cordage. And, above all, mind well when thou reachest the
+cliff below; let not thy hold go before thou hast well felt thy footing.
+See, the moon is up already!"
+
+As he spoke, a vast sheet of yellow light seemed to creep over the whole
+face of the precipice, displaying every crag and projection, and making
+every spot of verdure or rock brilliant in color; while, many a fathom
+down below, the heavy waves were seen,--now rising in all their majestic
+swell, now pouring back in their thousand cataracts from every fissure
+in the precipice. So terribly distinct did each object show, so
+dreadfully was each distance marked, I felt that all its former gloom
+and darkness were not one half so thrilling as that moonlight splendor.
+
+"La bonne Marie guard thee now!" said the old seaman, as he wrung my
+hand in his strong fingers. "Be steady and cool of head, and there is
+no danger; and look not downwards till thou hast got accustomed to the
+cliff."
+
+As he said this, he opened a small door at the foot of the tower stair,
+and passing through himself, desired me to follow. I did so, and now
+found myself on a narrow ledge of rock, directly over the crag; below,
+at about ten feet, lay the chain to which the rope was attached, and to
+reach it was not the least perilous part of the undertaking. But in this
+I was assisted by the old man, who, passing a rope through a massive
+iron staple, gradually lowered me till my hand came opposite the chain.
+
+"Thou hast it now," cried he, as he saw me disengage one hand and grasp
+the iron links firmly.
+
+"Yes, all safe! Good-by, friend; good-by!"
+
+"Wait yet," cried he again. "Let not go the cord before thou thinkest
+a minute or so; I have known more than one change his mind when he felt
+himself where thou art."
+
+"Mine is made up. Farewell!"
+
+"Stay, stay!" shouted he rapidly. "See, thou hast forgotten this purse
+on the rock here; wait, and I will lower it with a cord."
+
+By this time I had grasped the chain firmly with both hands, and with
+the resolve of one who felt life depend on his own firmness, I began
+the descent. The old man's voice, as he muttered a prayer for my safety,
+grew fainter and fainter, till at length it ceased to reach my ears
+altogether.
+
+Then, for the first time, did my heart sink within me. The words of one
+human being, faint and broken by distance, suggested a sense of sympathy
+which nerved my courage and braced my arm; but the dreary silence that
+followed, only broken by the booming of the sea below, was awful beyond
+measure.
+
+Hand below hand I went, the space seeming never to lessen, as I strained
+my eyes to catch the cliff where the first rope ended. Time, as in
+some fearful dream, seemed protracted to years long; and I already
+anticipated the moment when, my strength failing, my hands would
+relinquish their hold, and I should be dashed upon the dark rocks below.
+The very sea-birds, which I startled in my descent, wheeled round my
+head, piercing the air with their shrill cries, and as if impatient for
+a prey. Above my head the frowning cliff beetled darkly; below, a depth
+unfathomable seemed to stretch, from whose black abyss arose the wild
+sounds of beating waves. More than once, too, I thought that the
+rope had given way above, and that I was actually falling through the
+air,--and held my breath in horror; then, again, the idea flashed
+upon me that death inevitable awaited me, and I fancied in the singing
+billows I could hear the wild shouts of demons rejoicing over my doom.
+
+Through all these maddening visions, the instinct to preserve my life
+held its strong sway, and I clutched the knotted rope with the eager
+grasp of a drowning man; when suddenly I felt my foot strike a rock
+beneath, and then discovered I was on the cliff of which the sailor had
+told me. In a few seconds the sense of security imparted a thrill of
+pleasure to my heart, and I uttered a prayer of thankfulness for my
+safety.
+
+But the fearful conviction of greater danger as suddenly succeeded. The
+rope I had so long trusted terminated here; the end hung listlessly on
+the rock, and from thence to the brow of the cliff nothing remained to
+afford a grip save the short moss and the dried ferns withered with the
+sun. The surface of this frightful ledge sloped rapidly towards the edge
+where was the rock around which the rope was tied.
+
+Fatigued by my previous exertion I sat down on that moss-grown cliff and
+gazed out upon the sea, along which the cutter came, proudly dashing
+the spray from her bows, and bending gracefully with every wave. She was
+standing fearlessly in, for the wind was off the land, and, as she swept
+along, I could have fancied her directly beneath my very feet.
+
+Arousing myself from the momentary stupor of my faculties, I began to
+creep down the cliff; but so slippery had the verdure become by heat,
+that I could barely sustain myself by grasping the very earth with my
+fingers. Aloud "Halloo!" was shouted from the craft, and arose in many
+an echo around me; I tried to reply, but could not. A second cheer
+saluted me, but I did not endeavor to answer it. The moment was full of
+peril. I had come to the last spot which offered a hold, and below me,
+at some feet, lay the rock, hanging, as it were, over the precipice; it
+seemed to me as though a sea-bird's weight might have sent it thundering
+into the depth beneath. The moon was on it, and I could see the rope
+coiled twice around it, and knotted carefully. What would I have given
+in that terrible minute for one tuft of grass, one slender bough, even
+enough to have sustained my weight for a second or two, until I should
+grasp the cord! But none was there.
+
+A louder cry from the cutter now rang in my ears, and the dreadful
+thought of destruction now flashed on me. I fixed my eyes on the rock to
+measure the place; and then, turning with my face towards the cliff, I
+suffered myself to slip downwards. At first I went slowly; then faster
+and faster. At last my legs passed over the brow of the precipice. I
+was falling! My head reeled. I uttered a cry, and in an agony of despair
+threw out my hands. They caught the rope. Knot after knot slipped past
+my fingers in the descent ere my senses became sufficiently clear to
+know what was occurring. But even then the instinct of self-preservation
+was stronger than reason; for I afterwards learned from the boat's crew
+with what skill I guided myself along the face of the cliff, avoiding
+every difficulty of the jagged rocks, and tracking my way like the most
+experienced climber.
+
+I stood upon a broad fiat rock, over which white sheets of foam were
+dashing. Oh, how I loved to see them curling on my feet t I could have
+kissed the bright water on which the moonbeams sported, for the moment
+of danger was passed; the shadow of a dreadful death had moved from
+my soul. What cared I now for the boiling surf that toiled and fretted
+about me? The dangers of the deep were as nothing to that I escaped
+from; and when the cutter's boat came bounding towards me, I minded
+not the oft-repeated warnings of the sailors, but plunging in, I dashed
+towards her on a retreating wave, and was dragged on board almost
+lifeless from my struggles.
+
+The red glare of the signal-fire was blazing from the old tower as we
+got under weigh. I felt my eyes riveted on it as I lay on the deck of
+the little vessel, which now stood out to sea in gallant style. It was
+my last look of France, and so I felt it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII. THE LANDING
+
+With the crew of the cutter I had little intercourse. They were
+Jerseymen,--that hybrid race, neither French nor English,--who followed
+the trade of spies and smugglers, and were true to nothing save their
+own interests. The skipper, a coarse, ill-featured fellow, in no respect
+superior to the others, leisurely perused the letter De Beauvais gave
+me on my departure; then, tearing it slowly, threw the pieces into the
+fire.
+
+"What, then, is this?" said he, taking up a sealed packet, which I now
+for the first time perceived was fastened to my knapsack. "It seems
+meant for me; look at the address, 'Jacques Oloquette, on board the
+"Rouge Galant."'" And so saying, he broke the seal, and bent over the
+contents.
+
+"Oh," cried he, in a voice of triumphant delight, "this is a prize worth
+having,--the English signal-book!" And he held up the little volume
+which Paul Dupont had rescued from the "Fawn."
+
+"How came it here?" said I, horror-struck at the loss the poor sailor
+had sustained.
+
+"Old Martin, of the 'Star,' tells me he stole it from a marine of the
+Guard, and that it cost him twenty-four flasks of his best Pomard
+before the fellow and his companions were drunk enough to make the theft
+practicable."
+
+I remembered at once the eagerness of the landlord for my departure, and
+the hurried anxiety of his wish that morning might find me miles off on
+my journey, as well as the care he bestowed on strapping my knapsack,
+and saw how all had occurred.
+
+"I knew most of them already," continued the skipper. "But here is one
+will serve our turn well now,--the very thing we wanted, for it
+saves all delay and stoppage. That flag is the signal for Admiralty
+despatches, which are often brought by small craft like ours when they
+can't spare cruisers. We 'll soon rig it out, you 'll see, and run down
+Channel with all our canvas set."
+
+He went aft as he spoke; and in a few seconds the cutter's head was
+directed straight towards the English coast, while, crowding on more
+sail, she seemed to fly through the water.
+
+The cheering freshness of the sea-breeze, the sense of danger past,
+the hope of escape, all combining, raised my spirits and elevated my
+courage; but through all, I felt grieved beyond measure at the loss
+of poor Paul Dupont,--the prize the honest fellow valued next to life
+itself, if not above it, taken from him in the very moment of his
+exultation! Besides, I could not help feeling that suspicion must light
+on me from my sudden disappearance; and my indignation was deep, to
+think how such an imputation would tarnish the honor of that service I
+gloried in so much. "How far may such a calumny spread?" thought I. "How
+many lips may repeat the tale, and none be able to deny it?" Deep as was
+my regret at the brave Breton's loss, my anger for its consequences
+was still deeper; and I would willingly have perilled all my hope of
+reaching England to have been able to restore the book into Paul's own
+hand.
+
+These feelings did not tend to draw me closer in intimacy with the
+skipper; whose pleasure at the acquisition was only heightened by the
+subtlety of its accomplishment, and who seemed never so happy as when
+repeating some fragment of the landlord's letter, and rejoicing at the
+discomfiture the brave sailor must have experienced on discovering
+his loss. To witness the gratification a coarse nature feels in some
+unworthy but successful action, is the heaviest penalty an honorable
+mind can experience when unhappily its possessor has been in any way
+accessory to the result. With these reflections I fell off to sleep, and
+never woke till the bright sun was shining over the white-crested water,
+and the craft breasting the waves with a strong breeze upon her canvas.
+
+As we held on down Channel, we passed several ships of war beating up
+for Spithead; but our blue bunting, curiously streaked with white, was a
+signal which all acknowledged, and none ventured to retard. Thus passed
+the first day: as night was falling, we beheld the Needles on our lee,
+and with a freshening breeze, held on our course.
+
+A second morning broke. And now the sea was covered with the white sails
+of a magnificent fleet, bound for the West Indies; at least, so the
+skipper pronounced it. It was indeed a glorious sight to see the mighty
+vessels obeying the signals of the flag-ship, and shaping their course
+through the blue water as if instinct with life and reason. They were
+far seaward of us, however; for now we hugged the land, as the skipper
+was only desirous of an opportunity to land me unobserved before he
+proceeded on his own more immediate enterprise,--the smuggling of some
+hogsheads of brandy on the coasts of Ireland.
+
+Left to my own thoughts,--the memories of my past life,--I dreamed away
+the hours unconsciously, and as the time sped on, I knew not of its
+flight. Some strange sail, seen from afar off, would for an instant
+arouse my attention; but it was a mere momentary effect, and I fell back
+into my musings, as though they had never been interrupted. As I look
+back upon that voyage now, and think of the dreamy listlessness in which
+its hours were passed, I can half fancy that certain periods of our
+lives are destined to sustain the part which night performs in our daily
+existence, and by their monotony contribute to that renewal of energy
+and vigor so essential after times of labor and exertion. It seemed to
+me as though, the period of exertion past, I was regaining in rest and
+repose the power for future action; and I canvassed every act of
+the past to teach me more of my own heart, and to instruct me for my
+guidance in life after.
+
+"You can land now, whenever you please," said the skipper to me, as by a
+faint moonlight we moved along the waveless sea. "We can put you ashore
+at any moment here."
+
+I started with as much surprise as though the thought had never occurred
+to me; and without replying, I leaned over the bulwark, and gazed at the
+faint shadows of tall headlands about three miles distant.
+
+"How do you call that bluff yonder?" said I, carelessly.
+
+"Wicklow Head."
+
+"Wicklow Head! Ireland!" cried I, with a thrill of ecstasy my heart had
+never felt for many a day before. "Yes, yes; land me there,--now, at
+once!" said I, as a thousand thoughts came rushing to my mind, and hopes
+too vague for utterance, but palpable enough to cherish.
+
+With the speed their calling teaches, the crew lowered the boat, and as
+I took my place in the stern, pulled vigorously towards the shore. As
+the swift bark glided along the shallow sea, I could scarce restrain
+my impatience from springing out and rushing on land. Without family or
+friend, without one to welcome or meet me, still it was home,--the only
+home I ever had.
+
+The sharp keel grated on the beach; its sound vibrated within my heart.
+I jumped on shore; a few words of parting, and the men backed their
+oars; the boat slipped fast through the water. The cutter, too, got
+speedily under weigh again, and I was alone. Then the full torrent of my
+feelings found their channel, and I burst into tears. Oh! they were not
+tears of sorrow; neither were they the outpourings of excessive joy.
+They were the utterance of a heart loaded with its own unrelieved
+griefs, who now found sympathy on touching the very soil of home. I felt
+I was no longer friendless. Ireland, my own dear native country, would
+be to me a place of kindred and family, and I fell upon my knees, and
+blessed it.
+
+Following a little path, which led slantingly up the cliff, I reached
+the top as day was beginning to break, and gained a view of the country.
+The range of swelling hills, dotted with cottages and waving with
+wood; the fields of that emerald green one sees not in other lands;
+the hedge-rows bounding the little farms,--all so unlike the spreading
+plains of France,--struck me with delight, and it was with a rapture of
+happiness I called the land my country.
+
+Directing my steps towards Dublin, I set out at a good pace, but
+following a path which led near the cliffs, in preference to the
+highroad; for I was well aware that my appearance and dress would expose
+me to curiosity, and perhaps subject me to more serious annoyance. My
+first object was to learn some news of my brother; for although the
+ties of affection had been long since severed between us, those of blood
+still remained, and I wished to hear of, and it might be to see him,
+once more. For some miles I had kept my eyes directed towards a little
+cabin which crowned a cliff that hung over the sea; and this I reached
+at last, somewhat wearied and hungry.
+
+As I followed a little footpath which conducted to the door, a fierce
+terrier rushed out as if to attack me, but was immediately restrained
+by the voice of a man within, calling, "Down, Vicksey! down, you baste!"
+and the same moment a stout, middle-aged man appeared at the door.
+
+"Don't be afeard, sir; she's not wicked, but we're unused to strangers
+down here."
+
+"I should think so, friend, from my path," said I, throwing a glance
+at the narrow footway I had followed for some miles, over hill and
+precipice; "but I am unacquainted with the country, and was looking out
+for some house where I might obtain a breakfast."
+
+"There's a town about three miles down yonder, and a fine inn, I 'm
+tould, sir," replied he, as he scrutinized my appearance with a shrewd
+eye; "but if I might make so bould, maybe you 'd as lief not go there,
+and perhaps you 'd take share of what we have here?"
+
+"Willingly," said I, accepting the hospitable offer as freely as it was
+made, and entered the cabin at once.
+
+A good-featured countrywoman and some young children were seated at the
+table, where a large dish of potatoes and some fresh fish were smoking,
+a huge jug of milk occupying the middle of the board. The woman blushed
+as she heard that her husband had invited a gentleman to partake of his
+humble meal; but the honest fellow cared little for the simple fare he
+offered with so good a grace, and placed my chair beside his own with
+the air of one who was more anxious for his guest's comfort than caring
+what impression he himself might make upon him.
+
+After some passing words about the season and the state of the
+tides,--for my host was a fisherman,--I turned the conversation on the
+political condition of the country, avowing frankly that I had been for
+some years absent, and was ignorant of what had occurred meantime.
+
+"'Twas that same I was thinking, sir," said he, replying to the first
+and not the latter part of my remark. "When I saw your honor's face, and
+the beard you wore, I said to myself you wor a Frenchman."
+
+"You mistook there, then; I am your countryman, but have passed a good
+many years in France."
+
+"Fighting for Boney?" said he, as his eyes opened wide with surprise to
+behold one actually before him who might have served under Napoleon.
+
+"Yes, my good friend, even so; I was in the army of the Emperor."
+
+"Tare an ages! then, are they coming over here now?" cried he, almost
+gasping in his eagerness.
+
+"No, no," replied I, gravely; "and be thankful, too, for it, for your
+own and your children's sakes, that you see not a war raging in the
+fields and cities of your native land. Be assured, whatever wrongs you
+suffer,--I will not dispute their existence, for, as I told you, I am
+ignorant of the condition of the country,--but whatever they may be, you
+can pay too dearly for their remedy."
+
+"But sure they 'd be on our side, would n't they?"
+
+"Of course they would; but think you that they 'd fight your battles
+without their price? Do you believe that Frenchmen so love you here
+that they would come to shed their blood in your cause without their own
+prospect of advantage?"
+
+"They hate the English, I'm tould, as bad as we do ourselves."
+
+"They do so, and with more of justice for their hate. But that dislike
+might suffice to cause a war; it never would reward it. No, no; I know
+something of the spirit of French conquest. I glory in the bravery and
+the heroism that accomplished it; but I never wish to see my own country
+at the mercy of France. Whose soldier would you become if the Emperor
+Napoleon landed here to-morrow?--his. Whose uniform would you wear,
+whose musket carry, whose pay receive, whose orders obey?--his, and his
+only. And how long, think you, would your services be limited to home?
+What should prevent your being sent away to Egypt, to Poland, or to
+Russia? How much favor would an Irish deserter receive from a French
+court-martial, think you? No, good friend; while you have this warm roof
+to shelter you, and that broad sea is open for your industry and toil,
+never wish for foreign aid to assist you."
+
+I saw that the poor fellow was discouraged by my words, and gradually
+led him to speak of those evils for whose alleviation he looked
+to France. To my surprise, however, he descanted less on political
+grievances than those which affect the well-being of the country
+socially. It was not the severity of a Government, but the absence of
+encouragement to industry,--the neglect of the poor,--which afflicted
+him. England was no longer the tyrant; the landlord had taken her place.
+Still, with the pertinacity of ignorance, he visited all the wrongs on
+that land from which originally his first misfortunes came, and with
+perverse ingenuity would endeavor to trace out every hardship he
+suffered as arising from the ill-will and hatred the Saxon bore him.
+
+It was easy to perceive that the arguments he used were not of his own
+devising; they had been supplied by others, in whose opinion he had
+confidence; and though valueless and weak in reality, to him they were
+all-convincing and unanswerable,--not the less, perhaps, that they
+offered that value to self-love which comes from attributing any
+evils we endure to causes outside and independent of ourselves. These,
+confronted with extravagant hopes of what would ensue should national
+independence be established, formed his code; and however refuted on
+each point, a certain conviction, too deeply laid to be disturbed by any
+opposing force, remained; and in his "Well, well, God knows best!
+and maybe we'll have better luck yet," you could perceive that he was
+inaccessible to any appeal except from the quarter which ministered to
+his discontent and disaffection.
+
+One thing was clear to me from all he said, that if the spirit of open
+resistance no longer existed towards England, it was replaced by as
+determined and as rancorous hatred,--a brooding, ill-omened dislike had
+succeeded, to the full as hostile, and far less easily subdued. How it
+would end,--whether in the long-lingering fear which wastes the energies
+and saps the strength of a people, or in the conflict of a civil war,
+the prospect was equally ruinous.
+
+Sadly pondering on these things, I parted with my humble host, and set
+out towards the capital. If my conversation with the Irishman had taught
+me somewhat of the state of feeling then current in Ireland, it also
+conveyed another and very different lesson; it enabled me to take some
+account of the change years had effected in my own sentiments. As a
+boy, high-flown, vague, and unsettled ideas of national liberty and
+independence had made me look to France as the emancipator of Europe.
+As a man, I knew that the lust of conquest had extinguished the love of
+freedom in Frenchmen; that they who trusted to her did but exchange the
+dominion of their old masters for the tyranny of a new one; while such
+as boldly stepped forward in defence of their liberties, found that
+there was neither mercy nor compassion for the conquered.
+
+I had seen the Austrian prisoners and the Russian led captive through
+the streets of Paris; I had witnessed the great capital of Prussia in
+its day of mourning after Jena; and all my idolatry for the General
+scarce balanced my horror of the Emperor, whose vengeance had
+smitten two nations thus heavily: and I said within my heart, "May my
+countrymen, whatever be their day of need, never seek alliance with
+despotic France!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV. A CHARACTER OF OLD DUBLIN
+
+It was about nine o'clock of a calm summer evening as I entered
+Dublin,--nearly the same hour at which, some ten years before, I had
+approached that city, poor, houseless, friendless; and still was I the
+same. In that great capital of my country I had not one to welcome
+me; not one who would rejoice at my coming, or feel any interest in my
+fortunes. This indeed was loneliness,--utter solitude. Still, if there
+be something which weighs heavily on the heart in the isolation of
+one like me, there is a proportionate sense of independence of his
+fellow-man that sustains the courage and gives energy to the will. I
+felt this as I mixed with the crowds that thronged the streets, and
+shrank not from the inquisitive glances which my questionable appearance
+excited as I passed.
+
+Though considerable changes had taken place in the outskirts of the
+capital since I had seen it last, the leading thoroughfares were just
+as I remembered them; and as I walked along Dame Street, and one by one
+each familiar object caught my eye, I could almost have fancied the
+long interval since I had been there before like a mere dream. National
+physiognomy, too, has a strange effect on him who has been long absent
+from his country. Each face you meet seems well known. The traits of
+features, to which the eye was once so well accustomed, awake a memory
+of individuals, and it is sometimes a moat difficult task to distinguish
+between the acquaintance and the passing stranger.
+
+This I experienced at every moment; and at length, as I stood gazing
+on the space before the Bank, and calling to mind the last scene I
+witnessed there, a tall, strongly-built man brushed close past me,
+and then turning round, fixed a steady and searching look on me. As I
+returned his stare, a sudden thought flashed upon me that I had seen
+the face before; but where, how, and when, I could not call to mind. And
+thus we stood silently confronting each other for some minutes.
+
+"I see you are a stranger here, sir," said he, touching his hat
+courteously; "can I be of service to you with any information as to the
+city?"
+
+"I was curious to know, sir," said I, still more puzzled by the voice
+than I had been by the features of the stranger, "if Miley's Hotel,
+which was somewhere in the neighborhood, exists still?"
+
+"It does, sir; but it has changed proprietors several times since you
+knew it," replied he, significantly. "The house is yonder, where you
+see that large lamp. I perceive, sir, I was mistaken in supposing you a
+foreigner. I wish you good-evening." And again saluting me, he resumed
+his way.
+
+As I crossed the street towards the hotel, I remarked that he turned as
+if to watch me, and became more than ever embarrassed as to who he might
+be.
+
+The doorway of the hotel was crowded with loungers and idlers of every
+class, from the loitering man about town to the ragged newsvendor,
+between whom, whatever disparity of condition existed, a tone of the
+most free-and-easy condition prevailed; the newsmen interpolating, amid
+the loud announcements of the latest intelligence, the reply to the
+observation beside him.
+
+One figure was conspicuous in the group. He was a short, dwarfish
+creature, with an enormous head, covered with a fell of black hair,
+falling in masses down his back and on his shoulders. A pair of
+fierce, fiery black eyes glared beneath his heavy brows; and a large,
+thick-lipped mouth moved with all the glib eloquence of his class and
+calling. Fearfully distorted legs and club feet gave to his gait a
+rolling motion, which added to the singularity of his whole appearance.
+
+Terry Regan was then at the head of his walk in Dublin; and to his
+capacious lungs and voluble tongue were committed the announcement of
+those great events which, from time to time, were given to the Irish
+public through the columns of the "Correspondent" and the "Dublin
+Journal."
+
+I soon found myself in the crowd around this celebrated character,
+who was, as usual, extolling the great value of that night's paper by
+certain brief suggestions regarding its contents.
+
+[Illustration: 410]
+
+"Here's the whole, full, and true account (bad luck to the less!) of the
+great and sanguinary battle between Boney and the Roosians; with all the
+particklars about the killed, wounded, and missing; with what Boney said
+when it was over."
+
+"What was that, Terry?"
+
+"Hould yer peace, ye spalpeen! Is it to the likes of yez I 'd be telling
+cabinet sacrets? (Here, yer honor),--'Falkner,' is it, or 'The Saunders'.
+With the report of Mr. O'Gogorman's grand speech in Ennis on the
+Catholic claims. There's, yer sowl, there's fippence worth any day ay
+the week. More be token, the letter from Jemmy O'Brien to his wife, wid
+an elegant epic poem called 'The Gauger.' Bloody news, gentlemen! bloody
+news! Won't yez sport a tester for a sight of a real battle, and
+ten thousand kilt; with 'The Whole Duty of an Informer, in two easy
+lessons.' The price of stocks and shares--Ay, Mr. O'Hara, and what
+boroughs is bringing in the market."
+
+This last sally was directed towards a large, red-faced man, who
+good-humoredly joined in the laugh against himself.
+
+"And who's this, boys?" cried the fellow, turning suddenly his piercing
+eyes on me, as I endeavored, step by step, to reach the door of the
+hotel. "Hurrool look at his beard, acushla! On my conscience, I wouldn't
+wonder if it was General Hoche himself. 'Tis late yer come, sir," said
+he, addressing me directly; "there's no fun here now at all, barrin'
+what Beresford has in the riding-house."
+
+"Get away, you ruffian!" said a well-dressed and respectable-looking
+man, somewhat past the middle of life; "how dare you permit your tongue
+to take liberties with a stranger? Allow me to make room for you, sir,"
+continued he, as he politely made an opening in the crowd, and suffered
+me to enter the house.
+
+"Ah, counsellor, dear, don't be cross," whined out the newsvendor;
+"sure, isn't it wid the bad tongue we both make our bread. And here,"
+vociferated he once more,--"and here ye have the grand dinner at the
+Lord Mayor's, wid all the speeches and toasts; wid the glorious, pious,
+and immortial memory of King William, who delivered us from Popery (by
+pitched caps), from slavery (by whipping), from brass money (by bad
+ha'pence), and from wooden shoes (by bare feet). Haven't we reason to
+bless his--? Ay, the heavens be his bed! 'Tis like Molly Crownahon's
+husband he was."
+
+"How was that, Terry?" asked a gentleman near.
+
+"Take a 'Saunders,' yer honor, and I 'll tell you."
+
+"Here, then, here's fippence; and now for the explanation."
+
+"Molly Crownahon, yer honor, was, like us poor craytures, always
+grateful and contented wid the Lord's goodness to us, even in taking
+away our chief comfort and blessing,--the darling up there on the horse!
+(Ah, 'tis an elegant sate ye have, without stirrups!) And she went
+one day to say a handful of prayers oyer his grave,--the husband's, ye
+mind,--and sure if she did, when she knelt down on the grass she sprung
+up again as quick as she went down, for the nettles was all over the
+place entirely. 'Bad scran to ye, Peter!' says she, as she rubbed her
+legs,--'bad scran to ye! living or dead, there was always a sting in
+ye.'"
+
+[Illustration: 414]
+
+As the latter part of this speech was addressed in a tone of apostrophe
+to the statue of King William, it was received by the assembled crowd
+with a roar of laughter.
+
+By this time I had entered the house, and only bethought me how little
+suited was the great hotel of the city to pretensions as humble as mine.
+It was now, however, too late to retreat, and I entered the coffee-room,
+carrying my knapsack in my hand. As I passed up the room in search of
+a vacant table, the looks of astonishment my appearance excited on each
+side were most palpable evidences that the company considered me as
+an interloper. While some contented themselves with a stare of steady
+surprise, others, less guarded in their impertinence, whispered with,
+and even winked at their neighbors, to attract attention towards me.
+
+Offensive as this unquestionably was, it amazed even more than it
+annoyed me. In France, such a display of feeling would have been
+impossible; and the humblest soldier of the army would not have been so
+received had he deemed fit to enter Beauvilliers' or Very's.
+
+Whether hurt at this conduct, and consequently more alive to affront
+from any quarter, or that the waiters participated in the sentiments
+of their betters, I cannot exactly say; but I certainly thought their
+manner even less equivocally betrayed the same desire of impertinence.
+This was not long a mere suspicion on my part; for on inquiring whether
+I could have a room for the night, the waiter, touching my knapsack,
+which lay on the ground beside me, with his foot, replied,--
+
+"Is this your luggage, sir?"
+
+Amazement so completely mastered my indignation at this insolence, that
+I could make no answer but by a look. This had its effect, however; and
+the fellow, without further delay, bustled off to make the inquiry.
+He returned in a few minutes with a civil message, that I could be
+accommodated, and having placed before me the simple meal I ordered,
+retired.
+
+As I sat over my supper, I could not help feeling that unless memory
+played me false, the company were little like the former frequenters
+of this house. I remembered it of old, when Bubbleton and his brother
+officers came there; and when the rooms were thronged with members
+of both Houses of Parliament,--when peers and gentlemen of the first
+families were grouped about the windows and fireplaces, and the highest
+names of the land were heard in the din of recognition; handsome
+equipages and led horses stood before the doors. But now the ragged mob
+without was scarce a less worthy successor to the brilliant display than
+were the company within to the former visitants. A tone of pretentious
+impertinence, an air of swagger and mock defiance,--the most opposite to
+the polished urbanity which once prevailed,--was now conspicuous; and
+in their loud speech and violent gesticulation, it was easy to mark
+how they had degenerated from that high standard which made the Irish
+gentleman of his day the most polished man of Europe.
+
+If in appearance and manner they fell far short of those my memory
+recalled, their conversation more markedly still displayed the long
+interval between them. Here, of old, were retailed the latest news of
+the debate,--the last brilliant thing of Grattan, or the last biting
+retort of Flood; here came, hot from debate, the great champions of
+either party to relax and recruit for fresh efforts; and in the groups
+that gathered around them you might learn how great genius can diffuse
+its influence and scatter intelligence around it,--as the Nile
+waters spread plenty and abundance wherever they flow: high and noble
+sentiments, holy aspirations and eloquent thoughts, made an atmosphere,
+to breathe which was to feel an altered nature. But now a vapid mixture
+of conceit and slang had usurped the place of these, and a tone of
+vulgar self-sufficiency unhappily too much in keeping with the externals
+of those who displayed it: the miserable contentions of different
+factions had replaced the bolder strife of opposite parties, and
+provincialism had put its stamp on everything. The nation, too, if I
+might trust my ears with what fell around me, had lost all memory of its
+once great names, and new candidates for popular favor figured in their
+places.
+
+Such were some of the changes I could mark, even as I sat. But my
+attention was speedily drawn from them by a circumstance more nearly
+concerning myself. This was the appearance in the coffee-room of the
+gentleman who first addressed me in the street.
+
+As he passed round the room, followed by a person whose inferiority was
+evident, he was recognized by most of those present, many of whom shook
+him warmly by the hand, and pressed him to join their parties. But this
+he declined, as he continued to walk slowly on, scrutinizing each face
+as he went. At last I saw his eyes turn towards me. It was scarcely a
+glance, so rapid was it, and so quickly were his looks directed to a
+different quarter; but I could mark that he whispered something to a
+person who followed, and then, after carelessly turning over a newspaper
+on the table, sauntered from the room. As he did so, the shaggy head of
+the dwarf newsvendor peeped in, and the great black eyes took a survey
+of the coffee-room, till finally they settled on me.
+
+"Ah!" cried the fellow, with a strange blending of irony and compassion
+in his voice; "be gorra, I knew how it would be,--the major has ye!" At
+this a general laugh broke out from all present, and every eye was fixed
+on me.
+
+Meanwhile the follower had taken his place nearly opposite me at the
+table, and was busily engaged examining a paper which he had taken from
+his pocket.
+
+"May I ask, sir, if your name be Burke?" said he, in a low voice, across
+the table.
+
+I started with amazement to hear my name pronounced where I believed
+myself so completely a stranger, and in my astonishment, forgot to
+answer.
+
+"I was asking, sir--" repeated he.
+
+"Yes, you are quite correct," interrupted I; "that is my name. May I beg
+to know, in return, for what purpose you make the inquiry?"
+
+"Thomas Burke, sir?" continued he, inattentive to my observation, and
+apparently about to write the name on the paper before him.
+
+I nodded, and he wrote down the words.
+
+"That saves a deal of trouble to all of us, sir," said he, as he
+finished writing. "This is a warrant for your arrest; but the major is
+quite satisfied if you can give bail for your appearance."
+
+"Arrest!" repeated I; "on what charge am I arrested?"
+
+"You'll hear in the morning, I suppose," said he, quietly. "What shall
+we say about the bail? Have you any acquaintance or friend in town?"
+
+"Neither; I am a perfect stranger here. But if you are authorized to
+arrest me, I here surrender myself at once."
+
+By this time, several persons of the coffee-room had approached the
+table, and among the rest the gentleman who so politely made way for me
+in the crowd to reach the door.
+
+"What is it, Roche?" said he, addressing the man at the table; "a
+warrant?"
+
+"Yes, sir; for this gentleman here. But we can take bail, if he has it."
+
+"I have told you already that I am a stranger, and know no one here."
+
+The gentleman threw his eyes over the warrant, and then looking me
+steadily in the face, muttered in a whisper to the officer, "Why, he
+must have been a boy, a mere child, at the time."
+
+"Very true, sir; but the major says it must be done. Maybe you'd bail
+him yourself."
+
+These words were added in a tone of half irony, as the fellow gave a sly
+look beneath his eyelashes.
+
+"I tell you, again," said I, impatient at the whole scene, "I am quite
+ready to accompany you."
+
+"Is this your name, sir?" said the strange gentleman, addressing me, as
+he pointed to the warrant.
+
+"Yes," interposed the officer, "there's no doubt about that; he gave it
+himself."
+
+"Come, come, then, Roche," said he, cajolingly; "these are not times
+for undue strictness. Let the gentleman remain where he is to-night,
+and to-morrow he will attend you. You can remain here, if you like, with
+him."
+
+"If you say so, I suppose we may do it," replied the officer, as he
+folded up the paper, and arose from the table.
+
+"Yes, yes; that's the proper course. And now," said he, addressing me,
+"will you permit me to join you while I finish this bottle of claret?"
+
+I could have no objection to so pleasant a proposal; and thus, for the
+time at least, ended this disagreeable affair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV. AN UNFORSEEN EVIL
+
+"I perceive, sir," said the stranger, seating himself at my table, "they
+are desirous to restore an antiquated custom in regard to you. I thought
+the day of indemnities was past and gone forever."
+
+"I am ignorant to what you allude."
+
+"The authorities would make you out an emissary of France, sir,--as if
+France had not enough on her hands already, without embroiling herself
+in a quarrel from which no benefit could accrue; not to speak of the
+little likelihood that any one on such an errand would take up his
+abode, as you have, in the most public hotel of Dublin."
+
+"I have no apprehensions as to any charges they may bring against me.
+I am conscious of no crime, saving having left my country a boy, and
+returning to it a man."
+
+"You were in the service of France, then?"
+
+"Yes; since 1801 I have been a soldier."
+
+"So long? You must have been but a mere boy when you quitted Ireland.
+How have they connected you with the troubles of that period?"
+
+I hesitated for a second or two, uncertain what answer, if any, I
+should return to this abrupt question. A glance at the manly and frank
+expression of the stranger's face soon satisfied me that no unworthy
+curiosity had prompted the inquiry; and I told him in a few words,
+how, as a child, the opinions of the patriotic party had won me over to
+embark in a cause I could neither fathom nor understand. I traced out
+rapidly the few leading events of my early career down to the last
+evening I spent in Ireland. When I came to this part of my story, the
+stranger became unusually attentive, and more than once questioned
+me respecting the origin of my quarrel with Crofts, and the timely
+appearance of Darby; of whose name and character, however, I gave him no
+information, merely speaking of him as an old and attached follower of
+my family.
+
+"Since that period, then, you have not been in Ireland?" said he, as I
+concluded.
+
+"Never: nor had I any intention of returning until lately, when
+circumstances induced me to leave the Emperor's service; and from very
+uncertainty I came back here, without well knowing why."
+
+"Of course, then, you have never heard the catastrophe of your adventure
+with Crofts. It was a lucky hit for him."
+
+"How so? I don't understand you."
+
+"Simply this: Crofts was discovered in the morning, severely wounded,
+where you left him; his account being, that he had been waylaid by a
+party of rebels, who had obtained the countersign of the night, and
+passed the sentry in various disguises. You yourself--for so, at least,
+I surmise it must have been--were designated the prime mover of the
+scheme, and a Government reward was offered for your apprehension.
+Crofts was knighted, and appointed to the staff,--the reward of
+his loyalty and courage; of the exact details of which my memory is
+unfortunately little tenacious."
+
+"And the truth of the occurrence was never known?"
+
+"What I have told you is the only version current. I have reason to
+remember so much of it, for I was then, and am still, one of the legal
+advisers of the Crown, and was consulted on the case; of which, I
+confess, I always had my misgivings. There was a rage, however, for
+rewarding loyalty, as it was termed at the period, and the story went
+the round of the papers. Now, I fancy Crofts would just as soon not see
+you back again; he has made all he can of the adventure, and would as
+lief have it quietly forgotten."
+
+"But can I suffer it to rest here? Is such an imputation to lie on my
+character as he would cast on me?"
+
+"Take no steps in the matter on that score: vindication is time enough
+when the attack is made directly; besides, where should you find your
+witness? where is the third party who could prove your innocence, and
+that all you did was in self-defence? Without his testimony, your
+story would go for nothing. No, no; be well satisfied if the charge is
+suffered to sleep, which is not unlikely. Crofts would scarcely like to
+confess that his antagonist was little more than a child; his prowess
+would gain nothing by the avowal. Besides, the world goes well with him
+latterly; it is but a month ago, I think, he succeeded unexpectedly to a
+large landed property."
+
+The stranger, whose name was M'Dougall, continued to talk for some time
+longer; most kindly volunteered to advise me in the difficult position
+I found myself; and having given me his address in town, wished me a
+goodnight and departed.
+
+It was to no purpose I laid my head on my pillow. Tired and fatigued
+as I was, I could not sleep; the prospect of fresh troubles awaiting
+me made me restless and feverish, and I longed for day to break, that
+I might manfully confront whatever danger was before me, and oppose a
+stout heart to the arrows of adverse fortune. My accidental meeting with
+the stranger also reassured my courage; and I felt gratified to think
+that such _rencontres_ in life are the sunny spots which illumine our
+career in the world, the harbingers of bright days to come.
+
+This feeling was still more strongly impressed on me as I entered the
+small room on the ground-floor at the Castle, where was the secretary's
+office, and beheld M'Dougall seated in an armchair, reading the
+newspaper of the day. I could not help connecting his presence there
+with some kindly intention towards me, and already regarded him as my
+friend. Major Barton stood at the secretary's side, and whispered from
+time to time in his ear.
+
+"I have before me certain information, sir," said the secretary,
+addressing me, "that you were connected with parties who took an active
+part in the late rebellion in this country, and by them sent over to
+France to negotiate co-operation and assistance from that quarter,"
+(Barton here whispered something, and the secretary resumed), "and in
+continuance of this scheme are at present here."
+
+"I have only to observe, sir, that I left Ireland a mere boy, when,
+whatever my opinions might have been, they were, I suspect, of small
+moment to his Majesty's Government; that I have served some years in
+the French army, during which period I neither corresponded with any one
+here, nor had intercourse with any from Ireland; and lastly, that I have
+come back unaccredited by any party, not having, as I believe, a single
+acquaintance in the island."
+
+"Do you still hold a commission in the French service?"
+
+"No, sir; I resigned my grade as captain some time since."
+
+"What were your reasons for that step?"
+
+"They were of a purely personal nature, having no concern with politics
+of any sort; I should, therefore, ask of you not to demand them. I can
+only say, they reflect neither on my honor nor my loyalty."
+
+"His loyalty! Would you ask him, sir, how he applies the term, and to
+what sovereign and what government the obedience is rendered?" said
+Barton, with a half smile of malicious meaning.
+
+"Very true, Barton; the question is most pertinent."
+
+"When I said loyalty, sir," said I, in answer, "I confess I did not
+express myself as clearly as I intended. I meant, however, that as an
+Irishman, and a subject of his Majesty George the Third, as I now am, no
+act of mine in the French service ever compromised me."
+
+"Why, surely you fought against the allies of your own country?".
+
+"True, sir. I speak only with reference to the direct interests of
+England. I was the soldier of the Emperor, but never a spy under his
+Government."
+
+"Your name is amongst those who never claimed the indemnity? How is
+this?"
+
+"I never heard of it; I never knew such an act was necessary. I am not
+guilty of any crime, nor do I see any reason to seek a favor."
+
+"Well, well; the gracious intentions of the Crown lead us to look
+leniently on the past. A moderate bail for your appearance when called
+on, and your own recognizances for the same object, will suffice."
+
+"I am quite willing to do the latter; but as to bail, I repeat it, I
+have not one I could ask for such a service."
+
+"No relative? no friend?"
+
+"Come, come, young gentleman," said M'Dougall, speaking for the first
+time; "recollect yourself. Try if you can't remember some one who would
+assist you at this conjuncture."
+
+Basset was the only name I could think of; and however absurd the idea
+of a service from such a quarter, I deemed that, as my brother's agent,
+he would scarce refuse me. I thought that Barton gave a very peculiar
+grin as I mentioned the name; but my own securities being entered into,
+and a few formal questions answered, I was told I was at liberty to seek
+out the bail required.
+
+Once more in the streets, I turned my steps towards Basset's house,
+where I hoped, at all events, to learn some tidings of my brother. I
+was not long in arriving at the street, and speedily recognized the old
+house, whose cobwebbed windows and unwashed look reminded me of former
+times. The very sound of the heavy iron knocker awoke its train of
+recollections; and when the door was opened, and I saw the narrow
+hall, with its cracked lamp and damp, discolored walls, the whole
+heart-sinking with which they once inspired me came back again, and I
+thought of Tony Basset when his very name was a thing of terror to me.
+
+Mr. Basset, I was told, was at court, and I was shown into the office to
+await his return. The gloomy little den,--I knew it well, with its dirty
+shelves of dirtier papers, its old tin boxes, and its rickety desk,
+at which two meanly-dressed starveling youths were busy writing. They
+turned a rapid glance towards me as I entered; and as they resumed their
+occupation, I could hear a muttered remark upon my dress and appearance,
+the purport of which I did not catch.
+
+I sat for some time patiently, expecting Basset's arrival, but as
+the time stole by, I grew wearied with waiting, and determined on
+ascertaining, if I might, from the clerks, some intelligence concerning
+my brother.
+
+"Have you any business with Mr. Burke?" said the youth I addressed,
+while his features assumed an expression of vulgar jocularity.
+
+"Yes," was my brief reply.
+
+"Wouldn't a letter do as well as a personal interview?" said the other,
+with an air of affected courtesy.
+
+"Perhaps so," I replied, too deeply engaged in my own thoughts to mind
+their flippant impertinence.
+
+"Then mind you direct your letter 'Churchyard, Loughrea;' or, if you
+want to be particular, say 'Family vault.'"
+
+[Illustration: 426]
+
+"Is he dead? Is George dead?"
+
+"That's hard to say," interposed the other; "but they've buried him,
+that's certain."
+
+Like a stunning blow, the shock of this news left me unable to speak or
+hear. A maze of confused thoughts crossed and jostled each other in my
+brain, and I could neither collect myself nor listen to what was said
+around me. My first clear memory was of a thousand little childish
+traits of love which had passed between us. Tokens of affection long
+forgotten now rushed freshly to my mind; and he whom a moment before I
+had condemned as wanting in all brotherly feeling, I now sorrowed for
+with true grief. The low and vulgar insolence of the speakers made no
+impression on me; and when, in answer to my questions, they narrated
+the manner of his death,--a fever contracted after some debauch at
+Oxford,--I only heard the tidings, but did not notice the unfeeling tone
+it was conveyed in.
+
+My brother dead! the only one of kith or kindred belonging to me. How
+slight the tie seemed but a few moments back! what would I not give for
+it now? Then, for the first time, did I know how the heart can heap up
+its stores of consolation in secrecy, and how unconsciously the mind can
+dwell on hopes it has never confessed even to itself. How I fancied to
+myself our meeting, and thought over the long pent-up affection years of
+absence had accumulated, now flowing in a gushing stream from heart to
+heart I The grave is indeed hallowed when the grass of the churchyard
+can cover all memory save that of love. We dwell on every good gift
+of the lost one, as though no unworthy thought could cross that little
+mound of earth, the barrier between two worlds. Sad and sorrow-struck,
+I covered my face with my hands, and did not notice that Mr. Basset had
+entered, and taken his place at the desk.
+
+His voice, every harsh tone of which I well remembered, first made me
+aware of his presence. I lifted my eyes, and there he stood, little
+changed indeed since I had seen him last. The hard lines about the mouth
+had grown deeper, the brow more furrowed, and the hair more mixed with
+gray, but in other respects he was the same. As I gazed at him I could
+not help fancying that time makes less impression on men of coarse,
+unfeeling mould, than on natures of a finer temper. The world's changes
+leave no trace on the stern surface of the one, while they are wearing
+deep tracks of sorrow in the other.
+
+"Insert the advertisement again, Simms," said he, addressing one of the
+clerks, "and let it appear in some paper of the seaport towns. Among the
+Flemish or French smugglers who frequent them, there might be some one
+to give the information. They must be able to show that though Thomas
+Burke--"
+
+I started at the sound of my name. The motion surprised him; he looked
+round and perceived me. Quick and piercing as his glance was, I could
+not trace any sign of recognition; although, as he scanned my features,
+and suffered his eyes to wander over my dress, I perceived that his was
+no mere chance or cursory observation.
+
+"Well, sir," said he, at length, "is your business here with me?"
+
+"Yes; but I would speak with you in private."
+
+"Come in here, then. Meanwhile, Sam, make out that deed; for we may go
+on without the proof of demise."
+
+Few and vague as the words were, their real meaning flashed on me, and I
+perceived that Mr. Basset was engaged in the search of some evidence of
+my death, doubtless to enable the heir-at-law to succeed to the estates
+of my brother. The moment the idea struck me, I felt assured of its
+certainty, and at once determined on the plan I should adopt.
+
+"You have inserted an advertisement regarding a Mr. Burke," said I, as
+soon as the door was closed, and we were alone together. "What are the
+particular circumstances of which you desire proof?"
+
+"The place, date, and manner of his death," replied he, slowly; "for
+though informed that such occurred abroad, an authentic evidence of the
+fact will save some trouble. Circumstances to identify the individual
+with the person we mean, of course, must be offered; showing whence he
+came, his probable age, and so on. For this intelligence I am prepared
+to pay liberally; at least a hundred pounds may be thought so."
+
+"It is a question of succession to some property, I have heard."
+
+"Yes; but the information is not of such moment as you may suppose,"
+replied he, quickly, and with the wariness of his calling anticipating
+the value I might be disposed to place on my intelligence. "We are
+satisfied with the fact of the death; and even were it otherwise, the
+individual most concerned is little likely to disprove the belief, his
+own reasons will probably keep him from visiting Ireland."
+
+"Indeed!" I exclaimed, the word escaping my lips ere I could check its
+utterance.
+
+"Even so," resumed he. "But this, of course, has no interest for you.
+Your accent bespeaks you a foreigner. Have you any information to offer
+on this matter?"
+
+"Yes; if we speak of the same individual, who may have left this country
+about 1800 as a boy of some fourteen years of age, and entered the
+'Ecole Polytechnique' of Paris."
+
+"Like enough. Continue, if you please; what became of him afterwards?"
+
+"He joined the French service, attained the rank of captain, and then
+left the army; came back to Ireland, and now, sir, stands before you."
+
+Mr. Basset never changed a muscle of his face as I made this
+declaration. So unmoved, so stolid was his look, that for a moment or
+two I believed him incredulous of my story. But this impression soon
+gave way, as with his eyes bent on me he said,--
+
+"I knew you, sir, I knew you the moment I passed you in the office
+without; but it might have fared ill with you to have let my recognition
+appear."
+
+"As how? I do not understand you."
+
+"My clerks there might have given information for the sake of the
+reward; and once in Newgate, there was an end to all negotiation."
+
+"You must speak more intelligibly, sir, if you wish me to comprehend
+you. I am unaware of any circumstance which should threaten me with such
+a fate."
+
+"Have you forgotten Captain Crofts,--Montague Crofts?" said Basset, in a
+low whisper, while a smile of insulting malice crossed his features.
+
+"No; I remember him well. What of him?"
+
+"What of him! He charges you with a capital felony,--a crime for which
+the laws have little pity here, whatever your French habits may have
+taught you to regard it. Yes; the attempt to assassinate an officer in
+his Majesty's service, when foiled by him in an effort to seduce the
+soldiery, is an offence which might have a place in your memory."
+
+"Can the man be base enough to make such a charge as this against me,--a
+boy, as I then was?"
+
+"You were not alone; remember that fact."
+
+"True; and most thankful am I for it. There is one, at least, can prove
+my innocence, if I can but discover him."
+
+"You will find that a matter of some difficulty. Your worthy friend and
+early preceptor was transported five years since."
+
+"Poor fellow! I could better bear to hear that he was dead."
+
+"There are many of your opinion on that head," said Basset, with a
+savage grin. "But the fellow was too cunning for all the lawyers, and
+his conviction at last was only effected by a stratagem."
+
+"A stratagem!" exclaimed I, in amazement.
+
+"It was neither more nor less. Darby was arraigned four several times,
+but always acquitted. Now it was defective evidence; now a lenient jury;
+now an informal indictment: but so was it, he escaped the meshes of the
+law, though every one knew him guilty of a hundred offences. At last
+Major Barton resolved on another expedient. Darby was arrested in Ennis;
+thrown into jail; kept four weeks in a dark cell, on prison fare; and at
+the end, one morning the hangman appeared to say his hour was come, and
+that the warrant for his execution had arrived. It was to take place,
+without judge or jury, within the four walls of the jail. The scheme
+succeeded; his courage fell, and he offered, if his life was spared, to
+plead guilty to any transportable felony for which the grand Jury would
+send up true bills. He did so, and was then undergoing the sentence."
+
+"Great heavens! and can such iniquity be tolerated in a land where men
+call themselves Christians?" exclaimed I, as I heard this to the end.
+
+"Iniquity!" repeated he, in mockery; "to rid the country of a ruffian,
+stained with every crime,--a fellow mixed up in every outrage in the
+land? Is this your notion of iniquity? Not so do I reckon it. And if I
+have told you of it now, it is that you may learn that when loyal
+and well-affected men are trusted with the execution of the laws, the
+principle of justice is of more moment than the nice distinction of
+legal subtleties. You may learn a lesson from it worth acquiring."
+
+"I! how can it affect me or my fortunes?"
+
+"More nearly than you think. I have told you of the accusation which
+hangs over your head; weigh it well, and deliberate what are your
+chances of escape. We must not waste time in discussing your innocence.
+The jury who will try the cause will be more difficult of belief than
+you suspect; neither the opinions you are charged with, your subsequent
+escape, nor your career in France, will contribute to your exculpation,
+even had you evidence to adduce in your favor. But you have not; your
+only witness is equally removed as by death itself. On what do you
+depend, then? Conscious innocence! Nine out of every ten who mount the
+scaffold proclaim the same; but I never heard that the voice that cried
+it stifled the word 'guilty.' No, sir; I tell you solemnly, you will be
+condemned!"
+
+The tone of his voice as he spoke the last few words made my very blood
+run cold. The death of a soldier on the field of battle had no terrors
+for me; but the execrated fate of a felon I could not confront. The
+pallor of my cheek, the trembling of my limbs, must have betrayed my
+emotion; for even Basset seemed to pity me, and pressed me down into a
+chair.
+
+"There is one way, however, to avoid all the danger," said he, after
+a pause; "an easy and a certain way both. You have heard of the
+advertisements for information respecting your death, which it was
+surmised had occurred abroad. Now you are unknown here,--without a
+single acquaintance to recognize or remember you; why should not you,
+under another name, come forward with these proofs? By so doing, you
+secure your own escape and can claim the reward."
+
+"What! perjure myself that I may forfeit my inheritance!"
+
+"As to the inheritance," said he, sneeringly, "your tenure does not
+promise a very long enjoyment of it."
+
+"Were it but a day,--an hour!" exclaimed I, passionately; "I will make
+no compromise with my honor. On their own heads be it who sentence an
+innocent man to death; better such, even on a scaffold, than a life of
+ignominy and vain regret."
+
+"The dark hours of a jail change men's sentiments wonderfully," said
+he, slowly. "I have known some who faced death in its wildest and most
+appalling shape, shrink from it like cowards when it came in the guise
+of a common executioner. Come, sir, be advised by me; reflect at least
+on what I have said, and if there be any path in life where a moderate
+sum may assist you--"
+
+"Peace, sir! I beg of you to be silent. It may be that your counsel is
+prompted by kindly feeling towards me; but if you would have me think
+so, say no more of this,--my mind is made up."
+
+"Wait until to-morrow, in any case; perhaps some other plan may suggest
+itself. What say you to America? Have you any objection to go there?"
+
+"Had you asked me the question an hour since, I had replied, 'None
+whatever.' Now it is different; my departure would be like the flight of
+a guilty man. I cannot do it."
+
+"Better the flight than the fate of one," muttered Basset between his
+teeth, while at the same instant the sound of voices talking loudly
+together was heard in the hall without.
+
+"Think again, before it is too late. Remember what I have told you. Your
+opinions, your career, your associates, are not such as to recommend you
+to the favorable consideration of a jury. Is your case strong enough to
+oppose all these? Sir Montague will make liberal terms; he has no desire
+to expose the calamities of a family."
+
+"Sir Montague!--of whom do you speak?"
+
+"Sir Montague Crofts," said Basset, reddening, for he had unwittingly
+suffered the name to escape his lips. "Are you ignorant that he is
+your relative? a distant one, it is true, but your nearest of kin
+notwithstanding."
+
+"And the heir to the estate?" said I, suddenly, as anew light flashed on
+my mind; "the heir, in the event of my life lapsing?"
+
+Basset nodded an assent.
+
+"You played a deep game, sir," said I, drawing a long breath; "but you
+never were near winning it."
+
+"Nor you either," said he, throwing wide the door between the two rooms;
+"I hear a voice without there, that settles the question forever."
+
+At the same instant, Major Barton entered, followed by two men.
+
+"I suspected I should find you here, sir," said he, addressing me. "You
+need scarcely trouble my worthy friend for his bail; I arrest you now
+under a warrant of felony."
+
+"A felony!" exclaimed Basset, with a counterfeited astonishment in his
+look. "Mr. Burke accused of such a crime!"
+
+I could not utter a word; indignation and shame overpowered me, and
+merely motioning with my hand that I was ready to accompany him, I
+followed to the door, at which a carriage was standing, getting into
+which we drove towards Newgate.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI. THE PERIL AVERTED
+
+If I have dwelt with unnecessary prolixity on this dark portion of my
+story, it is because the only lesson my life teaches has lain in similar
+passages. The train of evils which flows from one misdirection in early
+life,--the misfortunes which ensue from a single false and inconsiderate
+step,--frequently darken the whole subsequent career. This I now thought
+over in the solitude of my cell. However I could acquit myself of the
+crime laid to my charge, I could not so easily absolve my heart of the
+early folly which made me suppose that the regeneration of a land should
+be accomplished by the efforts of a sanguinary and bigoted rabble. To
+this error could I trace every false step I made in life,--to this cause
+attribute the long struggle I endured between my love of liberty and my
+detestation of mob rule; and yet how many years did it cost me to learn,
+that to alleviate the burdens of the oppressed may demand a greater
+exercise of tyranny than ever their rulers practised towards them. Like
+many others, I looked to France as the land of freedom; but where was
+despotism so unbounded! where the sway of one great mind so unlimited!
+They had bartered liberty for equality, and because the pressure was
+equal on all, they deemed themselves free; while the privileges of class
+with us suggested the sense of bondage to the poor man, whose actual
+freedom was yet unencumbered.
+
+Of all the daydreams of my boyhood, the ambition of military glory
+alone survived; and that lived on amid the dreary solitude of my prison,
+comforting many a lonely hour by memories of the past. The glittering
+ranks of the mounted squadrons; the deep-toned thunder of the artillery;
+the solid masses of the infantry, immovable beneath the rush of
+cavalry,--were pictures I could dwell on for hours and days, and my
+dearest wish could point to no higher destiny than to be once more a
+soldier in the ranks of France.
+
+During all this time my mind seldom reverted to the circumstances of
+my imprisonment, nor did I feel the anxiety for the result my position
+might well have suggested. The conscious sense of my innocence kept the
+flame of hope alive, without suffering it either to flicker or vary. It
+burned like a steady fire within me, and made even the dark cells of a
+jail a place of repose and tranquillity. And thus time rolled on: the
+hours of pleasure and happiness to thousands, too short and flitting for
+the enjoyments they brought. They went by also to the prisoner, as to
+one who waits on the bank of the stream, nor knows what fortune may
+await him on his voyage.
+
+A stubborn feeling of conscious right had prevented my taking even the
+ordinary steps for my defence, and the day of trial was now drawing nigh
+without any preparation on my part. I was ignorant how essential the
+habits and skill of an advocate are in the conduct of every case,
+however simple; and implicitly relied on my guiltlessness, as though men
+can read the heart of a prisoner and know its workings. M'Dougall, the
+only member of the bar I knew even by name, had accepted a judicial
+appointment in India, and was already on his way thither, so that I had
+neither friend nor adviser in my difficulty. Were it otherwise, I felt I
+could scarcely have bent my pride to that detail of petty circumstances
+which an advocate might deem essential to my vindication; and was
+actually glad to think that I should owe the assertion of my innocence
+to nothing less than the pure fact.
+
+When November at length arrived, I learned that the trial had been
+deferred to the following February; and so listless and indifferent had
+imprisonment made me, that I heard the intelligence without impatience
+or regret. The publicity of a court of justice, its exposure to the gaze
+and observation of the crowd who throng there, were subjects of more
+shrinking dread to my heart than the weight of an accusation which,
+though false, might peril my life; and for the first time I rejoiced
+that I was friendless. Yes! it brought balm and comfort to me to think
+that none would need to blush at my relationship nor weep over my fate.
+Sorrow has surely eaten deeply into our natures, when we derive pleasure
+and peace from what in happier circumstances are the sources of regret.
+
+Let me now hasten on. My reader will readily forgive me if I pass with
+rapid steps over a portion of my story, the memory of which has not yet
+lost its bitterness. The day at last came; and amid all the ceremonies
+of a prison I was marched from my cell to the dock. How strange the
+sudden revolution of feeling,--from the solitude and silence of a jail
+to the crowded court, teeming with looks of eager curiosity, dread, or
+perhaps compassion, all turned towards him, who himself, half forgetful
+of his condition, gazes on the great mass in equal astonishment and
+surprise!
+
+My thoughts at once recurred to a former moment of my life, when I stood
+accused among the Chouan prisoners before the tribunal of Paris. But
+though the proceedings were less marked by excitement and passion, the
+stern gravity of the English procedure was far more appalling; and in
+the absence of all which could stir the spirit to any effort of its own,
+it pressed with a more solemn dread on the mind of the prisoner.
+
+I have said I would not linger over this part of my life. I could not
+do so if I would. Real events, and the impressions they made upon
+me,--facts, and the passing emotions of my mind,--are strangely confused
+and commingled in my memory; and although certain minute and trivial
+things are graven in my recollection, others of moment have escaped me
+unrecorded.
+
+The usual ceremonial went forward: the jury were impanelled, and the
+clerk of the Crown read aloud the indictment, to which my plea of "Not
+guilty" was at once recorded; then the judge asked if I were provided
+with counsel, and hearing that I was not, appointed a junior barrister
+to act for me, and the trial began.
+
+I was not the first person who, accused of a crime of which he felt
+innocent, yet was so overwhelmed by the statements of imputed guilt,--so
+confused by the inextricable web of truth and falsehood, artfully
+entangled.--that he actually doubted his own convictions when opposed to
+views so strongly at variance with them.
+
+The first emotion of the prisoner is a feeling of surprise to discover,
+that one utterly a stranger--the lawyer he has perhaps never seen, whose
+name he never so much as heard of--is perfectly conversant with his
+own history, and as it were by intuition seems acquainted with his
+very thoughts and motives. Tracing out not only a line of acting but
+of devising, he conceives a story of which the accused is the hero, and
+invests his narrative with all the appliances to belief which result
+from time and place and circumstance. No wonder that the very accusation
+should strike terror into the soul; no wonder that the statement of
+guilt should cause heart-sinking to him who, conscious that all is not
+untrue, may feel that his actions can be viewed in another and very
+different light to that which conscience sheds over them.
+
+Such, so far as I remember, was the channel of my thoughts. At first
+mere astonishment at the accuracy of detail regarding my name, age,
+and condition in life, was uppermost; and then succeeded a sense of
+indignant anger at the charges laid against me; which yielded gradually
+to a feeling of confusion as the advocate continued; which again merged
+into a sort of dubious fear as I heard many trivial facts repeated,
+some of which my refreshed memory acknowledged as true, but of which
+my puzzled brain could not detect the inapplicability to sustain the
+accusation,--all ending in a chaos of bewilderment, where conscience
+itself was lost, and nothing left to guide or direct the reason.
+
+The counsel informed the jury that, although they were not placed in the
+box to try me on any charge of a political offence, they must bear in
+mind, that the murderous assault of which I was accused was merely part
+of a system organized to overthrow the Government; that, young as I then
+was, I was in intimate connection with the disaffected party which the
+mistaken leniency of the Crown had not thoroughly eradicated on the
+termination of the late rebellion, my constant companion being one whose
+crimes were already undergoing their but too merciful punishment in
+transportation for life; that, to tamper with the military, I had
+succeeded in introducing myself into the barrack, where I obtained the
+confidence of a weak-minded but good-natured officer of the regiment.
+
+"These schemes," continued he, "were but partially successful. My
+distinguished client was then an officer of the corps; and with that
+ever-watchful loyalty which has distinguished him, he determined to keep
+a vigilant eye on this intruder, who, from circumstances of youth and
+apparent innocence, already had won upon the confidence of the majority
+of the regiment. Nor was this impression a false one. An event,
+apparently little likely to unveil a treasonable intention, soon
+unmasked the true character of the prisoner and the nature of his
+mission."
+
+He then proceeded to narrate with circumstantial accuracy the night in
+the George's Street barracks, when Hilliard, Crofts, and some others
+came with Bubbleton to his quarters to decide a wager between two of the
+parties. Calling the attention of the jury to this part of the case, he
+detailed the scene which occurred; and, if I could trust my memory, not
+a phrase, not a word escaped him which had been said.
+
+"It was then, gentlemen," said he, "at that instant, that the prisoner's
+habitual caution failed him, and in an unguarded moment developed the
+full story of his guilt. Captain Bubbleton lost his wager, of which my
+client was the winner. The habits of the service are peremptory in these
+matters; it was necessary that payment should be made at once. Bubbleton
+had not the means of discharging his debt, and while he looked around
+among his comrades for assistance, the prisoner steps forward and
+supplies the sum. Mark what followed.
+
+"A sudden call of service now summoned the officers beneath; all save
+Crofts, who, not being on duty, had no necessity for accompanying them.
+The bank-note so opportunely furnished by the prisoner lay on the table;
+and this Crofts proceeded leisurely to open and examine before he left
+the room. Slowly unfolding the paper, he spread it out before him; and
+what, think you, gentlemen, did the paper display? A Bank of England
+bill for twenty pounds, you'll say, of course. Far from it, indeed! The
+paper was a French assignat, bearing the words, 'Payez au porteur la
+somme de deux mille livres.' Yes; the sum so carelessly thrown on the
+table by this youth was an order for eighty pounds, issued by the French
+Government.
+
+"Remember the period, gentlemen, when this occurred. We had just
+passed the threshold of a most fearful and sanguinary rebellion,--the
+tranquillity of the land scarce restored after a convulsion that shook
+the very constitution and the throne to their centres. The interference
+of France in the affairs of the country had not been a mere threat; her
+ships had sailed, her armies had landed, and though the bravery and the
+loyalty of our troops had made the expedition result in utter defeat
+and overthrow, the emissaries of the land of anarchy yet lingered on our
+shores, and disseminated that treason in secret which openly they dared
+not proclaim. If they were sparing of their blood, they were lavish
+of their gold; what they failed in courage they supplied in assignats.
+Large promises of gain, rich offers of booty, were rife throughout the
+land; and wherever disaffection lurked or rebellion lingered, the enemy
+of England found congenial allies. Nothing too base, nothing too
+low, for this confederacy of crime; neither was anything too lowly in
+condition or too humble in efficiency. Treason cannot choose its agents;
+it must take the tools which chance and circumstances offer: they may
+be the refuse of mankind, but if inefficient for good, they are not the
+less active for evil. Such a one was the youth who now stands a prisoner
+before you, and here was the price of his disloyalty."
+
+At these words he held up triumphantly the French assignat, and waved it
+before the eyes of the court. However little the circumstances weighed
+within me, such was the impression manifestly produced upon the jury by
+this piece of corroborative evidence, that a thrill of anxiety for the
+result ran suddenly through me.
+
+Until that moment I believed Darby had repossessed himself of the
+assignat when Crofts lay insensible on the ground; at least I remembered
+well that he stooped over him and appeared to take something from him.
+While I was puzzling my mind on this point, I did not remark that
+the lawyer was proceeding to impress on the jury the full force of
+conviction such a circumstance implied.
+
+The offer I had made to Crofts to barter the assignat for an English
+note; my urgent entreaty to have it restored to me; the arguments I had
+employed to persuade him that no suspicion could attach to my possession
+of it,--were all narrated with so little of exaggeration that I was
+actually unable to say what assertion I could object to, while I was
+conscious that the inferences sought to be drawn from them were false
+and unjust.
+
+Having displayed with consummate skill the critical position this paper
+had involved me in, he took the opportunity of contrasting the anxiety I
+evinced for my escape from my difficulty, with the temperate conduct
+of my antagonist, whose loyalty left him no other course than to retain
+possession of the note, and inquire into the circumstances by which it
+reached my hands.
+
+Irritated by the steady determination of Crofts, it was said that I
+endeavored by opprobrious epithets and insulting language to provoke
+a quarrel, which a sense of my inferiority as an antagonist rendered a
+thing impossible to be thought of. Baffled in every way, I was said to
+have rushed from the room, double-locking it on the outside, and hurried
+down the stairs and out of the barrack; not to escape, however, but with
+a purpose very different,--to return in a few moments accompanied by
+three fellows, whom I passed with the guard as men wishing to recruit.
+To ascend the stairs, unlock the door, and fall on the imprisoned
+officer, was the work of an instant. His defence, although courageous
+and resolute, was but brief. His sword being broken, he was felled by a
+blow of a bludgeon, and thus believed dead. The ruffians ransacked his
+pockets, and departed.
+
+The same countersign which admitted, passed them out as they went; and
+when morning broke the wounded man was found weltering in his blood,
+but with life still remaining, and strength enough to recount what had
+occurred. By a mere accident, it was stated, the French bank-note had
+not been consigned to his pocket, but fell during the struggle, and was
+discovered the next day on the floor.
+
+These were the leading features of an accusation, which, however
+improbable while thus briefly and boldly narrated, hung together with a
+wonderful coherence in the speech of the lawyer, supported as they were
+by the number of small circumstances corroboratory of certain immaterial
+portions of the story. Thus, the political opinions I professed; the
+doubtful--nay, equivocal--position I occupied; the intercourse with
+France or Frenchmen, as proved by the _billet de banque_; my sudden
+disappearance after the event, and my escape thither, where I continued
+to live until, as it was alleged, I believed that years had eradicated
+all trace of, if not my crime, myself,--such were the statements
+displayed with all the specious inferences of habitual plausibility, and
+to confirm which by evidence Sir Montague Crofts was called to give his
+testimony.
+
+There was a murmur of expectancy through the court as this well-known
+individual's name was pronounced; and in a few moments the throng around
+the inner bar opened, and a tall figure appeared upon the witness table.
+The same instant that I caught sight of his features he had turned his
+glance on me, and we stood for some seconds confronting each other.
+Mutual defiance seemed the gage between us; and I saw, with a thrill
+of savage pleasure, that after a minute or so his cheek flushed, and he
+averted his face and appeared ill at ease and uncomfortable.
+
+To the first questions of the lawyer he answered with evident
+constraint, and in a low, subdued voice; but soon recovering his
+self-possession, gave his testimony freely and boldly, corroborating by
+his words all the statements of his advocate. By both the court and
+the jury he was heard with attention and deference; and when he took
+a passing occasion to allude to his loyalty and attachment to the
+constitution, the senior judge interrupted him by saying,--
+
+"On that point, Sir Montague, no second opinion can exist. Your
+character for unimpeachable honor is well known to the court."
+
+The examination was brief, lasting scarcely half an hour; and when the
+young lawyer came forward to put some questions as cross-examination,
+his want of instruction and ignorance were at once seen, and the witness
+was dismissed almost immediately.
+
+Sir Montague's advocate declined calling any other witness. The regiment
+to which his client then belonged was on foreign service; but he felt
+satisfied that the case required nothing in addition to the evidence the
+jury had heard.
+
+A few moments of deliberation ensued among the members of the bench; and
+then the senior judge called on my lawyer to proceed with the defence.
+
+The young barrister rose with diffidence, and expressed in few words his
+inability to rebut the statements that had been made by any evidence in
+his power to produce. "The prisoner, my lord," said he, "has confided
+nothing to me of his case. I am ignorant of everything, save what has
+taken place in open court."
+
+"It is true, my lord," said I, interrupting. "The facts of this unhappy
+circumstance are known but to three individuals. You have already heard
+the version which one of them has given; you shall now hear mine. The
+third, whose testimony might incline the balance in my favor, is, I am
+told, no longer in this country; and I have only to discharge the debt
+I feel due to myself and to my own honor, by narrating the real
+occurrence, and leave the issue in your hands, to deal with as your
+consciences may dictate."
+
+With the steadiness of purpose truth inspires, and in few words, I
+narrated the whole of my adventure with Crofts, down to the moment of
+Darby's sudden appearance. I told of what passed between us; and how
+the altercation, that began in angry words, terminated in a personal
+struggle, where, as the weaker, I was overcome, and lay beneath the
+weapon of my antagonist, by which already I had received a severe and
+dangerous wound.
+
+"I should hesitate here, my lords," said I, "before I spoke of one who
+then came to my aid, if I did not know that he is already removed by
+a heavy sentence, both from the penalty his gallant conduct might call
+down on him, and the enmity which the prosecutor would as certainly
+pursue him with. But he is beyond the reach of either, and I may speak
+of him freely."
+
+I then told of Darby's appearance that night in the barrack, disguised
+as a ballad-singer; how in this capacity he passed the sentry, and was
+present in the room when the officers entered to decide the wager; that
+he had quitted it soon after their arrival, and only returned on hearing
+the noise of the scuffle between Crofts and myself. The struggle itself
+I remembered but imperfectly, but so far as my memory bore me out,
+recapitulated to the court.
+
+"I will relate, my lords," said I, "the few events which followed,--not
+that they can in any wise corroborate the plain statement I have made,
+nor indeed that they bear, save remotely, on the events mentioned; but
+I will do so in the hope,--a faint hope it is,--that in this court there
+might be found some one person who could add his testimony to mine, and
+say, 'This is true; to that I can myself bear witness.'"
+
+With this brief preface, I told how Darby had brought me to a house in
+an obscure street, in which a man, apparently dying, was stretched upon
+a miserable bed; that while my wound was being dressed, a car came to
+the door with the intention of conveying the sick man away somewhere.
+This, however, was deemed impossible, so near did his last hour appear;
+and in his place I was taken off, and placed on board the vessel bound
+for France.
+
+"Of my career in that country it is needless that I should speak; it
+can neither throw light upon the events which preceded it, nor have
+any interest for the court My commission as a captain of the Imperial
+Hussars may, however, testify the position that I occupied; while the
+certificate of the minister of war on the back will show that I quitted
+the service voluntarily, and with honor."
+
+"The court would advise you, sir," said the judge, "not to advert to
+circumstances which, while they contribute nothing to your exculpation,
+may have a very serious effect on the minds of the jury against you.
+Have you any witnesses to call?"
+
+"None, my lord."
+
+A pause of some minutes ensued, when the only sounds in the court were
+the whispering tones of Crofts's voice, as he said something into his
+counsel's ear. The lawyer rose.
+
+"My task, my lords," said he, "is a short one. Indeed, in all
+probability, I need not trouble either your lordships or the jury
+with an additional word on a case where the evidence so conclusively
+establishes the guilt of the accused, and where attempt to contradict
+it has been so abortive. Never, perhaps, was a story narrated within
+the walls of a court so full of improbable--might I not almost say
+impossible--events, as that of the prisoner."
+
+He then recapitulated, with rapid but accurate detail, the principal
+circumstances of my story, bestowing some brief comment on each as he
+went. He sneered at the account of the struggle, and turned the whole
+description of the contest with Crofts into ridicule,--calling on the
+jury to bestow a glance on the manly strength and vigorous proportions
+of his client, and then remember the age of his antagonist,--a boy of
+fourteen.
+
+"I forgot, gentlemen (I ask your pardon), he confesses to one
+ally,--this famous piper. I really did hope that was a name we had done
+with forever. I indulged the dream, that among the memories of an
+awful period this was never to recur; but unhappily the expectation was
+delusive. The fellow is brought once more before us; and perhaps, for
+the first time in his long life of iniquity, charged with a crime he did
+not commit." In a few sentences he explained that a large reward was at
+that very moment offered for the apprehension of Darby, who never would
+have ventured under any disguise to approach the capital, much less
+trust himself within the walls of a barrack.
+
+"The tissue of wild and inconsistent events which the prisoner has
+detailed as following the assault, deserves no attention at my hands.
+Where was this house? What was the street? Who was this doctor of which
+he speaks? And the sick man, how was he called?"
+
+"I remember his name well; it is the only one I remember among all I
+heard," said I, from the dock.
+
+"Let us hear it, then," said the lawyer, half contemptuously.
+
+"Daniel Fortescue was the name he was called by."
+
+Scarcely was the name uttered by me, when Crofts leaned back in his seat
+and became pale as death; while, stretching out his hand, he took hold
+of the lawyer's gown and drew him towards him. For a second or two he
+continued to speak with rapid utterance in the advocate's ear; and then
+covering his face with his handkerchief, leaned his head on the rail
+before him.
+
+"It is necessary, my lords," said the lawyer, "that I should explain the
+reason of my client's emotion, and at the same time unveil the baseness
+which has dictated this last effort of the prisoner, if not to injure
+the reputation, to wound the feelings, of my client. The individual
+whose name has been mentioned was the half brother of my client; and
+whose unhappy connection with the disastrous events of the year '98
+involved him in a series of calamities which ended in his death,
+which took place in the year 1800, but some months earlier than the
+circumstance which we now are investigating. The introduction of this
+unhappy man's name was, then, a malignant effort of the prisoner to
+insult the feelings of my client, on which your lordships and the jury
+will place its true value."
+
+A murmur of disapprobation ran through the crowded court as these words
+were spoken; but whether directed against me or against the comment of
+the lawyer I could not determine; nor, such was the confusion I then
+felt, could I follow the remainder of the advocate's address with
+anything like clearness. At last he concluded; and the chief justice,
+after a whispered conversation with his brethren of the bench, thus
+began:--
+
+"Gentlemen of the jury, the case which you have this day to try, to my
+mind presents but one feature of doubt and difficulty. The great fact
+for your consideration is, to determine to which of two opposite and
+conflicting testimonies you will accord your credence. On the one side
+you have the story of the prosecutor, a man of position and character,
+high in the confidence of honorable men, and invested with all the
+attributes of rank and station; on the other, you have a narrative
+strongly coherent in some parts, equally difficult to account for in
+others, given by the prisoner, whose life, even by his own showing, has
+none of those recommendations to your good opinions which are based
+on loyalty and attachment to the constitution of these realms. Both
+testimonies are unsupported by any collateral evidence. The prosecutor's
+regiment is in India, and the only witnesses he could adduce are many
+thousand miles off. The prisoner appeals also to the absent, but with
+less of reason; for if we could call this man, M'Keown, before us,--if,
+I say, we had this same Darby M'Keown in court--"
+
+A tremendous uproar in the hall without drowned the remainder of the
+sentence; and although the crier loudly proclaimed silence, and
+the bench twice interposed its authority to enforce it, the tumult
+continued, and eventually extended within the court itself, where all
+semblance of respect seemed suddenly annihilated.
+
+"If this continues one moment longer," exclaimed the chief justice, "I
+will commit to Newgate the very first disorderly person I can discover."
+
+The threat, however, did but partially calm the disturbance, which, in
+a confused murmur, prevailed from the benches of the counsel to the very
+galleries of the court.
+
+"What means this?" said the judge, in a voice of anger. "Who is it that
+dares to interfere with the administration of justice here?"
+
+"A witness,--a witness, my lord," called out several voices from the
+passage of the court; while a crowd pushed violently forward, and came
+struggling onwards till the leading figures were pressed over the inner
+bar.
+
+Again the judge repeated his question, while he made a signal for the
+officer of the court to approach him.
+
+"'Tis me, my lord," shouted a deep-toned voice from the middle of
+the crowd. "Your lordship was asking for Darby M'Keown, and it isn't
+himself's ashamed of the name!"
+
+A perfect yell of approval broke from the ragged mob, which now filled
+every avenue and passage of the court, and even jammed up the stairs
+and the entrance halls. And now, raised upon the shoulders of the crowd,
+Darby appeared, borne aloft in triumph; his broad and daring face,
+bronzed with sun and weather, glowed with a look of reckless effrontery,
+which no awe of the court nor any fear for himself was able to repress.
+
+Of my own sensations while this scene was enacting I need not speak;
+and as I gazed at the weather-beaten features of the hardy piper, it
+demanded every effort of my reason to believe in the testimony of my
+eyesight. Had he come back from death itself the surprise would scarcely
+have been greater. Meanwhile the tumult was allayed; and the lawyers on
+either side--for, now that a glimmer of hope appeared, my advocate had
+entered with spirit on his duties--were discussing the admissibility
+of evidence at the present stage of the proceedings. This point being
+speedily established in my favor, another and a graver question arose:
+how far the testimony of a convicted felon--for such the lawyer at once
+called Darby--could be received as evidence.
+
+Cases were quoted and authorities shown to prove that such cannot be
+heard as witnesses,--that they are among those whom the law pronounces
+infamous and unworthy of credit; and while the lawyer continued to pour
+forth on this topic a perfect ocean of arguments, he was interrupted by
+the court, who affirmed the opinion, and concurred in his view of the
+case.
+
+"It only remains, then, my lord," said my counsel, "for the Crown to
+establish the identity of the individual--"
+
+"Nothing easier," interposed the other.
+
+"I beg pardon; I was about to add,--and produce the record of his
+conviction."
+
+This last seemed a felling blow; for although the old lawyer never
+evinced here or at any other time the slightest appearance of
+discomfiture at any opposition, I could see by the puckering of the
+deep lines around his mouth that he felt vexed and annoyed by this new
+suggestion.
+
+An eager and animated discussion ensued, in which my advocate was
+assisted by the advice of some senior counsel; and again the point was
+ruled in my favor, and Darby M'Keown was desired to mount the table.
+
+It required all the efforts of the various officers of the court to
+repress another outbreak of mob enthusiasm at the decision; for already
+the trial had assumed a feature perfectly distinct from any common
+infraction of the law. Its political bearing had long since imparted
+a character of party warfare to the whole proceeding; and while Sir
+Montague Crofts found his well-wishers among the better dressed and more
+respectable persons present, a much more numerous body of supporters
+claimed me as their own, and in defiance of all the usages and solemnity
+of the place, did not scruple to bestow on me looks and even words of
+encouragement at every stage of the trial. Darby's appearance was the
+climax of this popular enthusiasm. There were few who had not seen,
+or at least heard of, the celebrated piper in times past. His daring
+infraction of the law; his reputed skill in evading detection; his
+acquaintance with every clew and circumstance of the late rebellion; the
+confidence he enjoyed among all the leaders--had made him a hero in a
+land where such qualities are certain of obtaining their due estimation.
+And now, the reckless effrontery of his presence as a witness in a court
+of justice while the sentence of transportation still hung over him, was
+a claim to admiration none refused to acknowledge.
+
+His air and demeanor as he took his seat on the table seemed an
+acknowledgment of the homage rendered him: for though, as he placed his
+worn and ragged hat beside his feet, and stroked down his short black
+hair on his forehead, a careless observer might have suspected him
+of feeling awed and abashed by the presence in which he sat, one more
+conversant with his countrymen would have detected in the quiet leer of
+his roguish black eye, and a certain protrusion of his thick under lip,
+that Darby was as perfectly at his ease there as the eminent judge was
+who now fixed his eyes upon him. A short, but not disrespectful nod was
+the only notice he bestowed on me; and then concealing his joined hands
+within his sleeves, and drawing his legs back beneath the chair, he
+assumed that attitude of mock humility your least bashful Irishman is so
+commonly fond of.
+
+The veteran barrister was meanwhile surveying the witness with the
+peculiar scrutiny of his caste: he looked at him through his spectacles,
+and then he stared at him above them; he measured him from head to foot,
+his eye dwelling on every little circumstance of his dress or demeanor,
+as though to catch some clew to his habits of thinking or acting.
+Never did a matador survey the brawny animal with which he was about
+to contend in skill or strength with more critical acumen than did the
+lawyer regard Darby the Blast. Nor was the object of this examination
+unaware of it; very far from this, indeed. He seemed pleased by the
+degree of attention bestowed on him, and felt all the flattery
+such notice conveyed; but while doing so, you could only detect his
+satisfaction in an occasional sidelong look of drollery, which, brief
+and fleeting as it was, had still a numerous body of admirers through
+the court, whose muttered expressions of "Divil fear ye, Darby! but
+ye 're up to them any day;" or "Faix! 't is himself cares little about
+them!" showed they had no lack of confidence in the piper.
+
+
+[Illustration: BrownDarbyInTheChair294]
+
+"Your name is M'Keown, sir?" said the lawyer, with that abruptness
+which so often succeeds in oversetting the balance of a witness's
+self-possession. "Yes, sir; Darby M'Keown." "Did you ever go by any
+other than this?" "They do call me 'Darby the Blast' betimes, av that 'a
+a name."
+
+"Is that the only other name you have been called by?" "I misremember
+rightly, it's so long since I was among friends and acquaintances; but
+if yer honor would remind me a little, maybe I could tell." "Well, were
+you ever called 'Larry the Flail?'" "Faix, I was," replied he, laughing;
+"divil a doubt of it."
+
+"How did you come by the name of 'Larry the Flail'?"
+
+"They gave me the name up at Mulhuldad there, for bating one M'Clancy
+with a flail."
+
+"A very good reason. So you got the name because you beat a certain
+M'Clancy with a flail?"
+
+"I didn't say that; I only said they gave me the name because they said
+I bate him."
+
+"Were you ever called 'Fire-the-Haggard'?"
+
+"I was, often."
+
+"For no reason, of course?"
+
+"Divil a may son. The boys said it in sport, just as they talk of yer
+honor out there in the hall."
+
+"How do you mean,--talk of me?"
+
+"Sure I heard them say myself, as I was coming in, that you wor a clever
+man and a 'cute lawyer. They do be always humbugging that way."
+
+A titter ran round the benches of the barristers at this speech, which
+was delivered with a naive simplicity that would deceive many.
+
+"You were a United Irishman, Mr. M'Keown, I believe?" rejoined the
+counsel, with a frown of stern intimidation.
+
+"Yes, sir; and a White Boy, and a Defender, and a Thrasher besides. I
+was in all the fun them times."
+
+"The Thrashers are the fellows, I believe, who must beat any man they
+are appointed to attack; isn't that so?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"So that, if I was mentioned to you as a person to be assaulted,
+although I had never done you any injury, you 'd not hesitate to waylay
+me?"
+
+"No, sir, I wouldn't do that. I'd not touch yer honor."
+
+"Come, come; what do you mean? Why wouldn't you touch me?"
+
+"I' d rather not tell, av it was plazing to ye."
+
+"You must tell, sir; speak out! Why wouldn't you attack me?"
+
+"They say, sir," said Darby,--and as he spoke, his voice assumed a
+peculiar lisp, meant to express great modesty,--"they say, sir, that
+when a man has a big wart on his nose there, like yer honor, it's not
+lucky to bate him, for that's the way the divil marks his own."
+
+This time the decorum of the court gave way entirely, and the unwashed
+faces which filled the avenues and passages were all expanded in open
+laughter; nor was it easy to restore order again amid the many marks of
+approval and encouragement bestowed on Darby by his numerous admirers.
+
+"Remember where you are, sir," said the judge, severely.
+
+"Yes, my lord," said Darby, with an air of submission. "'T is the first
+time I was ever in sich a situation as this. I 'm much more at my ease
+when I 'm down in the dock there; it's what I 'm most used to, God help
+me."
+
+The whining tone in which he delivered this mock lament on his
+misfortunes occasioned another outbreak of the mob, who were threatened
+with expulsion from the court if any future interruption took place.
+
+"You were, then, a member of every illegal society of the time, Mr.
+Darby?" said the lawyer, returning to the examination. "Is it not so?"
+
+"Most of them, anyhow," was the cool reply.
+
+"You took an active part in the doings of the year '98 also?"
+
+"Throth I did,--mighty active. I walked from beyant Castlecomer one day
+to Dublin to see a trial here. Be the same token, it was Mr. Curran made
+a hare of yer honor that day. Begorrah I wonder ye ever held up yer head
+after."
+
+Here a burst of laughter at the recollection seemed to escape Darby
+so naturally, that its contagious effects were felt throughout the
+assembly.
+
+"You are a wit, Mr. M'Keown, I fancy, eh?"
+
+"Bedad I 'm not, sir; very little of that same would have kept out of
+this to-day."
+
+"But you came here to serve a friend,--a very old friend, he calls you."
+
+"Does he?" said Darby, with an energy of tone and manner very different
+from what he had hitherto used. "Does Master Tom say that?"
+
+As the poor fellow's cheek flushed, and his eyes sparkled with proud
+emotion, I could perceive that the lawyer's face underwent a change
+equally rapid. A look of triumph at having at length discovered the
+assailable point of the witness's temperament now passed over his pale
+features, and gave them an expression of astonishing intelligence.
+
+"A very natural thing it is, Darby, that he should call you so. You were
+companions at an early period,--at least of his life; fellow-travellers,
+too, if I don't mistake?"
+
+Although these words were spoken in a tone of careless freedom, and
+intended to encourage Darby to some expansion on the same theme, the
+cunning fellow had recovered all his habitual self-possession, and
+merely answered, if answer it could be called,--
+
+"I was a poor man, sir, and lived by the pipes."
+
+The advocate and the witness exchanged looks at this moment, in which
+their relative positions were palpably conveyed. Each seemed to say it
+was a drawn battle; but the lawyer returned with vigor to the charge;
+desiring Darby to mention the manner in which our first acquaintance
+began, and how the intimacy was originally formed.
+
+He narrated with clearness and accuracy every step of our early
+wanderings; and while never misstating a single fact, contrived
+to exhibit my career as totally devoid of any participation in the
+treasonable doings of the period. Indeed, he laid great stress on the
+fact that my acquaintance with Charles de Meudon had withdrawn me from
+all relations with the insurgent party, between whom and the French
+allies feelings of open dislike and distrust existed. Of the scene at
+the barrack his account varied in nothing from that I had already given;
+nor was all the ingenuity of a long and intricate cross-examination able
+to shake his testimony in the most minute particular.
+
+"Of course, then, you know Sir Montague Crofts? It is quite clear that
+you cannot mistake a person with whom you had a struggle such as you
+speak of."
+
+"Faix, I'd know his skin upon a bush," said Darby, "av he was like what
+I remember him; but sure he may be changed since that. They tell me
+I'm looking ould myself; and no wonder. Hunting kangaroos wears the
+constitution terribly."
+
+"Look around the court, now, and say if he be here."
+
+Darby rose from his seat, and shading his eyes with his hand, took
+a deliberate survey of the court. Though well knowing, from past
+experience, in what part of the assembly the person he sought would
+probably be, he seized the occasion to scrutinize the features of the
+various persons, whom under no other pretence could he have examined.
+
+"It's not on the bench, sir, you need look for him," said the lawyer,
+as M'Keown remained for a considerable time with his eyes bent in that
+direction.
+
+"Bedad there's no knowing," rejoined Darby, doubtfully; "av he was
+dressed up that way, I wouldn't know him from an old ram."
+
+He turned round as he said this, and gazed steadfastly towards the bar.
+It was an anxious moment for me: should Darby make any mistake in the
+identity of Crofts, his whole testimony would be so weakened in the
+opinion of the jury as to be nearly valueless. I watched his eyes,
+therefore, as they ranged over the crowded mass, with a palpitating
+heart; and when at last his glance settled on a far part of the court,
+very distant from that occupied by Crofts, I grew almost sick with
+apprehension lest he should mistake another for him.
+
+"Well, sir," said the lawyer; "do you see him now?"
+
+"Arrah, it's humbugging me yez are," said Darby, roughly, while he threw
+himself down into his chair in apparent ill temper.
+
+A loud burst of laughter broke from the bar at this sudden ebullition of
+passion, so admirably feigned that none suspected its reality; and while
+the sounds of mirth were subsiding, Darby dropped his head, and placed
+his hand above his ear. "There it is, by gorra; there's no mistaking
+that laugh, anyhow," cried he; "there's a screech in it might plaze an
+owl." And with that he turned abruptly round and faced the bench where
+Crofts was seated. "I heard it a while ago, but I couldn't say where.
+That's the man," said he, pointing with his finger to Crofts, who seemed
+actually to cower beneath his piercing glance.
+
+"Remember, sir, you are on your solemn oath. Will you swear that the
+gentleman there is Sir Montague Crofts?"
+
+"I know nothing about Sir Montague," said Darby, composedly, while
+rising he walked over towards the edge of the table where Crofts was
+sitting, "but I'll swear that's the same Captain Crofts that I knocked
+down while he was shortening his sword to run it through Master Burke;
+and by the same token, he has a cut in the skull where he fell on the
+fender." And before the other could prevent it, he stretched out his
+hand, and placed it on the back of the crown of Crofts's head. "There it
+is, just as I tould you."
+
+The sensation these words created in the court was most striking,
+and even the old lawyer appeared overwhelmed at the united craft and
+consistency of the piper. The examination was resumed; but Darby's
+evidence tallied so accurately with my statement that its continuance
+only weakened the case for the prosecution.
+
+As the sudden flash of the lightning will sometimes disclose what in the
+long blaze of noonday has escaped the beholder, so will conviction
+break unexpectedly upon the human mind from some slight but striking
+circumstance which comes with the irresistible force of unpremeditated
+truthfulness. From that moment it was clear the jury to a man were with
+Darby. They paid implicit attention to all he said, and made notes of
+every trivial fact he mentioned; while he, as if divining the impression
+he had made, became rigorously cautious that not a particle of his
+evidence could be shaken, nor the effect of his testimony weakened by
+even a passing phrase of exaggeration. It was, indeed, a phenomenon
+worth studying, to see this fellow, whose natural disposition was the
+irrepressible love of drollery and recklessness,--whose whole heart
+seemed bent on the indulgence of his wayward, careless humor,--suddenly
+throw off every eccentricity of his character, and become a steady and
+accurate witness, delivering his evidence carefully and cautiously,
+and never suffering his own leanings to repartee, nor the badgering
+allusions of his questioner, to draw him for a moment away from the
+great object he had set before him; resisting every line, every bait,
+the cunning lawyer threw out to seduce him into that land of fancy
+so congenial to an Irishman's temperament, he was firm against
+all temptation, and even endured that severest of all tests to the
+forbearance of his country,--he suffered the laugh more than once to be
+raised at his expense, without an effort to retort on his adversary.
+
+The examination lasted three hours; and at its conclusion, every fact
+I stated had received confirmation from Darby's testimony, down to the
+moment when we left the barrack together.
+
+"Now, M'Keown," said the lawyer, "I am about to call your recollection,
+which is so wonderfully accurate that it can give you no trouble in
+remembering, to a circumstance which immediately followed the affair."
+
+As he got thus far, Crofts leaned over and drew the counsel towards
+him while he whispered some words rapidly in his ear. A brief dialogue
+ensued between them; at the conclusion of which the lawyer turned round,
+and addressing Darby, said,--
+
+"You may go down, sir; I 've done with you." "Wait a moment," said the
+young barrister on my side, who quickly perceived that the interruption
+had its secret object. "My learned friend was about to ask you
+concerning something which happened after you left the barrack; and
+although he has changed his mind on the subject, we on this side would
+be glad to hear what you have to say."
+
+Darby's eyes flashed with unwonted brilliancy; and I thought I caught
+a glance of triumphant meaning towards Crofts, as he began his recital,
+which was in substance nothing more than what the reader already knows.
+When he came to the mention of Fortescue's name, however, Crofts, whose
+excitement was increasing at each moment, lost all command over himself,
+and cried out,--
+
+"It's false! every word untrue! The man was dead at the time."
+
+The court rebuked the interruption, and Darby went on.
+
+"No, my lord; he was alive. But Mr. Crofts is not to blame, for he
+believed he was dead; and, more than that, he thought he took the sure
+way to make him so."
+
+These words produced the greatest excitement throughout the court;
+and an animated discussion ensued, how far the testimony could go to
+inculpate a party not accused. It was ruled, at last, the evidence
+should be heard, as touching the case on trial, and not immediately as
+regarded Crofts. And then Darby began a recital, of which I had never
+heard a syllable before, nor had I conceived the slightest suspicion.
+
+The story, partly told in narrative form, partly elicited by
+questioning, was briefly this.
+
+Daniel Fortescue was the son of a Roscommon gentleman of large fortune,
+of whom also Crofts was the illegitimate child. The father, a man
+of high Tory politics, had taken a most determined part against the
+patriotic party in Ireland, to which his son Daniel had shown himself,
+on more than one occasion, favorable. The consequence was, a breach of
+affection between them; widened into an actual rupture, by the old man,
+who was a widower, taking home to his house the illegitimate son, and
+announcing to his household that he would leave him everything he could
+in the world.
+
+To Daniel, the blow was all that he needed to precipitate his ruin. He
+abandoned the university, where already he had distinguished himself,
+and threw himself heart and soul into the movement of the "United
+Irish" party. At first, high hopes of an independent nation,--a separate
+kingdom, with its own train of interests, and its own sphere of power
+and influence,--was the dream of those with whom he associated. But
+as events rolled on it was found, that to mature their plans it was
+necessary to connect themselves with the masses, by whose agency the
+insurrectionary movement was to be effected; and in doing so, they
+discovered, that although theories of liberty and independence, high
+notions of pure government, may have charms for men of intellect and
+intelligence, to the mob the price of a rebellion must be paid down
+in the sterling coin of pillage and plunder,--or even, worse, the
+triumphant dominion of the depraved and the base over the educated and
+the worthy.
+
+Many who favored the patriotic cause, as it was called, became so
+disgusted at the low associates and base intercourse the game of party
+required, that they abandoned the field at once, leaving to others, less
+scrupulous or more ardent, the path they could not stoop to follow. It
+was probable that young Fortescue might have been among these, had he
+been left to the guidance of his own judgment and inclination; for, as a
+man of honor and intelligence, he could not help feeling shocked at the
+demands made by those who were the spokesmen of the people. But this
+course he was not permitted to take, owing to the influence of a man who
+had succeeded in obtaining the most absolute power over him.
+
+This was a certain Maurice Mulcahy, a well-known member of the various
+illegal clubs of the day, and originally a country schoolmaster. Mulcahy
+it was who first infected Fortescue's mind with the poison of this
+party,--now lending him volumes of the incendiary trash with which
+the press teemed; now newspapers, whose articles were headed, "Orange
+outrage on a harmless and unresisting peasantry!" or, "Another sacrifice
+of the people to the bloody vengeance of the Saxon!" By these, his
+youthful mind became interested in the fate of those he believed to be
+treated with reckless cruelty and oppression; while, as he advanced in
+years, his reason was appealed to by those great and spirit-stirring
+addresses which Grattan and Curran were continually delivering, either
+in the senate or at the bar, and wherein the most noble aspirations
+after liberty were united with sentiments breathing love of country and
+devoted patriotism. To connect the garbled and lying statements of a
+debased newspaper press with the honorable hopes and noble conceptions
+of men of mind and genius, was the fatal process of his political
+education; and never was there a time when such a delusion was more
+easy.
+
+Mulcahy, now stimulating the boyish ardor of a high-spirited youth, now
+flattering his vanity by promises of the position one of his ancient
+name and honored lineage must assume in the great national movement,
+gradually became his directing genius, swaying every resolution and
+ruling every determination of his mind. He never left his victim for a
+moment; and while thus insuring the unbounded influence he exercised, he
+gave proof of a seeming attachment, which Fortescue confidently believed
+in. Mulcahy, too, never wanted for money; alleging that the leaders of
+the plot knew the value of Fortescue's alliance, and were willing
+to advance him any sums he needed, he supplied the means of every
+extravagance a wild and careless youth indulged in, and thus riveted the
+chain of his bondage to him.
+
+When the rebellion broke out, Fortescue, like many more, was
+horror-struck at the conduct of his party. He witnessed hourly scenes
+of cruelty and bloodshed at which his heart revolted, but to avow his
+compassion for which would have cost him his life on the spot. He was
+in the stream, however, and must go with the torrent; and what will not
+stern necessity compel? Daily intimacy with the base-hearted and the
+low, hourly association with crime, and perhaps more than either,
+despair of success, broke him down completely, and with the blind
+fatuity of one predestined to evil, he became careless what happened to
+him, and indifferent to whatever fate was before him.
+
+Still, between him and his associates there lay a wide gulf. The tree,
+withered and blighted as it was, still preserved some semblance of its
+once beauty; and among that mass of bigotry and bloodshed, his nature
+shone forth conspicuously as something of a different order of being. To
+none was this superiority more insulting than to the parties themselves.
+So long as the period of devising and planning the movement of an
+insurrection lasts, the presence of a gentleman, or a man of birth
+or rank, will be hailed with acclamation and delight. Let the hour of
+acting arrive, however, and the scruples of an honorable mind, or the
+repugnance of a high-spirited nature, will be treated as cowardice by
+those who only recognized bravery in deeds of blood, and know no heroism
+save when allied to cruelty.
+
+Fortescue became suspected by his party. Hints were circulated, and
+rumors reached him, that he was watched; that it was no time for hanging
+back. He who sacrificed everything for the cause to be thus accused! He
+consulted Mulcahy; and to his utter discomfiture discovered that
+even his old ally and adviser was not devoid of doubt regarding him.
+Something must be done, and that speedily,--he cared not what. Life had
+long ceased to interest him either by hope or fear. The only tie that
+bound him to existence was the strange desire to be respected by those
+his heart sickened at the thought of.
+
+An attack was at that time planned against the house and family of a
+Wexford gentleman, whose determined opposition to the rebel movement had
+excited all their hatred. Fortescue demanded to be the leader of that
+expedition; and was immediately named to the post by those who were glad
+to have the opportunity of testing his conduct by such an emergency.
+
+The attack took place at night,--a scene of the most fearful and
+appalling cruelty, such as the historian yet records among the most
+dreadful of that dreadful period. The house was burned to the ground,
+and its inmates butchered, regardless of age or sex. In the effort to
+save a female from the flames, Fortescue was struck down by one of his
+party; while another nearly cleft his chest across with a cut of a large
+knife. He fell, covered with blood, and lay seemingly dead. When his
+party retreated, however, he summoned strength to creep under shelter of
+a ditch, and lay there till near daybreak, when he was found by another
+gang of the rebel faction, who knew nothing of the circumstances of his
+wound, and carried him away to a place of safety.
+
+For some months he lay dangerously ill. Hectic fever, consequent on long
+suffering, brought him to the very brink of the grave; and at last he
+managed by stealth to reach Dublin, where a doctor well known to
+the party resided, and under whose care he ultimately recovered, and
+succeeded at last in taking a passage to America. Meanwhile his death
+was currently believed, and Crofts was everywhere recognized as the heir
+to the fortune.
+
+Mulcahy, of whom it is necessary to speak a few words, was soon after
+apprehended on a charge of rebellion, and sentenced to transportation.
+He appealed to many who had known him, as he said, in better times,
+to speak to his character. Among others, Captain Crofts--so he then
+was--was summoned. His evidence, however, was rather injurious than
+favorable to the prisoner; and although not in any way influencing the
+sentence, was believed by the populace to have mainly contributed to its
+severity.
+
+Such was, in substance, the singular story which was now told before the
+court,--told without any effort at concealment or reserve; and to the
+proof of which M'Keown was willing to proceed at once.
+
+"This, my lord," said Darby, as he concluded, "is a good time and place
+to give back to Mr. Crofts a trifling article I took from him the night
+at the barracks. I thought it was the bank-notes I was getting; but it
+turned out better, after all."
+
+With that he produced a strong black leather pocket-book, fastened by a
+steel clasp. No sooner did Crofts behold it, than, with the spring of a
+tiger, he leaped forward and endeavored to clutch it. But Darby was on
+his guard, and immediately drew back his hand, calling out,--
+
+"No, no, sir! I didn't keep it by me eight long years to give it up that
+way. There, my lords," said he, as he handed it to the bench, "there's
+his pocket-book, with plenty of notes in it from many a one well
+known,--Maurice Mulcahy among the rest,--and you'll soon see who it was
+first tempted Fortescue to ruin, and who paid the money for doing it."
+
+A burst of horror and astonishment broke from the assembled crowd as
+Darby spoke.
+
+Then, in a loud, determined tone, "He is a perjurer!" screamed Crofts. "I
+repeat it, my lord; Fortescue is dead."
+
+"Faix! and for a dead man he has a remarkable appetite," said Darby,
+"and an elegant color in his face besides; for there he stands."
+
+And as he spoke, he pointed with his finger to a man who was leaning
+with folded arms against one of the pillars that supported the gallery.
+
+Every eye was now turned in the direction towards him; while the young
+barrister called out, "Is your name Daniel Fortescue?"
+
+But before any answer could follow, several among the lawyers, who
+had known him in his college days, and felt attachment to him, had
+surrounded and recognized him.
+
+"I am Daniel Fortescue, my lord," said the stranger. "Whatever may be
+the consequences of the avowal, I say it here, before this court,
+that every statement the witness has made regarding me is true to the
+letter."
+
+A low, faint sound, heard throughout the stillness that followed these
+words, now echoed throughout the court; and Crofts had fallen, fainting,
+over the bench behind him.
+
+A scene of tumultuous excitement now ensued, for while Crofts's friends,
+many of whom were present, assisted to carry him into the air, others
+pressed eagerly forward to catch a sight of Fortescue, who had already
+rivalled Darby himself in the estimation of the spectators.
+
+He was a tall, powerfully-built man, of about thirty-five or thirty-six,
+dressed in the blue jacket and trousers of a sailor; but neither the
+habitude of his profession nor the humble dress he wore could conceal
+the striking evidence his air and bearing indicated of condition and
+birth. As he mounted the witness table,--for it was finally agreed
+that his testimony in disproof or corroboration of M'Keown should be
+heard,--a murmur of approbation went round, partly at the daring step he
+had thus ventured on taking, and partly excited by those personal gifts
+which are ever certain to have their effect upon any crowded assembly.
+
+I need not enter into the details of his evidence, which was given in
+a frank, straightforward manner, well suited to his appearance; never
+concealing for a moment the cause he had himself embarked in, nor
+assuming any favorable coloring for actions which ingenuity and the zeal
+of party would have found subjects for encomium rather than censure.
+
+His narrative not only confirmed all that Darby asserted, but also
+disclosed the atrocious scheme by which he had been first induced to
+join the ranks of the disaffected party. This was the work of Crofts,
+who knew and felt that Fortescue was the great barrier between himself
+and a large fortune. For this purpose Mulcahy was hired; to this end the
+whole long train of perfidy laid, which eventuated in his ruin: for
+so artfully had the plot been devised, each day's occurrence rendered
+retreat more difficult, until at last it became impossible.
+
+The reader is already aware of the catastrophe which concluded his
+career in the rebel army. It only remains now to be told that he escaped
+to America, where he entered as a sailor on board a merchantman;
+and although his superior acquirements and conduct might have easily
+bettered his fortune in his new walk in life, the dread of detection
+never left his mind, and he preferred the hardships before the mast to
+the vacillation of hope and fear a more conspicuous position would have
+exposed him to.
+
+The vessel in which he served was wrecked off the coast of New Holland,
+and he and a few others of the crew were taken up by an English ship on
+her voyage outward. In a party sent on shore for water, Fortescue came
+up with Darby, who had made his escape from the convict settlement, and
+was wandering about the woods, almost dead of starvation, and scarcely
+covered with clothing. His pitiful condition, but perhaps more still,
+his native drollery, which even then was unextinguished, induced the
+sailors to yield to Fortescue's proposal, and they smuggled him on
+board in a water cask; and thus concealed, he made the entire voyage to
+England, where he landed about a fortnight before the trial. Fearful of
+being apprehended before the day, and determined at all hazards to give
+his evidence, he lay hid till the time we have already seen, when he
+suddenly came forward to my rescue.
+
+Mulcahy, who worked in the same gang with Darby, or, to use the piper's
+grandiloquent expression,--for he burst out in this occasionally,--was
+"in concatenated proximity to him," told the whole story of his own
+baseness, and loudly inveighed against Crofts for deserting him in
+his misfortunes. The pocket-book taken from Crofts by Darby amply
+corroborated this statement. It contained, besides various memoranda
+in the owner's handwriting, several letters from Mulcahy, detailing the
+progress of the conspiracy: some were in acknowledgment of considerable
+sums of money; others asking for supplies; but all confirmatory of the
+black scheme by which Fortescue's destruction was compassed.
+
+Whatever might have been the sentiments of the crowded court regarding
+the former life and opinions of Fortescue and the piper, it was clear
+that now only one impression prevailed,--a general feeling of horror at
+the complicated villany of Crofts, whose whole existence had been one
+tissue of the basest treachery.
+
+The testimony was heard with attention throughout; no cross-examination
+was entered on; and the judge, briefly adverting to the case which
+was before the jury, and from whose immediate consideration subsequent
+events had in a great measure withdrawn their minds, directed them to
+deliver a verdict of "Not guilty."
+
+The words were re-echoed by the jury, who, man for man, exclaimed these
+words aloud, amid the most deafening cheers from every side.
+
+As I walked from the dock, fatigued, worn out, and exhausted, a dozen
+hands were stretched out to seize mine; but one powerful grasp caught my
+arm, and a well-known voice called in my ear,--
+
+"An' ye wor with Boney, Master Tom? Tare and 'ounds, didn't I know you'd
+be a great man yet."
+
+At the same instant Fortescue came through the crowd towards me, with
+his hands outstretched.
+
+"We should be friends, sir," said he, "for we both have suffered from a
+common enemy. If I am at liberty to leave this--"
+
+"You are not, sir," interposed a deep voice behind. We turned and beheld
+Major Barton. "The massacre at Kil-macshogue has yet to be atoned for."
+
+Fortescue's face grew actually livid at the mention of the word, and his
+breathing became thick and short.
+
+"Here," continued Barton, "is the warrant for your committal. And you
+also, Darby," said he, turning round; "we want your company once more in
+Newgate."
+
+"Bedad, I suppose there's no use in sending an apology when friends is
+so pressing," said he, buttoning his coat as coolly as possible; "but I
+hope you 'll let the master come in to see me."
+
+"Mr. Burke shall be admitted at all times," said Barton, with an
+obsequious civility I had never witnessed in him previously.
+
+"Faix, maybe you 'll not be for letting him out so aisy," said Darby,
+dryly, for his notions of justice were tempered by a considerable dash
+of suspicion.
+
+I had only time left to press my purse into the honest fellow's hand,
+and salute Fortescue hastily, as they both were removed, under the
+custody of Barton. And I now made my way through the crowd into the
+hall, which opened a line for me as I went; a thousand welcomes meeting
+me from those who felt as anxious about the result of the trial as if a
+brother or a dear friend had been in peril.
+
+One face caught my eye as I passed; and partly from my own excitement,
+partly from its expression being so different from its habitual
+character, I could not recognize it as speedily as I ought to have done.
+Again and again it appeared; and at last, as I approached the door into
+the street, it was beside me.
+
+"If I might dare to express my congratulations," said a voice, weak
+from the tremulous anxiety of the speaker, and the shame which, real or
+affected, seemed to bow him down.
+
+"What," cried I, "Mr. Basset!" for it was the worthy man himself.
+
+"Yes, sir. Your father's old and confidential agent,--I might venture to
+say, friend,--come to see the son of his first patron occupy the station
+he has long merited."
+
+"A bad memory is the only touch of age I remark in you, sir," said I,
+endeavoring to pass on, for I was unwilling at the moment of my escape
+from a great difficulty to lose temper with so unworthy an object.
+
+"One moment, sir, just a moment," said he, in a low whisper. "You'll
+want money, probably. The November rents are not paid up; but there's a
+considerable balance to your credit. Will you take a hundred or two for
+the present?"
+
+"Take money!--money from you!" said I, shrinking back.
+
+"Your own, sir; your own estate. Do you forget," said he, with a
+miserable effort of a smile, "that you are Mr. Burke of Cromore, with a
+clear rental of four thousand a year? We gained the Cluan Bog lawsuit,
+sir," continued he. "'Twas I, sir, found the satisfaction for the bond.
+Your brother said he owed it all to Tony Basset."
+
+The two last words were all that were needed to sum up the measure of my
+disgust and I once more tried to get forward.
+
+"I know the property, sir, for thirty-eight years I was over it. Your
+father and your brother always trusted me--"
+
+"Let me pass on, Mr. Basset," said I, calmly. "I have no desire to
+become a greater object of mob curiosity. Pray let me pass on."
+
+"And for Darby M'Keown," whispered he.
+
+"What of him?" said I; for he had touched the most anxious chord of my
+heart at that instant.
+
+"I'll have him free; he shall be at liberty in forty-eight hours for
+you. I have the whole papers by me; and a statement to the privy council
+will obtain his liberation."
+
+"Do this," said I, "and I 'll forgive more of your treatment of me than
+I could on any other plea."
+
+"May I call on you this evening, or to-morrow morning, at your hotel?
+Where do you stop, sir?"
+
+"This evening be it, if it hasten M'Keown's liberation. Remember,
+however, Mr. Basset, I'll hold no converse with you on any other subject
+till that be settled, and to my perfect satisfaction."
+
+"A bargain, sir," said he, with a grin of satisfaction; and dropping
+back, he suffered me to proceed.
+
+Along the quays I went, and down Dame Street, accompanied by a great mob
+of people, who thought in my acquittal they had gained a triumph. For
+so it was; every case had its political feature, and seemed to be
+intimately connected with the objects of one party or the other.
+Partisan cheers,--the watchwords of faction,--were uttered as I went,
+and I was made to suffer that least satisfactory of all conditions,
+which bestows notoriety without fame, and popularity without merit.
+
+As I entered the hotel, I recognized many of the persons I had seen
+there before; but their looks were no longer thrown towards me with the
+impertinence they then assumed. On the contrary, a studied desire to
+evince courtesy and politeness was evident. "How strange is it!" thought
+I; "how differently does the whole world smile to the rich man and to
+the poor!" Here were many who could in nowise derive advantage from my
+altered condition,--as perfectly independent of me as I of them; and
+yet even they showed that degree of deference in their manner which the
+expectant bestows upon a patron. So it is, however. The position which
+wealth confers is recognized by all; the individual who fills it is but
+an attribute of the station.
+
+Life had, indeed, opened on me with a new and very different aspect; and
+I felt, as I indulged in the daydreams which the sudden possession of
+fortune excites, that to enjoy thoroughly the blessings of independence,
+one must have experienced, as I had, the hard pressure of adversity. It
+seemed to me that the long road of gloomy fate had at length reached its
+turning point, and that I should now travel along a calmer and happier
+path. Thoughts of the new career that lay before me were blended with
+the memories of the past; hopes they were, but dashed with the shadows
+which a blighted affection will throw over the whole stream of life.
+Still that evening was one of happiness; not of that excited pleasure
+derived from the attainment of a long coveted object, but the calmer
+enjoyment felt in the safety of the haven by him who has experienced the
+hurricane and the storm.
+
+With such thoughts I went to rest, and laid my head on my pillow in
+thoughtfulness and peace. In my dreams my troubles still lingered. But
+who regrets the anxious minutes of a vision which wakening thoughts
+dispel? Are they not rather the mountain shadows that serve to brighten
+the gleam of the sunlight in the plain?
+
+It was thus the morning broke for me, with all the ecstasy of danger
+passed, and all the crowding hopes of a happy future. The hundred
+speculations which in poverty I had formed for the comfort of the poor
+and the humble might now be realized; and I fancied myself the centre of
+a happy peasantry, confiding and contented. It would be hard, indeed,
+to forget "the camp and the tented field" in the peaceful paths of a
+country life. But simple duties are often as engrossing as those of a
+higher order, and bring a reward not less grateful to the heart; and I
+flattered myself to think my ambition reached not above them.
+
+The moments in which such daydreams are indulged are the very happiest
+of a lifetime. The hopes which are based on the benefits we may render
+to others are sources of elevation to ourselves; and such motives purify
+the soul, and exalt the mind to a pitch far above the petty ambitions of
+the world.
+
+To myself, and to my own enjoyments, wealth could contribute less than
+to most men. The simple habits of a soldier's life satisfied every wish
+of my mind. The luxuries which custom makes necessary to others I never
+knew; and I formed my resolution not to wander from this path of humble,
+inexpensive tastes, so that the stream of charity might flow the wider.
+
+These were my waking thoughts. Alas, how little do we ever realize of
+such speculations! and how few glide down the stream of life unswayed by
+the eddies and crosscurrents of fortune! The higher we build the temple
+of our hopes, the more surely will it topple to its fall. Who shall say
+that our greatest enjoyment is not in raising the pile, and our happiest
+hours the full abandonment to those hopes our calmer reason never
+ratified?
+
+As yet it had not occurred to me to think what position the world might
+concede to one whose life had been passed like mine, nor did I bestow a
+care upon a matter whereon so much of future happiness depended. These,
+however, were considerations which could not be long averted. How they
+came, and in what manner they were met must remain for a future chapter
+of my history.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII. HASTY RESOLUTION
+
+In my last chapter I brought my reader to that portion of my story
+which formed the turning-point of my destiny. And here I might, perhaps,
+conclude these brief memoirs of an early life, whose chief object was
+to point out the results of a hasty and rash judgment, which, formed in
+mere boyhood, exerted its influence throughout the entire of a lifetime.
+Only one incident remains still to be told; and I shall not trespass on
+the good-natured patience of my readers by any delay in the narrative.
+
+From being poor, houseless, and unknown, a sudden turn of fortune
+had made me wealthy and conspicuous in station; the owner of a large
+estate,--almost a lead-ing man in my native county. My influence was
+sufficient to procure the liberation of M'Keown; and my interference in
+his behalf mainly contributed to procure for Fortescue the royal pardon.
+The world, as the phrase is, went with me; and the good luck which
+attended every step I took and every plan I engaged in was become a
+proverb among my neighbors.
+
+Let not any one suppose I was unmindful or ungrateful, if I confess,
+that even with all these I was not happy. No: the tranquil mind, the
+spirit at ease with itself, cannot exist where the sense of duty is not.
+The impulse which swayed my boyish heart still moved the ambition of the
+man. The pursuits I should have deemed the noblest and the purest seemed
+to me uninteresting and ignoble; the associations I ought to have
+felt the happiest and the highest appeared to me vulgar, and low, and
+commonplace. I was disappointed in my early dream of liberty, and
+had found tyranny where I looked for freedom, and intolerance where I
+expected enlightenment; but if so, I recurred with tenfold enthusiasm to
+the career of the soldier, whose glories were ever before me. That
+noble path had not deceived me; far from it. Its wild and whirlwind
+excitement, its hazardous enterprise, its ever-present dangers, were
+stimulants I loved and gloried in. All the chances and changes of a
+peaceful life were poor and mean compared to the hourly vicissitudes of
+war. I knew not then, it is true, how much of enjoyment I derived from
+forgetful ness; how many of my springs of happiness flowed from that
+preoccupation which prevented my dwelling on the only passion that ever
+stirred my heart,--my love for one whose love was hopeless.
+
+How thoroughly will the character of an early love tinge the whole of a
+life! Our affections are like flowers,--they derive their sweetness and
+their bloom from the soil in which they grow: some, budding in joy and
+gladness, amid the tinkling plash of a glittering fountain, live on ever
+bright and beautiful; others, struggling on amid thorns and wild
+weeds, overshadowed by gloom, preserve their early impressions to the
+last,--their very sweetness tells of sadness.
+
+To conquer the memory of this hopeless passion, I tried a hundred ways.
+I endeavored, by giving myself up to the duties of a country gentleman,
+to become absorbed in all the cares and pursuits which had such interest
+for my neighbors. Failing in this, I became a sportsman; I kept horses
+and dogs, and entered, with all the zest mere determination can impart,
+upon that life of manly exertion, so full of pleasure to thousands. But
+here again without succeeding.
+
+I went into society; but soon retired from it, on finding, that among
+the class of my equals the prestige of my early life had still tracked
+me. I was in their eyes a rebel, whose better fortune had saved him
+from the fate of his companions. My youth had given no guarantee for my
+manhood; and I was not trusted. Baffled in every endeavor to obliterate
+my secret grief, I recurred to it now, as though privileged by fate,
+to indulge a memory nothing could efface. I abandoned all the petty
+appliances by which I sought to shut out the past, and gave myself up in
+full abandonment to the luxury of my melancholy.
+
+Living entirely within the walls of my demesne, never seen by my
+neighbors, not making nor receiving visits, I appeared to many a
+heartless recluse, whose misanthropy sought indulgence in solitude;
+others, less harshly, judged me as one whose unhappy entrance on life
+had unfitted him for the station to which fortune had elevated him. By
+both I was soon forgotten.
+
+The peasantry were less ungenerous, and more just. They saw in me one
+who felt acutely for the privations they were suffering; yet never gave
+them that cheap, delusive hope, that legislative changes will touch
+social evils,--that the acts of a parliament will penetrate the thousand
+tortuous windings of a poor man's destiny. They found in me a friend and
+an adviser. They only-wondered at one thing,--how any man could feel for
+the poor, and not hate the rich. So long had the struggle lasted between
+affluence and misery, they could not understand a compromise.
+
+Bitter as their poverty had been, it never extinguished the poetry of
+their lives. They were hungry and naked; but they held to their ancient
+traditions, and they built on them great hopes for the future. The old
+family names, the time-honored memories of place, the famous deeds
+of ancestors, made an ideal existence powerful enough to exclude the
+pressure of actual daily evils; and they argued from what had been to
+what might be, with a persistency of hope it seemed almost cruel to
+destroy. So deeply were these thoughts engrained into their natures,
+they felt him but half their friend who ventured to despise them. The
+relief of present poverty, the succor of actual suffering, became in
+their eyes an effort of mere passing kindness. They looked to some great
+amelioration of condition, some wondrous change, some restoration to an
+imaginary standard of independence and comfort, which all the efforts
+of common interference fell sadly short of; and thus they strained their
+gaze to a government, a ruling power, for a boon undefined, unknown, and
+illimitable.
+
+To expectations like these advice and slight assistance are as the mere
+drop of water to the parched tongue of thirst; and so I found it. I
+could neither encourage them in their hopes of such legislative changes
+as would greatly ameliorate their condition, nor flatter them in the
+delusion that none of their misfortunes were of home origin; and thus,
+if they felt gratitude for many kindnesses, they reposed no confidence
+in my opinion. The trading patriot, who promised much while he pocketed
+their hard-earned savings; the rabid newspaper writer, who libelled
+the Government and denounced the landlord,--were their standards of
+sympathy; and he who fell short of either was not their friend.
+
+In a word, the social state of the people was rotten to its very core.
+Their highest qualities, degraded by the combined force of poverty,
+misrule, and superstition, had become sources of crime and misery. They
+had suffered so long and so much, their patience was exhausted; and they
+preferred the prospect of any violent convulsion which might change the
+face of the land, whatever dangers it might come with, to a slow and
+gradual improvement of condition, however safe and certain.
+
+To win their confidence at the only price they would accord it, I never
+could consent to; and without it I was almost powerless for good.
+Here again, therefore, did I find closed against me another avenue for
+exertion; and the only one of all I could have felt a fitting sphere
+for my labor. The violence of their own passionate natures, the headlong
+impulses by which they suffered themselves to be swayed, left them no
+power of judgment regarding those whose views were more moderate and
+temperate. They could understand the high Tory landlord, whom they
+invested with every attribute of tyranny, as their open, candid
+opponent; they could see a warm friend in the violent mob-orator of the
+day; but they recognized no trait of kindness in him who would rather
+see them fed than flattered, and behold them in the enjoyment of comfort
+sooner than in the ecstasy of triumph.
+
+From "Darby the Blast"--for he was now a member of my household--I
+learned the light in which I was regarded by the people, and heard the
+dissatisfaction they expressed that one who "sarved Boney" should not
+be ready to head a rising, if need be. Thus was I in a false position
+on every side. Mistrusted by all, because I would neither enter into the
+exaggerations of party, nor become blind to the truth my senses revealed
+before me, my sphere of utility was narrowed to the discharge of the
+mere duties of common charity and benevolence, and my presence among my
+tenantry no more productive of benefit than if I had left my purse as my
+representative.
+
+Years rolled on, and in the noiseless track of time I forgot its flight.
+I now had grown so wedded to the habits of my solitary life, that its
+very monotony was a source of pleasure. I had intrenched myself within a
+little circle of enjoyments, and among my books and in my walks my days
+went pleasantly over.
+
+For a long time, I did not dare to read the daily papers, nor learn the
+great events which agitated Europe. I tried to think that an interval of
+repose would leave me indifferent to their mention; and so rigidly did I
+abstain from indulging my curiosity, that the burning of Moscow, and the
+commencement of the dreadful retreat which followed, was the first fact
+I read of.
+
+From the moment I gave way, the passion for intelligence from France
+became a perfect mania. Where were the different corps of the "Grand
+Army"? where the Emperor himself? by what great stroke of genius would
+he emerge from the difficulties around him, and deal one of his fatal
+blows on the enemy?--were the questions which met me as I awoke, and
+tortured me during the day.
+
+Each movement of that terrible retreat I followed in the gazettes with
+an anxiety verging on insanity. I tracked the long journey on the map,
+and as I counted towns and villages, dreary deserts of snow, and vast
+rivers to be traversed, my heart grew faint to think how many a brave
+soldier would never reach that fair France for whose glory he had shed
+his best blood. Disaster followed disaster; and as the news reached
+England, came accounts of those great defections which weakened the
+force of the "Grand Army," and deranged the places formed for its
+retiring movements.
+
+They who can recall to mind the time I speak of, will remember the
+effect produced in England by the daily accounts from the seat of war;
+how heavily fell the blows of that altered fortune which once rested on
+the eagles of France; how each new bulletin announced another feature of
+misfortune,--some shattered remnant of a great _corps d'armee_ cut off
+by Cossacks,--some dreadful battle engaged against superior numbers, and
+fought with desperation, not for victory, but the liberty to retreat.
+Great names were mentioned among the slain, and the proudest chivalry of
+Gaul left to perish on the far-off steppes of Russia.
+
+Such were the fearful tales men read of that terrible campaign; and the
+joy in England was great, to hear that the most powerful of her enemies
+had at length experienced the full bitterness of defeat. While men vied
+with one another in stories of the misfortunes of the Emperor,--when
+each post added another to the long catalogue of disasters to the "Grand
+Army,"--I sat in my lonely house, in a remote part of Ireland, brooding
+over the sad reverses of him who still formed my ideal of a hero.
+
+I thought how, amid the crumbling ruins of his splendid force, his great
+soul would survive the crash that made all others despair; that each
+new evil would suggest its remedy as it arose, and the mind that never
+failed in expedient would shine out more brilliantly through the gloom
+of darkening fortune than even it had done in the noonday splendor
+of success. When all others could only see the tremendous energy of
+despair, I thought I could recognize those glorious outbursts of heroism
+by which a French army sought and won the favor of their Emperor. The
+routed and straggling bodies which hurried along in seeming disorder, I
+gloried to perceive could assume all the port and bearing of soldiers at
+the approach of danger, and form their ranks at the wild "houra" of the
+Cossack as steadily as in the proudest day of their prosperity.
+
+The retreat continued: the horrible suffering of a Russian winter added
+to the carnage of a battle-tide, which flowed unceasingly from the
+ruined walls of the Kremlin to the banks of the Vistula: the battle of
+Borisow and the passage of the Berezina followed fast on each other.
+And now we heard that the Emperor had surrendered the chief command
+to Murat, and was hastening back to France with lightning speed; for
+already the day of his evil fortune had thrown its shadow over the
+capital. No longer reckoned by tens of thousands, that vast army had now
+dwindled down to divisions of a few hundred men. The Old Guard scarce
+exceeded one thousand; and of twenty entire regiments of cavalry,
+Murat mustered a single squadron as a bodyguard. Crowds of wounded and
+mutilated men dragged their weary limbs along over the hardened snow,
+or through dense pine forests where no villages were to be met with,--a
+fatuous determination to strive to reach France, the only impulse
+surviving amid all their sufferings.
+
+With the defections of D'York and Massenbach, then began that new
+feature of disaster which was so soon to burst forth with all the fell
+fury of long pent-up hatred. The nationality of Germany--so long, so
+cruelly insulted--now saw the day of retribution arrive. Misfortune
+hastened misfortune, and defeat engendered treason in the ranks of the
+Emperor's allies. Murat, too, the favorite of Napoleon, the king of his
+creation, deserted him now, and fled ignominiously from the command of
+the army.
+
+"The Elbe! the Elbe!" was now the cry amid the shattered ranks of that
+army which but a year before saw no limit to its glorious path. The Elbe
+was the only line remaining which promised a moment's repose from the
+fatigues and privations of months long. Along that road the army could
+halt, and stem the tide of pursuit, however hotly it pressed. The
+Prussians had already united with the Russians; the defection of Austria
+could not be long distant; Saxony was appealed to, as a member of the
+German family, to join in arms against the Tyrant; and the wild "houra"
+of the Cossack now blended with the loud "Vorwarts" of injured Prussia.
+
+"Where shall he seek succor now? What remains to him in this last
+eventful struggle? How shall the Emperor call back to life the legions
+by whose valor his great victories were gained, and Europe made a vassal
+at the foot of his throne?" Such was the thought that never left me day
+or night. Ever present before me was his calm brow, and his face paler,
+but not less handsome, than its wont. I could recall his rapid glance;
+the quick and hurried motion of his hand; his short and thick utterance,
+as words of command fell from his lips; and his smile, as he heard some
+intelligence with pleasure.
+
+I could not sleep,--scarcely could I eat. A feverish excitement burned
+through my frame, and my parched tongue and hot hand told how the very
+springs of health were dried up within me. I walked with hurried steps
+from place to place; now muttering the words of some despatch, now
+fancying that I was sent with orders for a movement of troops. As I
+rode, I spurred my horse to a gallop, and in my heated imagination
+believed I was in presence of the enemy, and preparing for the fray.
+Great as my exhaustion frequently was, weariness brought no rest. Often
+I returned home at evening, overcome by fatigue; but a sleepless night,
+tortured with anxieties and harassed with doubts and fears, followed,
+and I awoke to pursue the same path, till in my weakened frame and
+hectic cheek the signs of illness could no longer be mistaken.
+
+Terrified at the ravages a few weeks had made in my health, and fearful
+what secret malady was preying upon me, Darby, without asking any leave
+from me, left the house one morning at daybreak, and returned with the
+physician of the neighboring town. I was about to mount my horse, when I
+saw them coming up the avenue, and immediately guessed the object of the
+visit. A moment was enough to decide me as to the course to pursue;
+for well knowing how disposed the world ever is to stamp the impress
+of wandering intellect on any habit of mere eccentricity, I resolved to
+receive the doctor as though I was glad of his coming, and consult with
+him regarding my state. This would at least refute such a scandal, by
+enlisting the physician among the allies of my cause.
+
+By good fortune, Dr. Clibborn was a man of shrewd common sense, as well
+as a physician of no mean skill.
+
+In the brief conversation we held together, I perceived, that while he
+paid all requisite attention to any detail which implied the existence
+of malady, his questions were more pointedly directed to the possibility
+of some mental cause of irritation,--the source of my ailment. I could
+see, however, that his opinion inclined to the belief that the events of
+the trial had left their indelible traces on my mind; which, inducing
+me to adopt a life of isolation and retirement, had now produced the
+effects he witnessed.
+
+I was not sorry at this mistake on his part. By suffering him to
+indulge in this delusive impression, I saved myself all the trouble of
+concealing my real feelings, which I had no desire to expose before him.
+I permitted him, therefore, to reason with me on the groundless notions
+he supposed I had conceived of the world's feeling regarding me,
+and heard him patiently as he detailed the course of public duty, by
+fulfilling which I should occupy my fitting place in society, and best
+consult my own health and happiness.
+
+"There are," said he, "certain fixed impressions, which I would not so
+combat. It was but yesterday, for instance, I yielded to the wish of
+an old general officer, who has served upwards of half a century, and
+desires once more to put himself at the head of his regiment. His
+heart was bent on it. I saw that though he might consent to abandon his
+purpose, I was not so sure his mind might bear the disappointment; for
+the intellect will sometimes go astray in endeavoring to retrace its
+steps. So I thought it better to concede what might cost more in the
+refusal."
+
+The last words of the doctor remained in my head long after he took his
+leave, and I could not avoid applying them to my own case. Was not _my_
+impression of this nature? Were not _my_ thoughts all centred on one
+theme as fixedly as the officer's of whom he spoke? Could I, by any
+effort of my reason or my will, control my wandering fancies, and call
+them back to the dull realities amongst which I lived?
+
+These were ever recurring to me, and always with the same reply. It is
+in vain to struggle against an impulse which has swallowed up all other
+ambitions. My heart is among the glittering ranks and neighing squadrons
+of France; I would be there once more; I would follow that career which
+first stirred the proudest hopes I ever cherished.
+
+That same evening the mail brought the news that Eugene Beauharnais had
+fallen back on Magdeburg, and sent repeated despatches to the Emperor,
+entreating his immediate presence among the troops, whom nothing but
+Napoleon himself in the midst of them could restore to their wonted
+bravery and determination. The reply of Napoleon was briefly,--
+
+"I am coming; and all who love me, follow me."
+
+How the words rang in my ears,--"_Tous ceux qui m'aiment!_" I heard
+them in every rustling of the wind and motion of the leaves against the
+window; they were whispered to my sense by every avenue of my brain;
+and I sat no longer occupied in reading as usual, but with folded arms,
+repeating word by word the brief sentence.
+
+It was midnight. All was still and silent through the house; no servant
+stirred, and the very wind was hushed to a perfect calm. I was sitting
+in my library, when the words I have repeated seemed spoken in a low,
+clear voice beside me. I started up: the perspiration broke over my
+forehead and fell upon my cheek with terror; for I knew I was alone, and
+the fearful thought flashed on me,--this may be madness! For a second or
+two the agony of the idea was almost insupportable. Then came a resolve
+as sudden. I opened my desk, and took from it all the ready money I
+possessed; I wrote a few hurried lines to my agent; and then, making my
+way noiselessly to the stable, I saddled my horse and led him out.
+
+In two hours I was nearly twenty miles on my way to Dublin. Day was
+breaking as I entered the capital. I made no delay there; but taking
+fresh horses, started for Skerries, where I knew the fishermen of the
+coast resorted.
+
+"One hundred pounds to the man who will land me on the coast of France
+or Holland," said I to a group that were preparing their nets on the
+shore.
+
+A look of incredulity was the only reply. A very few words, however,
+settled the bargain. Ere half an hour I was on board. The wind
+freshened, and we stood out to sea.
+
+"Let the breeze keep to this," said the skipper, "and we'll make the
+voyage quickly."
+
+Both wind and tide were in our favor. We held down Channel rapidly; and
+I saw the blue hills grow fainter and fainter, till the eye could but
+detect a gray cloud on the horizon, which at last disappeared in the
+bright sun of noon, and a wide waste of blue water lay on every side.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE LAST CAMPAIGN
+
+The snow, half melted with the heavy rains, lay still deeply on the
+roads, and a dark, lowering sky stretched above, as I harried onwards,
+with all the speed I could, towards the east of France.
+
+Already the Allies had passed the Rhine. Schwartzen-berg in the south,
+Blucher in the east, and Bernadotte on the Flemish frontier, were
+conveying their vast armies to bear down on him whom singly none had
+dared to encounter. All France was in arms, and every step was turned
+eastwards. Immense troops of conscripts, many scarce of the age of
+boyhood, crowded the highways. The veterans themselves were enrolled
+once more, and formed battalions for the defence of their native
+land. Every town and village was a garrison. The deep-toned rolling
+of ammunition wagons and the heavy tramp of horses sounded through
+the nights long. War, terrible war, spoke from every object around.
+Strongholds were strengthening, regiments brigading, cavalry organizing
+on all sides.
+
+No longer, however, did I witness the wild enthusiasm which I so
+well remembered among the soldiers of the army. Here were no glorious
+outbreaks of that daring spirit which so marked the Frenchman, and made
+him almost irresistible in arms. A sad and gloomy silence prevailed:
+a look of fierce but hopeless determination was over all. They marched
+like men going to death, but with the step and bearing of heroes.
+
+I entered the little town of Verviers. The day was breaking, but the
+troops were under arms. The Emperor had but just taken his departure
+for Chalons-sur-Marne. They told me of it as I changed horses,--not
+with that fierce pride which a mere passing glance at the great Napoleon
+would once have evoked; they spoke of him without emotion. I asked if he
+were paler or thinner than his wont: they did not know. They said that
+he travelled post, but that his staff were on horseback. From this I
+gathered that he was either ill, or in that frame of mind in which he
+preferred to be alone. While I was yet speaking, an officer of Engineers
+came up to the carriage, and called out,--
+
+"Unharness these horses, and bring them down to the barracks. These,
+sir," said he, turning towards me, "are not times to admit of ceremony.
+We have eighteen guns to move, and want cattle."
+
+"Enough, sir," said I. "I am not here to retard your movements, but if
+I can, to forward them. Can I, as a volunteer, be of any service at this
+moment?"
+
+"Have you served before? Of course you have, though. In what arm?"
+
+"As a Hussar of the Guard, for some years."
+
+"Come along with me; I 'll bring you to the general at once."
+
+Re-entering the inn, the officer preceded me up stairs, and after a
+moment's delay, introduced me into the presence of General Letort, then
+commanding a cavalry brigade.
+
+"I have heard your request, sir. Where is your commission? Have you got
+it with you?"
+
+I handed it to him in silence. He examined it rapidly; and then turning
+the reverse, read the few lines inscribed by the minister of war.
+
+"I could have given you a post this day, sir, this very hour," said
+he, "but for a blunder of our commissariat people. There's a troop here
+waiting for a re-mount, but the order has not come down from Paris; and
+our officials here will not advance the money till it arrives, as if
+these were times for such punctilio. They are to form part of General
+Kellermann's force, which is sadly deficient. Remain here, however, and
+perhaps by to-morrow--"
+
+"How much may the sum be, sir?" asked I, interrupting.
+
+The general almost started with surprise at the abruptness of my
+question, and in a tone of half reproof answered,--
+
+"The amount required is beside the matter, sir; unless," added he,
+sarcastically, "you are disposed to advance it yourself."
+
+"Such was the object of my question," said I, calmly, and determining
+not to notice the manner he had assumed.
+
+"_Parbleu!_" exclaimed he, "that is very different. Twenty thousand
+francs, however, is a considerable sum."
+
+"I have as much, and something more, if need be, in my carriage,--if
+English gold be no objection."
+
+"No, _pardie!_ that it is not," cried he, laughing; "I only wish we saw
+more of it. Are you serious in all this?"
+
+The best reply to his question was to hasten down stairs and return with
+two small canvas bags in my hands.
+
+"Here are one thousand guineas," said I, laying them on the table.
+
+While one of the general's aides-de-camp was counting and examining the
+gold, I repeated at his request the circumstances which brought me once
+again to France to serve under the banner of the Emperor.
+
+"And your name, sir," said he, as he seated himself to write, "is Thomas
+Burke, ci-devant captain of the Eighth Hussars of the Guard. Well, I can
+promise you the restoration of your old grade. Meanwhile, you must
+take command of these fellows. They are mere partisan troops, hurriedly
+raised, and ill organized; but I'll give you a letter to General
+Damremont at Chalons, and he 'll attend to you."
+
+"It is not a position for myself I seek, General," said I. "Wherever I
+can best serve the Emperor, there only I desire to be."
+
+"I have ventured to leave that point to General Damremont," said he,
+smiling. "Your motives do not require much explanation. Let us to
+breakfast now, and by noon we shall have everything in readiness for
+your departure."
+
+Thus rapidly, and as it were by the merest accident, was I again become
+a soldier of the Emperor; and that same day was once more at the head of
+a squadron, on my way to Chalons. My troop were, indeed, very unlike
+the splendid array of my old Hussars of the Guard. They were hurriedly
+raised, and not over well equipped, but still they were stout-looking,
+hardy peasants, who, whatever deficiency of drill they might display, I
+knew well would exhibit no lack of courage before an enemy.
+
+On reaching Chalons, I found that General Damremont had left with the
+staff for Vitry only a few hours before; and so I reported myself to the
+officer commanding the town, and was ordered by him to join the cavalry
+brigade then advancing on Vitry.
+
+Had I time at this moment, I could not help devoting some minutes to
+an account of that strange and motley mass which then were brigaded
+as Imperial cavalry. Dragoons of every class, heavy and
+light-armed,--grenadiers a cheval and hussars, cuirassiers, carbineers,
+and lancers,--were all, pell-mell, mixed up confusedly together, and
+hurried onwards; some to join their respective corps if they could find
+them, but all prepared to serve wherever their sabres might be
+called for. It was confusion to the last degree; but a tumult without
+enthusiasm or impulse. The superior officers, who were well acquainted
+with the state of events, made no secret of their gloomy forebodings;
+the juniors lacked energy in a cause where they saw no field for
+advancement; and the soldiers, always prepared to imbibe their feelings
+from their officers, seemed alike sad and dispirited.
+
+What a change was this from the wild and joyous spirit which once
+animated every grade and class,--from the generous enthusiasm that
+once warmed each bold heart, and made every soldier a hero! Alas! the
+terrible consequences of long defeat were on all. The tide of battle
+that rolled disastrously from the ruined walls of the Kremlin still
+swept along towards the great Palace of the Tuileries. Germany had
+witnessed the destruction of two mighty armies; the third and last was
+now awaiting the eventful struggle on the very soil of their country.
+The tide of fugitives, which preceded the retiring columns of Victor and
+Ney, met the advancing bodies of the conscripts, and spread dismay and
+consternation as they went.
+
+The dejection was but the shadow of the last approaching disaster.
+
+On the night of the 27th January, the cavalry brigade with which I was
+received orders to march by the Forest of Bar on Brienne, where Bluecher
+was stationed in no expectation of being attacked. The movement,
+notwithstanding the heavy roads, was made with great rapidity; and by
+noon on the following day we came up with the main body of the army in
+full march against the enemy.
+
+Then once more did I recognize the old spirit of the army. Joyous
+songs and gay cheers were heard from the different corps we passed.
+The announcement of a speedy meeting with the Prussians had infused new
+vigor among the troops. We were emerging from the deep shade of the wood
+into a valley, where a light infantry regiment were bivouacked. Their
+fires were formed in a wide circle, and the cooking went merrily on,
+amid the pleasant song and jocund cries.
+
+Our own brief halt was just concluded, when the bugles sounded to resume
+the march; and I stood for a moment admiring the merry gambols of
+the infantry, when an air I well remembered was chanted forth in full
+chorus. But my memory was not left long in doubt as to where and how
+these sounds were first heard. The wild uproar at once recalled both, as
+they sang out,--
+
+"Hurrah for the Faubourg of St. Antoine!"
+
+No sooner did I hear the words, than I spurred my horse forward and rode
+down towards them.
+
+"What regiment's yours, Comrade?" said I, to a fellow hurrying to the
+ranks.
+
+"The Fifth, mon officier," said he, "Voltigeurs of the Line."
+
+"Have you a certain Francois, a maitre d'armes, still among you?"
+
+"Yes, that we have. There he is yonder, beating time to the roulade."
+
+I looked in the direction he pointed, and there stood my old friend. He
+was advanced in front of a company, and with the air of a tambour-major
+he seemed as if he was giving time to the melody.
+
+"Ah, _sacre_ conscripts that ye are!" cried he, as with his fist
+clenched he gesticulated fiercely towards them; "can't ye keep the
+measure? Once, now, and all together:--
+
+"'Picardy first, and then--."
+
+"Halloo, Maitre Francois! can you remember an old friend?"
+
+The little man turned suddenly, and bringing his hand to the salute,
+remained stiff and erect, as if on parade.
+
+"Connais pas, mon capitaine," was his answer, after a considerable
+pause.
+
+"What! not know me!--me, whom you made one of your own gallant company,
+calling me 'Burke of Ours'?"
+
+"Ah, _par la barbe de Saint Pierre!_ is this my dear comrade of the
+Eighth? Why, where have you been? They said you left us forever and
+aye."
+
+"I tried it, Francois; but it wouldn't do."
+
+"Mille bombes!" said he; "but you 're back in pleasant times,--to see
+the Cossacks learning to drink champagne, and leave us to pay the score.
+Come along, however; take your old place here. You are free to choose
+now, and needn't be a dragoon any longer; not but that your old general
+will be glad to see you again."
+
+"General d'Auvergne! Where is he now?"
+
+"With the light cavalry brigade, in front; I saw him pass here two hours
+since."
+
+"And how looks he, Francois?"
+
+"A little stooped, or so, more than you knew him; but his seat in the
+saddle seems just as firm. _Ventrebleu!_ if he 'd been a voltigeur, he
+'d be a good man these ten years to come."
+
+Delighted to learn that I was so near my dearest and oldest friend
+in the world, I shook Francois's hand, and parted; but not without a
+pledge, that whenever I joined the infantry, the Fifth Voltigeurs of the
+Line were to have the preference.
+
+As we advanced towards Brienne the distant thunder of large guns was
+heard; which gradually grew louder and more sustained, and betokened
+that the battle had already begun. The roads, blocked up with dense
+masses of infantry and long trains of wagons, prevented our rapid
+advance; and when we tried the fields at either side, the soil, cut up
+with recent rains, made us sink to the very girths of our horses. Still,
+order after order came for the troops to press forward, and every effort
+was made to obey the command.
+
+It was five o'clock as we debouched into the plain, and beheld the
+fields whereon the battle had been contested; for already the enemy were
+retiring, and the French troops in eager pursuit. Behind, however, lay
+the town of Brienne, still held by the Russians, but now little
+better than a heap of smoking ruins, the tremendous fire of the French
+artillery having reduced the place to ashes. Conspicuous above all rose
+the dismantled walls of the ancient military college; the school where
+Napoleon had learned his first lesson in war, where first he essayed
+to point those guns which now with such fearful havoc he turned against
+itself. What a strange, sad Subject of contemplation for him who now
+gazed on it! On either side, the fire of the artillery continued till
+nightfall; but the Russians still held the town. A few straggling shots
+closed the combat; and darkness now spread over the wide plain, save
+where the watchfires marked out the position of the French troops.
+
+A sudden flash of lurid flame, however, threw its gleam over the town,
+and a wild cheer was heard rising above the clatter of musketry. It
+was a surprise party of grenadiers, who had forced their way into the
+grounds of the old chateau, where Bluecher held his headquarters. Louder
+and louder grew the firing, and a red glare in the dark sky told how
+the battle was raging. Up that steep street, at the top of which the
+venerable chateau stood, poured the infantry columns in a run. The
+struggle was short. The dull sound of the Russian drum soon proclaimed
+a retreat; and a rocket darting through the black sky announced to the
+Emperor that the position had been won.
+
+The next day the Emperor fixed his headquarters at the chateau, and
+a battalion of the guard bivouacked in the park around it. I had sent
+forward the letter to General Damremont, and was wondering when and
+in what terms the reply might come, when the general himself rode up,
+accompanied by a single aide-de-camp.
+
+"I have had the opportunity, sir, to speak of your conduct in the proper
+quarter," said he, courteously; "and the result is, your appointment as
+major of the Tenth Hussars, or, if you prefer it, the staff."
+
+"Wherever, sir, my humble services can best be employed. I have no other
+wish."
+
+"Then take the regimental rank," said he; "your brigade will see enough
+of hot work ere long. And now push forward to Mezieres, where you'll
+find your regiment. They have received orders to march to-morrow,
+early."
+
+I was not sorry to be relieved from the command of my irregular horse,
+who went by the title of "brigands" in the army generally; though, if
+the truth were to be told, the reproach on the score of honesty came ill
+from those who conferred it. Still, it was a more gratifying position to
+hold a rank in a regiment of regular cavalry, and one whose reputation
+was second to none in the service.
+
+"I wish to present myself to the colonel in command, sir," said I,
+addressing an officer, who with two or three others stood chatting at
+the door of a cottage.
+
+"You 'll find him here, sir," said he, pointing to the hut. But, as he
+spoke, the clank of a sabre was heard, and at the same instant a tall,
+soldierlike figure stooped beneath the low doorway, and came forth.
+
+"The colonel of the Tenth, I presume?" said I, handing the despatch from
+General Damremont.
+
+"What! my old college friend and companion!" cried the colonel, as he
+stepped back in amazement. "Have I such good fortune as to see you in my
+regiment?"
+
+"Can it be really so?" said I, in equal astonishment. "Are you Tascher?"
+
+"Yes, my dear friend; the same Tascher you used to disarm so easily
+at college,--a colonel at last. But why are you not at the head of a
+regiment long since? Oh! I forgot, though," said he, in some confusion;
+"I heard all about it. But come in here; I've no better quarters to
+offer you, but such as it is, make it yours."
+
+My old companion of the Polytechnique was, indeed, little altered by
+time,--careless, inconsiderate, and good-hearted as ever. He told me
+that he had only gained the command of the regiment a few weeks before;
+"and," added he, "if matters mend not soon, I am scarcely like to hold
+it much longer. The despatches just received tell that the Allies are
+concentrating at Trannes; and if so, we shall have a battle against
+overwhelming odds. No matter, Burke; you have got into a famous
+corps,--they fight splendidly, and my excellent uncle, his Majesty,
+loves to indulge their predilection."
+
+I passed the day with Tascher, chatting over our respective fortunes;
+and in discussing the past and the future the greater part of the night
+went over. Before dawn, however, we were on the march towards Chaumiere,
+whither the army was directed, and the Emperor himself then stationed.
+
+It was the 1st of February, and the weather was dark, lowering, and
+gloomy. A cold wind drove the snowdrift in fitful gusts before it, and
+the deep roads made our progress slow and difficult. As our line
+of advance, however, was not that by which the other divisions were
+marching, it was already past noon before we knew that the enemy was but
+three leagues distant. On advancing farther, we heard the faint sounds
+of a cannonade; and then they grew louder and louder, till the whole air
+seemed tremulous with the concussion.
+
+"A heavy fire, Colonel," said a veteran officer of the regiment. "I
+should guess there are not less than eighty or a hundred guns engaged."
+
+"Press on, men! press on!" cried Tascher. "When his Majesty provides
+such music, it's scarcely polite to be late."
+
+At a quick trot we came on, and about three o'clock debouched in the
+plain behind Oudinot's battalions of reserve, which were formed in two
+dense columns, about a hundred yards apart.
+
+"Hussars to the front!" cried an aide-de-camp, as he galloped past, and
+waved his cap in the direction of the space between the columns.
+
+In separate squadrons we penetrated through the defile, and came out
+on an open plain behind the centre of the first line. The ground was
+sufficiently elevated here, so that I could overlook the front line; but
+all I could see was a dense, heavy smoke, which intervened between the
+two positions, in the midst of which, and directly in front, a village
+lay. Towards this, three columns of infantry were converging, and around
+the sounds of battle were raging. This was La Giberie: the hamlet formed
+the key of the French position, and had been twice carried by, and twice
+regained from, the Allies. As I looked, the supporting columns halted,
+wheeled, and retired; while a tremendous shower of grape was poured
+upon them from the village, which now seemed to have been retaken by the
+Allies.
+
+"Cavalry to the front!" was now the order; and a force of six thousand
+sabres advanced from between the battalions, and formed for attack. It
+was Nansouty who led them, and his heavy cuirassiers were in the van;
+and then came the grenadiers a cheval; ours was the third, in column.
+As each regiment debouched, the word "Charge!" rang out, and forward we
+went. The snow drifting straight against us, we could see nothing; nor
+was I conscious of any check to our course till the shaking of the
+vast column in front and then the opening of the squadrons denoted
+resistance, when suddenly a flash flared out, and a hurricane of
+cannon-shot tore through our dense files. Then I knew that we were
+attacking a battery of guns,--and not till then. Mad cheers and cries
+of wounded men burst forth upon the air, with the clashing din of sabres
+and small-arms; the mass of cavalry appeared to heave and throb like
+some great monster in its agony. The trumpet to retreat sounded, and we
+galloped back to our lines, leaving above five hundred dead behind us,
+on a field where I had not yet seen the enemy.
+
+Meanwhile the Russians were assembling a mighty force around the
+village; for now the cannonade opened with tenfold vigor in front,
+and fresh guns were called up to reply to the fire. Hitherto all was
+shrouded in the blue smoke of the artillery and the dense flakes of the
+snowdrift, when suddenly a storm of wind swept past, carrying with it
+both sleet and smoke; and now, within less than five hundred yards,
+we beheld the Allied armies in front of us. Two of the three villages,
+which formed our advanced position, already had been carried; and
+towards the third, La Bothiere, they were advancing quickly.
+
+Ney's corps, ordered up to its defence, rushed boldly on, and the
+clattering musketry announced that they were engaged; while twelve guns
+were moved up in full gallop to their support, and opened their fire at
+once. Scarce had they done so, when a wild hurrah was heard; and like
+a whirlwind, a vast mass of cavalry,--the Cossacks of the Don and the
+Uhlans of the South, commingled and mixed,--bear down on the guns.
+The struggle is for life or death; no quarter given. Ney recalls his
+columns, and the guns are lost.
+
+"Who shall bring the Emperor the tidings?" said Tascher, as his voice
+trembled with excitement. "I'd rather storm the battery single-handed
+than do it."
+
+"He has seen worse than that already to-day," said an aide-de-camp at
+our side. "He has seen Lahorie's squadrons of the Dragoons of the Guard
+cut to pieces by the Russian horse."
+
+"The Guard! the Guard!" repeated Tascher, in accents where doubt and
+despair were blended.
+
+"There goes another battalion to certain death!" muttered the
+aide-de-camp, as he pointed to a column of grenadiers emerging from the
+front line; "see,--I knew it well,--they are moving on La Bothiere. But
+here comes the Emperor."
+
+Before I could detect the figure among the crowd, the staff tore rapidly
+past, followed by a long train of cavalry moving towards the left.
+
+"His favorite stroke," said Tascher: "an infantry advance, and a
+flank movement with cavalry." And as the words escaped him, we saw the
+horsemen bearing down at top speed towards the village.
+
+But now we could look no longer; our brigade was ordered to support the
+attack, and we advanced at a trot. The enemy saw the movement, and a
+great mass of cavalry were thrown out to meet it.
+
+"Here they come!" was the cry repeated by three or four together, and
+the earth shook as the squadrons came down.
+
+Our column dashed forward to meet them; when suddenly through the drift
+we beheld a mass of fugitives, scattered and broken, approaching: they
+were our own cavalry, routed in the attempt on the flank, now flying to
+the rear, broken and disordered.
+
+Before we could cover their retreat, the enemy were upon us. The shock
+was dreadful, and for some minutes carried all before it; but then
+rallying, the brave horsemen of France closed up and faced the foe. How
+vain all the efforts of the redoubted warrior of the Dnieper and the
+Wolga against the stern soldier of Napoleon! Their sabres flashed like
+lightning glances, and as fatally bore down on all before them; and as
+the routed squadrons fell back, the wild cheers of "Vive l'Empereur!"
+told that at least one great moment of success atoned for the
+misfortunes of the day.
+
+"His Majesty saw your charge, Colonel," said a general officer to
+Tascher as he rode back at the head of a squadron. "So gallant a thing
+as that never goes unrewarded."
+
+Tascher's cheek flushed as he bowed in acknowledgment of the praise; but
+I heard him mutter to himself the same instant, "Too late! too late!"
+Fatal words they were,--the presage of the mishap they threatened!
+
+A great attack on La Rothiere was now preparing. It was to be made
+by Napoleon's favorite manoeuvre of cavalry, artillery, and infantry
+combined, each supporting and sustaining the other. Eighteen guns,
+with three thousand sabres, and two columns of infantry numbering four
+thousand each, were drawn up in readiness for the moment to move. Ney
+received orders to lead them, and now they issued forth into the plain.
+
+Our own impatience at not being of the number was quickly merged in
+intense anxiety for the result. It was a gorgeous thing, indeed, to see
+that mighty mass unravelling itself,--the guns galloping madly to the
+front, supported on either flank by cavalry; while, masked behind,
+marched the black columns of infantry, their tall shakos nodding like
+the tree-tops of a forest. The snow was now falling fast, and the
+figures grew fainter and fainter, and all that remained within our view
+was the tail of the columns, which were only disengaging themselves from
+the lines.
+
+A deafening cannonade opened from the Allied artillery on the advance,
+unreplied to by our guns, which were ordered not to fire until within
+half range of the enemy. Suddenly a figure is seen emerging from the
+heavy snowdrift at the full speed of his horse; another, and another,
+follow him in quick succession. They make for the position of the
+Emperor. "What can it be?" cries each, in horrible suspense; "see, the
+columns have halted!"
+
+Dreadful tidings! The guns are embedded in the soft ground,--the horses
+cannot stir them; one-half of the distance is scarcely won, and there
+they are beneath the withering cannonade of the Allied guns, powerless
+and immovable! Cavalry are dismounted, and the horses harnessed to the
+teams: all in vain! the wheels sink deeper in the miry earth. And now
+the enemy have found out the range, and their shot are sweeping through
+the dense mass with frightful slaughter. Again the aides-de-camp hasten
+to the rear for orders. But Ney can wait no longer; he launches his
+cavalry at the foe, and orders up the infantry to follow.
+
+Meanwhile a great cloud of cavalry issues from the Allied lines, and
+directs its course towards the flank of the column: the Emperor sees
+the danger, and despatches one of his staff to prepare them to receive
+cavalry. Too late! too late!--the snowdrift has concealed the advance,
+and the wild horsemen of the desert ride down on the brave ranks.
+Disorder and confusion ensue; the column breaks and scatters. The
+lancers pursue the fugitives through the plain; and before the very eyes
+of the Emperor, the Guard--his Guard--are sabred and routed.
+
+"What is to become of our cavalry?" is now the cry, for they have
+advanced unsupported against the village. Dreadful moment of suspense!
+None can see them; the guns lie deserted, alike by friend and foe.
+Who dares approach them now? "They are cheering yonder," exclaimed an
+officer: "I hear them again."
+
+"Hussars, to the front!" calls out Damremont,--"to your comrades'
+rescue! Men, yonder!" and he points in the direction of the village.
+
+Like an eagle on the swoop, the swift squadrons skim the plain, and
+mount the slope beyond it. The drift clears, and what a spectacle is
+before us! The cavalry are dismounted; their horses, dead or dying,
+cumber the ground; the men, sabre in hand, have attacked the village by
+assault. Two of the enemy's guns are taken and turned against them,
+and the walls are won in many places. An opening in the enclosure of a
+farmyard admits our leading squadron, and in an instant we have taken
+them in flank and rear.
+
+The Russians will neither retreat nor surrender, and the carnage is
+awful; for though overpowered by numbers, they still continue the
+slaughter, and deal death while dying. The chief farmhouse of the
+village has been carried by our troops, but the enemy still holds the
+garden: the low hedge offers a slight obstacle, and over it we dash, and
+down upon them ride the gallant Tenth with cheers of victory.
+
+At this instant the crashing sound of cannon-shot among masonry is
+heard. It is the Allied artillery, which, regardless of their own
+troops, has opened on the village. Every discharge tells; the range is
+at quarter distance, and whole files fall at every fire. The trumpet
+sounds a retreat; and I am endeavoring to collect my scattered
+followers, when my eye falls on the aigulet of a general officer among
+the heap of dead; and at the same time I perceive that some old and
+gallant officer has fallen sword in hand, for his long white hair is
+strewn loosely across his face.
+
+I spring down from my horse and push back the snowy locks, and with
+a shriek of horror I recognize the friend of my heart,--General
+d'Auvergne. I lift him in my arms, and search for the wound. Alas! a
+grapeshot had torn through his chest, and cut asunder that noble heart
+whose every beat was honor. Though still warm, no ray of life remained:
+the hand I had so often grasped in friendship, I wrung now in the last
+energy of despair, and fell upon the corpse in the agony of my grief.
+
+The night was falling fast. All was still around me; none remained near;
+the village was deserted. The deafening din of the cannonade continued,
+and at times some straggling shot crashed through the crumbling walls,
+and brought them thundering to the earth; but all had fled. By the pale
+crescent of a new moon I dug a grave beneath the ruined wall of the
+farmhouse. The labor was long and tedious; but my breaking heart took no
+note of time. My task completed, I sat down beside the grave, and taking
+his now cold hand in mine, pressed it to my lips. Oh, could I have
+shared that narrow bed of clay, what rapture would it have brought to my
+sorrowing soul! I lifted the body and laid it gently in the earth; and
+as I arose, I found that something had entangled itself in my uniform,
+and held me. It seemed a locket, which he wore by a ribbon round his
+neck. I detached it from its place, and put it in my bosom. One lock of
+the snowy hair I severed from his noble head, and then covered up the
+grave. "Adieu forever!" I muttered, as I wandered from the spot.
+
+It was the death of a true D'Auvergne,--"on the field of battle!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX. THE BRIDGE OF MONTEREAU
+
+Ere I left the village, a shower of shells was thrown into it from the
+French lines, and in a few minutes the whole blazed up in a red flame,
+and threw a wide glare over the battlefield. Spurring my horse to
+his speed, I galloped onward, and now discovered that our troops were
+retiring in all haste. The Allies had won the battle, and we were
+falling back on Brienne.
+
+Leaving seventy-three guns in the hands of the enemy, above one thousand
+prisoners, and six thousand killed in battle, Napoleon drew off his
+shattered forces, and marched through the long darkness of a winter's
+night. Thus ended the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube,--the most fatal for the
+hopes of the Emperor since the dreadful day of Leipzic.
+
+From that hour Fortune seemed to frown on those whose arms she had so
+often crowned with victory; and he himself, the mighty leader of so
+many conquering hosts, stood at the window of the chateau at Brienne
+the whole night long, dreading lest the enemy should be on his track.
+He whose battles were wont to be the ovations of a conqueror, now beheld
+with joy his masses retiring unpursued.
+
+Why should I dwell on a career of disaster, or linger on the expiring
+moments of a mighty Empire? Of what avail now are the reinforcements
+which arrived to our aid,--the veteran legions of the Peninsula? The cry
+is ever, "Too late! too late!" Dreadful words, heard at every moment!
+sad omens of an army devoted and despairing!
+
+From Brienne we retreat to Troyes; from thence to Bar-sur-Aube,--ever
+nearer and nearer to that capital to which the Allies tend with wild
+shouts of triumph. On the last day of February our headquarters are at
+Nogent, not thirty leagues from Paris,--Nogent, with the great forest
+of Fontainebleau on its left; and Meaux, the ancient bishopric of the
+Monarchy, on its right; and behind that screen, Paris!
+
+Leaving Bourmont in command of the line which holds the Austrians in
+check, the Emperor himself hastens to oppose Bluecher,--the most intrepid
+and the most daring of all his enemies. A cross-march in the depth of
+winter, with the ground covered with half-frozen snow, will bring him
+on the flank of the Prussian army. It is dared! Dangers and difficulties
+beset every step; the artillery are almost lost, the cavalry exhausted.
+But the cry of "The enemy!" rouses every energy: they debouch on the
+plain of Champ-Aubert, to fall on the moving column of the Russians
+under Alsufief. Glorious stroke of fate! Victory again caresses the
+spoiled child of fortune: the enemy is routed, and retires on Montmirail
+and Chalons. The advanced army of the Prussians hear the cannonade, and
+fall back to support the Allies on Montmirail. But the Emperor already
+awaits them with the battalions of the Old Guard, and another great
+battle ends in victory. Areola and Rivoli were again remembered, and
+recalled by victories not less glorious; and once more hope returned to
+the ranks it seemed to have quitted forever. Another dreadful blow is
+aimed at Blucher's columns; Marmont attacks them at Vaux-Champs, and the
+army of Silesia falls back beaten.
+
+And now the Emperor hastens towards Nogent, where he has left Bourmont
+in front of the Austrians. "Too late! too late!" is again the cry,--the
+columns of Oudinot and Victor are already in retreat. Schwartzenberg,
+with a force triple their own, advances on the plains of the Seine; the
+Cossacks bivouac in the forest of Fontainebleau. Staff-officers hurry
+onward with the news that the Emperor is approaching; the victorious
+army which had subdued Blucher is on the march, reinforced by the
+veteran cavalry of Spain and the tried legions of the Peninsula. They
+halt, and form in battle. The Allies arrest their steps at Nangis, and
+again are beaten: Nangis becomes another name of glory to the ears of
+Frenchmen.
+
+Let me rest one instant in this rapid recital of a week whose great
+deeds not even Napoleon's life can show the equal of,--the last flash of
+the lamp of glory ere it darkened forever.
+
+Three days had elapsed from the sad hour in which I laid my dearest
+friend in his grave, ere I opened the locket I had taken from his
+bosom. The wild work of war mingled its mad excitement in my brain with
+thoughts of deep sorrow; and I lived in a kind of fevered dream, and
+hurried from the affliction which beset me into the torrent of danger.
+
+The gambler who cares not to win rarely loses, so he that seeks death
+in battle comes unscathed through every danger. Each day I threw myself
+headlong into some post where escape seemed scarcely possible; but
+recklessness has its own armor of safety. On the field of Montmirail I
+was reported to the Emperor; and for an attack on the Austrian rearguard
+at Melun made colonel of a cuirassier regiment on the field of battle.
+Such promotions rained on every side: hundreds were falling each day;
+many regiments were commanded by officers of twenty-three or twenty-four
+years of age. Few expected to carry their new epaulettes beyond the
+engagement they gained them in; none believed the Empire itself could
+survive the struggle. Each played for a mighty stake; few cared to
+outlive the game itself. The Emperor showered down favors on the heads
+which each battlefield laid low.
+
+It was on the return from Melun I first opened the locket, which I
+continued to wear around my neck. In the full expansion of a momentary
+triumph to see myself at the head of a regiment, I thought of him who
+would have participated in my pride. I was sitting in the doorway of a
+little cabaret on the roadside, my squadrons picketed around me, for
+a brief halt; and as my thoughts recurred to the brave D'Auvergne, I
+withdrew the locket from my bosom. It was a small oval case of gold,
+opening by a spring. I touched this, and as I did so, the locket sprang
+open, and displayed before me a miniature of Marie de Meudon. Yes!
+beautiful as I had seen her in the forest of Versailles: her dark hair
+clustering around her noble brow,--and her eyes, so full of tender
+loveliness, shadowed by their deep fringes,--were there as I remembered
+them; the lips were half parted, as though the artist had caught the
+speaking expression,--and as-I gazed, I could fancy that voice, so
+musically sweet, still ringing in my ears. I could not look on it
+enough: the features recalled the scenes when first I met her; and the
+strong current of love, against which so long I struggled and contended,
+flowed on with tenfold force once more. Should we ever meet again,--and
+how? were the questions which rushed to my mind, and to which hope and
+fear dictated the replies.
+
+The locket was a present from the Empress to the general,--at least,
+so I interpreted an inscription on the back; and this--shall I confess
+it?--brought pleasure to my heart. Like one whose bosom bore some
+wondrous amulet, some charm against the approach of danger, I now rode
+at the head of my gallant band. Life had grown dearer to me, without
+death becoming more dreaded. Her image next my heart made me feel as if
+I should combat beneath her very eyes, and I burned to acquit myself
+as became one who loved her. A wild, half frantic joy animated me as I
+went, and was caught by the gay companions around me.
+
+At midnight a despatch reached me, ordering me to hasten forward by a
+forced march to Montereau, the bridge of which town was a post of the
+greatest importance, and must be held against the Austrians till Victor
+could come up. We lost not a moment. It was a calm frosty night, with a
+bright moon, and we hastened along without halting. About an hour before
+daybreak we were met by a cavalry patrol, who informed us that Gerard
+and Victor had both arrived, but too late: Montereau was held by the
+Wurtemberg troops, who garrisoned the village, and defended the bridge
+with a strong force of artillery; twice the French troops had been
+beaten back with tremendous loss, and all looked for the morrow to renew
+the encounter. We continued our journey; and, as the sun was rising,
+discovered, at a distance on the road beside the river, the mass of an
+infantry column: it was the Emperor himself, come up with the Guard, to
+attack the position.
+
+Already the preparations for a fierce assault were in progress. A
+battery of twelve guns was posted on a height to command the bridge;
+another, somewhat more distant, overlooked the village itself. Different
+bodies of infantry and cavalry were disposed wherever shelter presented
+itself, and ready for the command to move forward. The approach to the
+bridge was by a wide road, which lay for some distance along the river
+bank; and this was deeply channelled by the enemy's artillery, which,
+stationed on and above the bridge, seemed to defy any attempt to
+advance.
+
+Never, indeed, did an enterprise seem more full of danger. Every house
+which looked on the bridge was crenelated for small-arms, and garrisoned
+by sharpshooters,--the fierce Jager of Germany, whose rifles are the
+boast of the Vaterland. Cannon bristled along the heights; their wide
+mouths pointed to that devoted spot, already the grave of hundreds.
+Withdrawn under cover of a steep hill, my regiment was halted, with two
+other heavy cavalry corps, awaiting orders; and from the crest of the
+ridge I could observe the first movements of the fight.
+
+As usual, a fierce cannonade was opened from either side; which,
+directed mainly against the artillery itself, merely resulted in
+dismantling a stray battery here and there, without further damage. At
+last the hoarse roll of a drum was heard, and the head of an infantry
+column was seen advancing up the road. They passed beneath a rock on
+which a little group of officers were standing, and as they went a cheer
+of "Vive l'Empereur!" broke from them. I strained my eyes towards
+the place, for now I knew the Emperor himself was there. I could
+not, however, detect him in the crowd, who all waved their hats in
+encouragement to the troops.
+
+On they went, descending a steep declivity of the highroad to the
+bridge. Suddenly the cannonade redoubles from the side of the enemy;
+the shot whistles through the air, while ten thousand muskets peal forth
+together. I rivet my eyes to watch the column. But what is my horror to
+perceive that none appear upon the ridge! The masses move up; they
+mount the ascent; they disappear behind it; and then are lost to sight
+forever. Not one escapes the dreadful havoc of the guns, which from a
+distance of less than two hundred yards enfilades the bridge.
+
+But still they moved up. I could hear, from where i lay, the commands
+of the officers, as they gave the word to their companies: no fear nor
+hesitation,--there they went to death; in less than fifteen minutes
+twelve hundred fell, dead or wounded. And at last the signal to fall
+back was given, and the shattered fragment of a column reeled back
+behind the ridge. Again the cannonade opened, and increasing on both
+sides, was maintained for above an hour without intermission. During
+this, our guns did tremendous execution on the village, but without
+effecting anything of importance respecting the bridge.
+
+The Grenadiers of the Guard had reached the scene of combat, by forced
+marches, from Nangis; and after a brief time to recruit their strength,
+were now ordered up. What a splendid force that massive column,
+conspicuous by their scarlet shoulder-knots and tall shakos of black
+bearskin! with what confidence they move! They halt beneath the rock.
+The Emperor is there too. And see! the officer who stands beside him
+descends from the height, and puts himself at the head of the column:
+it is Guyot, the colonel of the battalion; he waves his plumed hat in
+answer to the Emperor,--that salute is the last he shall ever give on
+earth.
+
+The drums roll out; but the hoarse shout of "En avant!" drowns their
+tumult. On they rush; they are over the height; they disappear down the
+descent. And see! there they are on the bridge! "Vive la Garde!" shouted
+ten thousand of their comrades, who watch them from the heights; "Vive
+la Garde!" is echoed from the tall cliffs beyond the river. The column
+moves on, and already reaches the middle of the bridge, when eighteen
+guns throw their fire into it: the blue smoke rolls down the rocky
+heights and settles on the bridge, broken here and there by flashes,
+like the forked gleam of lightning; the cloud passes oyer; the bridge is
+empty, save of dead and dying: the Grenadiers of the Guard are no more!
+
+"What heart is his who gives his fellow-men to death like this!" was my
+exclamation as I witnessed this terrible struggle.
+
+"The Cuirassiers and Carbineers of the Guard to form by threes in column
+of attack!" shouted an aide-de-camp, as he rode up to where I lay. And
+no more thought had I of _his_ motives, who now opened the path of glory
+to myself.
+
+The squadrons were arrayed under cover of the ridge; the shot and shells
+from the enemy's batteries flew thickly over us,--a presage of the storm
+we were about to meet. The order to mount was given; and as the men
+sprang into their saddles, a group of horsemen galloped rapidly round
+the angle of the cliff, and approached. One glance showed me it was the
+Emperor and his staff.
+
+"Cuirassiers of the Guard," said he, as with raised chapeau he saluted
+his brave followers, "I have ordered two battalions to carry that
+bridge; they have failed. Let those who never fail advance to the storm.
+Montereau shall be inscribed on your helmets, men, when I see you on
+yonder heights. Go forward!"
+
+"Forward! forward!" shouted the mailed ranks, half maddened by the
+exciting presence of Napoleon.
+
+The force was formed in four separate columns of attack: the First
+Cuirassiers leading; followed by the Carbineers of the Guard; then my
+own regiment; and lastly, the Fourth, the corps of poor Pioche. What
+would I have given to know he was there! But there was not time for such
+inquiry now. The squadrons were ready awaiting the moment to dash on.
+
+A loud detonation of nigh twenty guns shook the earth; and in the smoke
+that rolled from them the bridge was concealed from view. A trumpet
+sounded, and the cry of "Charge!" followed. The mass sprang forth. What
+a cheer was theirs as they swept past! The cannonade opens again;
+the whole ground trembles. The musketry follows; and the clatter of a
+thousand sabres mingles with the war-cries of the combatants. It is but
+brief,--the tumult is already subsiding.
+
+And now comes the order for the carbineers to move up; the cuirassiers
+have been cut to pieces. A few, mangled and bleeding, have reeled back
+behind the hill; but the regiment is gone!
+
+"Where are the troops of Wagram and Eylau?" said the Emperor, in
+bitterness, as he saw the one broken squadron, sole remnant of a gallant
+corps, reeling, bloodstained and dying, to the rear. "Where is that
+cavalry that carried the Russian battery at Moskowa? You are not what
+you once were!"
+
+This cruel taunt, at the very moment when the earth was steeped in the
+blood of his brave soldiers, was heard in mournful silence. None spoke a
+word, but with clenched lip and clasped hand sat waiting the command
+to charge. It came; but no cheer followed. The carbineers dashed on,
+prepared to die: what death so dreadful as the cold irony of Napoleon!
+
+"En avant! cuirassiers of the Tenth," called out the Emperor, as the
+last squadrons of the carbineers went by, "support your comrades! Follow
+up there, men of the Fourth! I must have that bridge."
+
+And now the whole line moved up. As we turned the cliff in full trot,
+the scene of combat lay before us: the terrible bridge now actually
+choked up with dead and wounded, the very battlements strewn with
+corpses. In an instant the carbineers were upon it; and struggling
+through the mass of carnage, they rode onward. Like men goaded to
+despair, they pressed on, and actually reached the archway beyond,
+which, defended by a strong gate, closed up the way. Whole files now
+fell at every discharge; but others took their places, to fall as
+rapidly beneath the murderous musketry.
+
+"A petard to the gate!" is now the cry,--"a petard, and the bridge is
+won!"
+
+Quick as lightning, four sappers of the Guard rush across the road and
+gain the bridge. They carry some thing between them, but soon are lost
+in the dense masses of the horse. The enemy's fire redoubles; the bridge
+crashes beneath the cannonade, when a loud shout is raised,--
+
+"Let the cavalry fall back!"
+
+A cheer of triumph breaks from the town as they behold the retiring
+squadrons; they know not that the petard is now attached to the gate,
+and that the horsemen are merely withdrawn for the explosion.
+
+The bridge is cleared, and every eye is turned to watch the discharge
+which shall break the strong door, and leave the passage open. But
+unhappily the fuze has missed, and the great engine lies inert and
+inactive. What is to be done? The cavalry cannot venture to approach the
+spot, which at any moment may explode with ruin on every side; and thus
+the bridge is rendered impregnable by our own fault.
+
+"Fatality upon fatality!" is the exclamation of Napoleon, as he heard
+the tidings. "This to the man who puts a match to the fuze!" said he, as
+he detaches the great cross of the Legion from his breast, and holds it
+aloft.
+
+With one spring I jump from my saddle, and dash at the burning match a
+gunner is holding near me. A rush is made by several others; but I am
+fleetest of foot, and before they reach the road I am on the bridge. The
+enemy has not seen me, and I am half-way across before a shot is aimed
+at me. Even then a surprise seems to arrest their fire, for it is a
+single ball whizzes past. I see the train; I kneel down; the fuze is
+faint, and I stoop to blow it; and then my action is perceived, and
+a shattering volley sweeps the bridge. The high projecting parapet
+protects me, and I am unhurt. But the fuze will not take: horrible
+moment of agonizing suspense,--the powder is clotted with blood,
+and will not ignite! I remember that my pistols are in my belt, and
+detaching one, I draw the charge, and scatter the fresh powder along the
+line. My shelter still saves me, though the balls are crashing like hail
+around me. It takes, it takes! the powder spits and flashes, and a loud
+cry from my comrades bursts out, "Come back! come back!"
+
+Forgetting everything in the intense anxiety of the moment, I spring to
+my legs; but scarce is my head above the parapet when a bullet strikes
+me in the chest. I fall covered with blood.
+
+"Save him! save him!" is the cry of a thousand voices; and a rush is
+made upon the bridge. The musketry opens on these brave fellows, and
+they fall back wounded and discouraged.
+
+[Illustration: 504]
+
+Crouching beneath the parapet, I try to stanch my wound; but the blood
+is gushing in torrents, my senses are reeling, the objects around grow
+dimmer, the noise seems fainter. But suddenly I feel a hand upon my
+neck, and at the same instant a flask is pressed to my lips. I drink,
+and the wine rallies me; the bleeding is stopped. My eyes open again;
+and dare I trust their evidence? Who is it that now shelters beneath the
+parapet beside me? Minette, the vivandiere! her handsome face flushed,
+her eyes wild with excitement, and her brown hair in great tangled
+masses on her back and shoulders.
+
+"Minette, is it indeed thee?" said I, pressing her hand to my lips.
+
+"I knew you at the head of your regiment some days ago, and I thought we
+should meet ere long. But lie still; we are safe here. The fire slackens
+too; they have fallen back since the gate was forced."
+
+"Is the gate forced, Minette?"
+
+"Ay, the petard has done its work; but the columns are not come up. Lie
+still till they pass."
+
+"Dear, dear girl! what a brave heart is thine!" said I, gazing on her
+beautiful features, tenfold handsomer from the expression which her
+heroism had lent them.
+
+"You would surely adventure as much for me," said she, half-timidly, as
+she pressed her handkerchief against the wound, which still oozed blood.
+
+The action entangled her fingers in a ribbon. She tried to extricate
+them; and the locket fell out, opening by accident at the same moment.
+With a convulsive energy she clasped the miniature in both hands, and
+riveted her eyes upon it. The look was wild as that of madness itself,
+and her features grew stiff as she gazed, while the pallor of death
+overspread them. It was scarce the action of a second; in another, she
+flung back the picture from her and sprang to her feet. One glance
+she gave me, fleeting as the lightning flash, but how full of storied
+sorrow!
+
+The moment after she was in the middle of the bridge. She waved her cap
+wildly above her head, and beckoned to the column to come on. A cheer
+answered her. The mass rushed forward; the fire again pealed forth; a
+shriek pierced the din of all the battle, and the leading files halt.
+Four grenadiers fall back to the rear, carrying a body between them:
+it is the corpse of Minette the vivandiere, who has received her
+death-wound!
+
+[Illustration: 506]
+
+The same evening saw me the occupant of a bed in the ambulance of the
+Guard. Dreadful as the suffering of my wound was, I carried a deeper one
+within my heart.
+
+"The Emperor has given you his own cross of the Legion, sir," said the
+surgeon, endeavoring to rally me from a dejection whose source he knew
+not.
+
+"He has made him a general of brigade, too," said a voice behind him.
+
+It was General Letort who spoke; he had that moment come from the
+Emperor with the tidings. I buried my head beneath my hands, and felt as
+though my heart was bursting.
+
+"That was a gallant girl, that vivandiere," said the rough old general;
+"she must have had a soldier's heart within that corsage. _Parbleu!_ I'd
+rather not have another such in my brigade, though, after what happened
+this evening."
+
+"What is it you speak of?" said I, faintly.
+
+"They gave her a military funeral this evening,--the Fourth Cuirassiers.
+The Emperor gave his permission, and sent General Degeon of the staff
+to be present. And when they placed her in the grave, one of the
+soldiers,--a corporal, I believe,--kneeled down to kiss her before they
+covered in the earth; and when he had done so, he lay slowly down on his
+face on the grass. 'He has fainted,' said one of his comrades; and they
+turned him on his back. _Morbleu!_ it was worse than that: he was stone
+dead,--one of the very finest fellows of the regiment!"
+
+"Yes, yes! I know him," muttered I, endeavoring to smother my emotion.
+
+The general looked at me as if my mind was wandering, and briefly
+added,--
+
+"And so they laid them in the same grave, and the same fusillade gave
+the last honors to both."
+
+"Your story has affected my patient overmuch, General," said the doctor;
+"you must leave him to himself for some time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL. FONTAINEBLEAU
+
+An order from Berthier, written at the command of the Emperor, admitted
+me into the ancient Palace of Fontainebleau, where I lay for upwards
+of two months under my wound. Twice had fever nearly brought me to
+the grave; but youth and unimpaired health succored me, and I rallied
+through all. A surgeon of the staff accompanied me, and by his kind
+companionship, not less than by his skill, did I recover from an illness
+where sorrow had made an iron inroad not less deep than disease.
+
+In my little chamber, which looked out upon the courtyard of the Palace,
+I passed my days, thinking over the past and all its vicissitudes. Each
+day we learned some intelligence either from the seat of war or from
+Paris: defeat in one, treason and disaffection in the other, were
+rapidly hastening the downfall of the mightiest Empire the genius of
+man had ever constructed. Champ-Aubert, Montmirail, and Montereau, great
+victories as they were, retarded not the current of events. "The week of
+glory" brought not hope to a cause predestined to ruin.
+
+It was the latter end of March. For some days previous the surgeon had
+left me to visit an outpost ambulance near Melun, and I was alone. My
+strength, however, enabled me to sit up at my window; and even in this
+slight pleasure my wearied senses found enjoyment, after the tedious
+hours of a sickbed. The evening was calm, and for the season mild and
+summerlike. The shrubs were putting forth their first leaves, and around
+the marble fountains the spring flowers were already showing signs
+of blossom. The setting sun made the tall shadows of the ancient
+beech-trees stretch across the wide court, where all was still as at
+midnight. No inhabitant of the Palace was about; not a servant moved,
+not a footstep was heard.
+
+It was a moment of such perfect stillness as leads the mind to reverie;
+and my thoughts wandered away to that distant time when gay cavaliers
+and stately dames trod those spacious terraces,--when tales of chivalry
+and love mingled with the plashing sounds of those bright fountains, and
+the fair moon looked down on more lovely forms than even those graceful
+marbles around. I fancied the time when the horn of the chasseur was
+heard-echoing through those vast courts, its last notes lost in the
+merry voices of the cortege round the monarch. And then I called up
+the brilliant group, with caracoling steeds and gay housings, proudly
+advancing up that great avenue to the royal entrance, and pictured the
+ancient ceremonial that awaited his coming,--the descendant of a long
+line of kings. The frank and kingly Francis, the valiant Henry the
+Fourth, the "Grand Monarch" himself,--all passed in review before my
+mind as once they lived, and moved, and spoke in that stately pile.
+
+The sun had set: the mingled shadows threw their gloom over the wide
+court, and one wing of the Palace was in' deep shade, when suddenly I
+heard the roll of wheels and the tramp of horses on the distant road.
+I listened attentively. They were coming near; I could hear the tread of
+many together; and my practised ear could detect the clank of dragoons,
+as their sabres and sabretasches jingled against the horses' flanks.
+"Some hurried news from the Emperor," thought I; "perhaps some marshal
+wounded, and about to be conveyed to the Palace." The same instant the
+guard at the distant entrance beat to arms, and an equipage drawn by
+six horses dashed in at full gallop; a second followed as fast, with a
+peloton of dragoons at the side. My anxiety increased. "What if it were
+the Emperor himself!" thought I. But as the idea flashed across me,
+it yielded at once on seeing that the carriages did not draw up at the
+grand stair, but passed on to a low and private door at the distant wing
+of the Palace.
+
+The bustle of the cortege arriving was but a moment's work. The
+carriages moved rapidly away, the dragoons disappeared, and all was as
+still as before, leaving me to ponder over the whole, and actually ask
+myself could it have been reality? I opened my door to listen; but not a
+sound awoke the echo of the long corridors. One could have fancied that
+no living thing was beneath that wide roof, so silent was all around.
+
+A strange feeling of anxiety,--the dread of something undefined, I knew
+not what, or whence coming,--was over me, and my nerves, long irritable
+from illness, became now jarringly sensitive, and banished all thought
+of sleep. Wild fancies and incoherent ideas crossed my mind, and made me
+restless and uneasy. I felt, too, as if the night were unusually close
+and sultry, and I opened my window to admit the air. Scarcely had I
+drawn the curtain aside, when my eye rested on a long line of light,
+that, issuing from a window on the ground-floor of the Palace, threw its
+bright gleam far across the courtyard.
+
+It was in the same wing where the carriages drew up. It must be so;
+some officer of rank, wounded in a late battle, was brought there. "Poor
+fellow!" thought I; "what suffering may he be enduring amid all the
+peace-fulness and calm of this tranquil spot! Who can it be?" was
+the ever-recurring question to my mind; for my impression had already
+strengthened itself to a conviction.
+
+The hours went on; the light shone steadily as at first, and the
+stillness was unbroken. Wearied with thinking, and half forgetful of my
+weakness, I tottered along the corridor, descended the grand stair, and
+passed out into the court. How refreshing did the night air feel! how
+sweet the fair odors of the spring, as, wafted by the motion of the
+_jet d'eau_, they were diffused around! The first steps of recovery from
+severe sickness have a strange thrill of youthfulness about them. Our
+senses seem once more to revel in the simple enjoyments of early days,
+and to feel that their greatest delight lies in the associations which
+gave pleasure to childhood. Weaned from the world's contentions, we seem
+to have been lifted for the time above the meaner cares and ambitions
+of life, and love to linger a little longer in that ideal state of
+happiness calm thoughts bestow; and thus the interval that brings back
+health to the body restores freshness to the heart, and purified in
+thought, we come forth hoping for better things, and striving for
+them with all the generous ardor of early years. How happy was I as I
+wandered in that garden! how full of gratitude to feel the current of
+health once more come back in all my veins,--the sense of enjoyment
+which flows from every object of the fair world restored to me, after so
+many dangers and escapes!
+
+As I moved slowly through the terraced court, my eye was constantly
+attracted to the small and starlike light which glimmered through
+the darkness; and I turned to it at last, impelled by a feeling of
+undefinable sympathy. Following a narrow path, I drew near to a little
+garden, which once contained some rare flowers. They had been favorites
+of poor Josephine in times past; but the hour was over in which that
+gave them a claim to care and attention, and now they were wild grown
+and tangled, and almost concealed the narrow walk which led to the
+doorway.
+
+I reached this at length; and as I stood, the faint moonlight, slanting
+beneath a cloud, fell upon a bright and glistening object almost at my
+feet. I stepped back, and looked fixedly at it. It was the figure of
+a man sleeping across the entrance of the porch. He was dressed
+in Mameluke fashion; but his gay trappings and rich costume were
+travel-stained and splashed. His unsheathed cimeter lay grasped in one
+hand, and a Turkish pistol seemed to have fallen from the other.
+
+Even by the imperfect light I recognized Rustan, the favorite Mameluke
+of the Emperor, who always slept at the door of his tent and his
+chamber,--his chosen bodyguard. Napoleon must then be here; his equipage
+it was which arrived so hurriedly; his the light which burned through
+the stillness of the night. As these thoughts followed fast on one
+another, I almost trembled to think how nearly I had ventured on his
+presence, where none dared to approach unbidden. To retire quickly and
+noiselessly was now my care. But my first step entangled my foot; I
+stumbled. The noise awoke the sleeping Turk, and with a loud cry for the
+guard he sprang to his feet.
+
+"La garde!" called he a second time, forgetting in his surprise that
+none was there. But then with a spring he seized me by the arm, and as
+his shining weapon gleamed above my head, demanded who I was, and for
+what purpose there.
+
+The first words of my reply were scarcely uttered, when a small door was
+opened within the vestibule, and the Emperor appeared. Late as was the
+hour, he was dressed, and even wore his sword at his side.
+
+"What means this? Who are you, sir?" was the quick, sharp question he
+addressed to me.
+
+A few words--the fewest in which I could convey it--told my story, and
+expressed my sorrow, that in the sick man's fancy of a moonlight walk I
+should have disturbed his Majesty.
+
+"I thought, Sire," added I, "that your Majesty was many a league distant
+with the army--"
+
+"There is no army, sir," interrupted he, with a rapid gesture of his
+hand; "to-morrow there will be no Emperor. Go, sir; go, while it is yet
+the time. Offer your sword and your services where so many others, more
+exalted than yourself, have done. This is the day of desertion; see that
+you take advantage of it."
+
+"Had my name and rank been less humble, they would have assured your
+Majesty how little I merited this reproach."
+
+"I am sorry to have offended you," replied he, in a voice of
+inexpressible softness. "You led the assault at Montereau? I remember
+you now. I should have given you your brigade, had I--" He stopped
+here suddenly, while an expression of suffering passed across his pale
+features; he rallied from it, however, in an instant, and resumed, "I
+should have known you earlier; it is too late! Adieu!"
+
+He inclined his head slightly as he spoke, and extended his hand. I
+pressed it fervently to my lips, and would have spoken, but I could not.
+The moment after he was gone.
+
+[Illustration: BrownePartingScene ]
+
+It is too late! too late!--the same terrible words which were uttered
+beneath the blackened walls of Moscow; repeated at every new disaster of
+that dreadful retreat; now spoken by him whose fortune they predicted.
+Too late!--the exclamation of the proud marshal, harassed by
+unsuccessful efforts to avert the destiny he saw inevitable. Too
+late!--the cry of the wearied soldier. Too late!--the fatal expression
+of the Czar when the brave and faithful Macdonald urged the succession
+of the King of Rome and the regency of the Empress.
+
+Wearied with a wakeful night, I fell into a slumber towards morning,
+when I started suddenly at the roll of drums in the court beneath. In
+an instant I was at my window. What was my astonishment to perceive that
+the courtyard was filled with troops! The Grenadiers of the Guard were
+ranged in order of battle, with several squadrons of the chasseurs and
+the horse artillery; while a staff of general officers stood in
+the midst, among whom I recognized Belliard, Montesquieu, and
+Turenne,--great names, and worthy to be recorded for an act of faithful
+devotion. The Duc de Bassano was there too, in deep mourning; his pale
+and careworn face attesting the grief within his heart.
+
+The roll of the drums continued; the deep, unbroken murmur of the salute
+went on from one end of the line to the other. It ceased; and ere I
+could question the reason, the various staff-officers became uncovered,
+and stood in attitudes of respectful attention, and the Emperor
+himself slowly, step by step, descended the wide stair of the "Cheval
+Blanc,"--as the grand terrace was styled,--and advanced towards the
+troops. At the same instant the whole line presented arms, and the drums
+beat the salute. They ceased, and Napoleon raised his hand to command
+silence, and throughout that crowded mass not a whisper was heard.
+
+I could perceive that he was speaking, but the words did not reach me.
+Eloquent and burning words they were, and to be recorded in history
+to the remotest ages. I now saw that he had finished, as General Petit
+sprang forward with the eagle of the First Regiment of the Guards, and
+presented it to him. The Emperor pressed it fervently to his lips,
+and then threw his arms round Petit's neck; while suddenly disengaging
+himself, he took the tattered flag that waved above him, and kissed it
+twice. Unable to bear up any longer, the worn, hard-featured veterans
+sobbed aloud like children, and turned away their faces to conceal their
+emotion. No cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" resounded now through those ranks
+where each had willingly shed his heart's blood for him. Sorrow had
+usurped the place of enthusiasm, and they stood overwhelmed by grief.
+
+A tall and soldierlike figure, with head uncovered, approached the
+Emperor, and said a few words. Napoleon waved his hand towards the
+troops, and from the ranks many rushed towards him, and fell on their
+knees before him. He passed his hand across his face and turned away. My
+eyes grew dim; a misty vapor shut out every object, and I felt as though
+the very lids were bursting. The great tramp of horses startled me, and
+then came the roll of wheels. I looked up: an equipage was passing from
+the gate, a peloton of dragoons escorted it; a second followed at full
+speed. The colonels formed their men; the word to march was given; the
+drums beat out; the grenadiers moved on; the chasseurs succeeded; and
+last the artillery rolled heavily up. The court was deserted; not a man
+remained: all, all were gone! The Empire was ended; and the Emperor, the
+mighty genius who created it, on his way to exile!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI. THE CONCLUSION
+
+France never appeared to less advantage in the eyes of Europe than at
+the period I speak of. Scarcely had the proud star of Napoleon set, when
+the whole current of popular favor flowed along with those whom, but a
+few days before, they accounted their greatest enemies. The Russians and
+the Prussians, whom they lampooned and derided, they now flattered and
+fawned on. They deemed no adulation servile enough to lay at the feet
+of their conquerors,--not esteeming the exaltation of their victors
+sufficient, unless purchased at the sacrifice of their own honor as a
+nation.
+
+The struggle was no longer who should be first in glory, but who
+foremost in desertion of him and his fortunes whose word had made
+them. The marshals he had created, the generals he had decorated, the
+ministers and princes he had endowed with wealth and territory, now
+turned from him in his hour of misfortune, to court the favor of one
+against whom every act of their former lives was directed.
+
+These men, whose very titles recalled the fields of glory to which he
+led them, now hastened to the Tuileries to proffer an allegiance to a
+monarch they neither loved nor respected. Sad and humiliating spectacle!
+The long pent-up hatred of the Royalists found a natural vent in this
+moment of triumphant success. Chateaubriand, Constant, and Madame de
+Stael led the way to those declarations of the press which denounced
+Napoleon as the greatest of earthly tyrants; and inveighed even against
+his greatness and his genius, as though malevolence could produce
+oblivion.
+
+All Paris was in a ferment of excitement,--not the troubled agitation of
+a people whose capital owned the presence of a conquering army, but the
+tumultuous joy of a nation intoxicated with pleasure. Fetes and
+balls, gay processions and public demonstrations of rejoicing, met one
+everywhere; and ingenuity was taxed to invent flatteries for the
+very nations whom, but a week past, they scoffed at as barbarians and
+Scythians.
+
+Sickened and disgusted with the fickleness of mankind, I knew not where
+to turn. My wound had brought on a low, lingering fever, accompanied
+by extreme debility, increased in all likelihood by the harassing
+reflections every object around suggested. I could not venture abroad
+without meeting some evidence of that exuberant triumph by which
+treachery hopes to cover its own baseness; besides, the reputation of
+being a Napoleonist was now a mark for insult and indignity from those
+who never dared to avow an opinion until the tide of fortune had turned
+in their favor. The white cockade had replaced the tricolor; every
+emblem of the Empire was abolished; and that uniform, to wear which
+was once a mark of honorable distinction, was now become a signal for
+insult.
+
+I was returning one evening from a solitary ramble in the neighborhood
+of Paris,--for, by some strange fatality, I could not tear myself away
+from the scenes to which the most eventful portions of my life were
+attached,--and at length reached the Boulevard Montmartre, just as
+the leading squadrons of a cavalry regiment were advancing up the wide
+thoroughfare. I had hitherto avoided every occasion of witnessing
+any military display which should recall the past; but now the rapid
+gathering of the crowd to see the soldiers pass prevented my escape, and
+I was obliged to wait patiently until the cortege should move forward.
+
+They came on in dense column,--the brave Chasseurs of the Guard, the
+bronzed warriors of Jena and Wigram; but to my eyes they seemed sterner
+and sadder than their wont, and heeded not the loud "vivas" of the
+mob around them. Where were their eagles? Alas! the white banner that
+floated over their heads was a poor substitute for the proud ensign
+they had so often followed to victory. And here weie the dragoons,--old
+Kellermann's brave troopers; their proud glances were changed to a
+mournful gaze upon that crowd whose cheers they once felt proud of: and
+there, the artillery, that glorious corps which he loved so well,--did
+not the roll of their guns sound sorrowfully on the ear!
+
+They passed! And then came on a strange cortege of mounted
+cavaliers,--old and withered men, in uniforms of quaint antique fashion,
+their chapeaux decorated with great cockades of white ribbon, and their
+sword-knots garnished with similar ornaments; the order of St. Louis
+glittered on each breast, and in their bearing you might read the air of
+men who were enjoying a long-wished-for and long-expected triumph. These
+were the old seigneurs of the Monarchy; and truly they were not wanting
+in that look of nobility their ancient blood bestowed. Their features
+were proud; their glance elated; their very port and bearing spoke that
+consciousness of superiority, to crush which had cost all the horrors
+and bloodshed of a terrible Revolution. How strange! it seemed as if
+many of their faces were familiar to me,--I knew them well; but where,
+and how, my memory could not trace. Yes, now I could recall it: they
+were the frequenters of the old "Pension of the Rue de Mi-Careme,"--the
+same men I had seen in their day of adversity, bearing up with noble
+pride against the ills of fortune. There they were, revelling in the
+long-sought-after restoration of their former state. Were they not more
+worthy of admiration in their hour of patient and faithful watching,
+than in this the period of their triumph?
+
+The pressure of the crowd obliged the cavalcade to halt. And now the air
+resounded with the cries of "Vive le Roi!"--the long-forgotten cheer
+of loyalty. Thousands re-echoed the shout, and the horsemen waved their
+hats in exultation. "Vive le Roi!" cried the mob, as though the voices
+had not called "Vive l'Empereur!" but yesterday.
+
+"Down with the Napoleonist,--down with him!" screamed a savage-looking
+fellow, who, jammed up in the crowd, pointed towards me, as I stood a
+mere spectator of the scene.
+
+"Cry 'Vive le Roi!' at once," whispered a voice near me, "or the
+consequences may be serious. The mob is ungovernable at a moment like
+this."
+
+A dozen voices shouted out at the same time, "Down with him! down with
+him!"
+
+"Off with your hat, sir!" said a rude-looking fellow beside me, as he
+raised his hand to remove it.
+
+"At your peril!" said I, as I clenched my hand, and prepared to strike
+him down the moment he should touch me.
+
+The words were not well uttered, when the crowd closed on me, and a
+hundred arms were stretched out to attack me. In vain all my efforts to
+resist. My hat was torn from my head, and assailed on every side, I was
+dragged into the middle of the street, amid wild cries of vengeance and
+taunting insults. It was then, as I lay overcome by numbers, that a loud
+cry to fall back issued from the cavalcade, and a horseman, sword in
+hand, dashed upon the mob, slashing on every side as he went, mounted
+on a high-mettled horse. He cleared the dense mass with the speed of
+lightning, and drove back my assailants.
+
+[Illustration: BrowneBeauvais341]
+
+"Catch my horse's mane," said he, hurriedly. "Hold fast for a few
+seconds, and you are safe."
+
+Following the advice, I held firmly by the long mane of his charger,
+while, clearing away the mob on either side, he protected me by his
+drawn sabre above my head.
+
+"Safe this time!" said he, as we arrived within the ranks. And then
+turning round, so as to face me, added, "Safe! and my debt acquitted.
+You saved my life once; and though the peril seemed less imminent now,
+trust me, yours had not escaped the fury of that multitude without me."
+
+"What! Henri de Beauvais! Do we meet again?"
+
+"Yes; but with altered fortune, Burke. Our king, as the words of our
+Garde Ecossaise song says,--our king 'has got his own again.' The day
+of loyalty has again dawned on France, and a grateful people may carry
+their enthusiasm for the Restoration, even as far as vengeance on their
+opponents, and yet not merit much reproach. But no more of this. We can
+be friends now; or if not, it must be your fault."
+
+"I am not too proud, De Beauvais, either to accept or acknowledge a
+favor at your hands."
+
+"Then we are friends," said he, joyfully. "And in the name of
+friendship, let me beg of you to place this _cordon_ in your hat." And
+so saying, he detached the cockade of white ribbon he wore from his own,
+and held it towards me. "Well, then, at least remove the tricolor; it
+can but expose you to insult. Remember, Burke, its day is over."
+
+"I am not likely to forget it," replied I, sadly.
+
+"Monsieur le Colonel, his royal highness wishes to speak with you," said
+an aide-de-camp, riding up beside De Beauvais's horse.
+
+"Take care of this gentleman for me," said De Beauvais, pointing to me;
+and then, wheeling round his horse, he galloped at full speed to the
+rear.
+
+"I will spare you all trouble on my account, sir," said I. "My way lies
+yonder, and at present I see no obstacle to my pursuing it."
+
+"Let me at least send an escort with you."
+
+I thanked him and declined the offer; and leaving the ranks of the
+procession, mingled with the crowd, and in a few minutes after reached
+my hotel without further molestation. The hour was come, I saw plainly,
+in which I must leave France. Not only was every tie which bound me to
+that land severed, but to remain was only to oppose myself singly to
+the downward current of popular opinion which now threatened to overturn
+every landmark and vestige of the Empire. Up to this moment, I never
+confessed to my heart with what secret hope I had prolonged each day of
+my stay,--how I cherished within me the expectation that I should once
+again, though but for an instant, see her who lived in all my thoughts,
+and, unknown to my self, formed the mainspring of all my actions!
+
+This hope only became confessed when about to leave me forever.
+
+As I busied myself in the preparations for departure, a note arrived
+from De Beauvais, stating that he desired particularly to see and confer
+with me that same evening, and requesting me on no account to be from
+home, as his business was most pressing. I felt little curiosity to
+know to what he might allude, and saw him enter my room some hours later
+without a single particle of anxiety as to his communication.
+
+"I am come, Burke," said he, after a few commonplaces had been exchanged
+between us,--"I am come, Burke, on a mission which I hope you will
+believe the sincerest regard for you has prompted me to undertake, and
+which, whatever objections it may meet with from you, none can arise, I
+am certain, on the score of his fidelity who now makes this proposition
+to you. To be brief: the Count d'Artois has sent me to offer you your
+grade and rank in the army of his Majesty Louis the Eighteenth. Your
+last gazette was as colonel; but there is a rumor you should have
+received your appointment as general of brigade. There will be little
+difficulty in arranging your brevet on that understanding; for your
+services, brief as they were, have not been unnoticed. Marshal Ney
+himself bears testimony to your conduct at Montereau; and your name
+twice occurs on the list of the minister of war for promotion.
+Strange claims these, you will say, to recompense from the rightful
+sovereign of France, gained as they were in the service of the Usurper!
+But it is the prerogative of legitimacy to be great and noble-minded,
+and to recognize true desert wherever it occurs. Come, what say you?
+Does this proposal meet your wishes?"
+
+"If to surpass my expectations, and flatter my pride, were to convince
+my reason, and change my estimation of what is loyal and true, I should
+say, 'Yes, De Beauvais; the proposition does meet my wishes.' But not
+so. I wore these epaulettes first in my admiration of him whose fortunes
+I have followed to the last. My pride, my glory, were to be his soldier;
+that can be no longer, and the sword I drew in his cause shall never be
+unsheathed in another's."
+
+"Are you ignorant that such arguments apply with equal force to all
+those great men who have, within these few weeks past, sworn allegiance
+to his Majesty? What say you to the list of marshals, not one of whom
+has refused the graciously offered favor of his Majesty? Are Ney, Soult,
+Augereau, Macdonald, and Marmont nothing as examples?"
+
+"I will not say so, De Beauvais; but this I will say, they had had both
+more respect and esteem from me had they done otherwise. If they were
+true to the Emperor, they can scarce be loyal to the King."
+
+"Can you not distinguish between the forced services exacted by a tyrant
+and the noble duty rendered to a rightful sovereign?"
+
+"I can better estimate the fascinations which lead men to follow a hero,
+than to be the parade-soldier around the gilded gates of a palace."
+
+De Beauvais's cheek flashed scarlet, and his voice was agitated, as he
+replied,--
+
+"The nobles of France, sir, have shown themselves as high in deeds of
+chivalry and heroism as they have ever been in the accomplishments of
+true-born gentlemen."
+
+"Pardon me, De Beauvais! I meant no imputation of them and their
+motives. There is every reason why you and your gallant companions
+should enjoy the favors of that crown your efforts have placed upon the
+head of the King of France. Your true and fitting station is around the
+throne your bravery and devotion have restored. But as for us,--we
+who have fought and marched, have perilled limb and life, to raise
+the fortune and elevate the glory of him who was the enemy of that
+sovereign,--how can we be participators in the triumph we labored to
+avert, and rejoice in a consummation we would have died rather than
+witness?"
+
+"But it has come; the fates have decided against you. The cause you
+would serve is not merely unfortunate,--it is extinct; the Empire has
+left no banner behind it. Come, then, and rally round one whose boast it
+is to number among its followers the high-born and the noble,--to assert
+the supremacy of rank and worth above the claim of the base and low."
+
+"I cannot; I must not."
+
+"At least, you will wait on the Comte d'Artois. You must see his royal
+highness, and thank him for his gracious intentions."
+
+"I know what that means, De Beauvais; I have heard that few can resist
+the graceful fascinations of the prince's manner. I shall certainly not
+fear to encounter them, however dangerous to my principles."
+
+"But not to refuse his royal highness?" said he, quickly. "I trust you
+will not do that."
+
+"You would not have me yield to the flattery of a prince's notice what I
+refuse to the solicitations of a friend, would you?"
+
+"And such is your intention,--your fixed intention?"
+
+"Undoubtedly it is."
+
+De Beauvais turned away impatiently, and leaned on the window for some
+minutes. Then, after a pause, and in a slow and measured voice, added,--
+
+"You are known to the Court, Burke, by other channels than those I have
+mentioned. Your prospects of advancement would be most brilliant, if you
+accept this offer: I scarcely know to what they may not aspire. Reflect
+for a moment or two. There is no desertion,--no falling off here.
+Remember that the Empire was a vision, and like a dream it has passed
+away. Where there is no cause, there can be no fealty."
+
+"It is but a sorry memory, De Beauvais, that only retains while there
+are benefits to receive; mine is a more tenacious one."
+
+"Then my mission is ended," cried he, taking up his hat. "I may mention
+to his royal highness that you intend returning to England; that you
+are indisposed to service at present. It is unnecessary to state more
+accurately the views you entertain?"
+
+"I leave the matter completely to your discretion."
+
+"Adieu, then. Our roads lie widely apart, Burke; and I for one regret
+it deeply. It only remains that I should give you this note; which I
+promised to deliver into your hands in the event of your declining to
+accept the prince's offer."
+
+He blushed deeply, as he placed a small sealed note in my fingers; and
+as if anxious to get away, pressed my hand hurriedly, and left the room.
+
+My curiosity to learn the contents of the billet made me tear it open at
+once; but it was not before I had perused it several times that I could
+credit the lines before me. They were but few, and ran thus:--
+
+      Dear Sir,--May I request the honor of a visit from you this
+      evening at the Hotel de Grammont?
+
+      Truly yours,
+
+      Marie d'Auvergne, nee De Meudon.
+
+      Colonel Burke.
+
+How did I read these lines over again and again!--now interpreting them
+as messengers of future hope; now fearing they might exclude every ray
+of it forever. One solution recurred to me at every moment, and tortured
+me to the very soul. Her family had all been Royalists. The mere
+accidents of youth had thrown her brother into the army, and herself
+into the Court of the Empire, where personal devotion and attachment to
+the Empress had retained her. What if she should exert her influence to
+induce me to accept the prince's offer? How could I resist a request,
+perhaps an entreaty, from her? The more I reflected over it, the more
+firmly this opinion gained ground with me, and the more deeply did I
+grieve over a position environed by such difficulty; and ardently as I
+longed for the moment of meeting her once more, the desire was tempered
+by a fear that the meeting should be our last.
+
+The eventful moment of my destiny arrived, and found me at the door of
+the Hotel de Grammont. A valet in waiting for my arrival conducted me to
+a _salon_, saying the countess would appear in a few moments.
+
+What an anxious interval was that! I tried to occupy myself with
+the objects around, and distract my attention from the approaching
+interview; but every sound startled me, and I turned at each instant
+towards the door by which I expected her to enter.
+
+The time appeared to drag heavily on,--minutes became like hours; and
+yet no one appeared. My impatience had reached its climax, when I heard
+my name spoken in a low soft voice. I turned, and she was before me.
+
+She was dressed in deep mourning, and looked paler, perhaps thinner,
+than I had ever seen her,--but not less beautiful. Whether prompted by
+her own feelings at the moment, or called up by my unconsciously fixed
+look, she blushed deeply as our eyes met.
+
+"I was about to leave France, Colonel," said she, as soon as we were
+seated, "when I heard from my cousin, De Beauvais, that you were here,
+and delayed my departure to have the opportunity of seeing you."
+
+She paused here, and drew a deep breath to continue; but leaning her
+head on her hand, she seemed to have fallen into a reverie for some
+minutes, from which she started suddenly, by saying,--
+
+"His royal highness has offered you your grade in the service, I
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, Madame; so my friend De Beauvais informs me."
+
+"And you have refused,--is it not so?"
+
+"Even so, Madame."
+
+"How is this, sir? Are you so weary of a soldier's life, that you would
+leave it thus early?"
+
+"This was not the reason, Madame."
+
+"You loved the Emperor, sir," said she, hastily, and with a tone of
+almost passionate eagerness, "even as I loved my dear, kind mistress;
+and you felt allegiance to be too sacred a thing to be bartered at a
+moment's notice. Is this the true explanation?"
+
+"I am proud to say, you have read my motives; such were they."
+
+"Why are there not many more to act thus?" cried she, vehemently. "Why
+do not the great names _he_ made glorious, become greater by fidelity
+than ever they were by heroism? There was one, sir, who, had he lived,
+had given this example to the world."
+
+"True, most true, Madame. But was not his fate happier than to have
+survived for this?"
+
+A long pause, unbroken by a word on either side, followed; when at last
+she said,--
+
+"I had left with De Beauvais some few relics of my dear brother, hoping
+you would accept them for his sake. General d'Auvergne's sword,--the
+same he wore at Jena,--he desired might be conveyed to you when you left
+the service. These, and this ring," said she, endeavoring to withdraw a
+rich brilliant from her finger, "are the few souvenirs I would ask you
+to keep for their sakes, and for mine. You mean to return to England,
+sir?"
+
+"Yes, Madame; that is, I had intended,--I know not now whither I shall
+go. Country has few ties for one like me."
+
+"I, too, must be a wanderer," said she, half musingly, while still
+she endeavored to remove the ring from her finger. "I find," said she,
+smiling, "I must give you another keepsake; this will not leave me."
+
+"Give it me, then, where it is," said I. "Yes, Marie! the devotion of a
+heart, wholly yours, should not go unrewarded. To you I owe all that
+my life has known of happiness,--to memory of you, every high and noble
+hope. Let me not, after years of such affection, lose the guiding star
+of my existence,--all that I have lived for, all that I love!"
+
+These words, poured forth with all the passionate energy which a last
+hope inspires, were followed by a story of my long-concealed love. I
+know not how incoherently the tale was told; I cannot say how often
+I interrupted my own recital by some appeal to the past,--some
+half-uttered hope that she had seen the passion which burned within me.
+I can but remember the bursting feeling of my bosom, as she placed her
+hand in mine, and said,--
+
+"It is yours!"
+
+These words ended the story of a life whose trials were many, and
+encountered at an age in which few have braved the world's cares.
+The lessons I had learned, however, were acquired in that
+school,--adversity,--where few are taught in vain; and if the morning of
+my life broke in clouds and shadow, the noon has been not less peaceful
+and bright. And the evening, as it draws near, comes with an aspect of
+calm tranquillity, ample enough to recompense every vicissitude of those
+early days when the waves of fortune were roughest.
+
+
+
+
+A PARTING WORD.
+
+
+      Dear Friends,--Time has hallowed the custom of a word at
+      parting, and I am unwilling to relinquish the privilege. In
+      the tale I have just concluded, my endeavor was to portray,
+      with as little aid from fiction as might be, some lights and
+      shadows of the most wonderful and eventful period of modern
+      history,--the empire of Napoleon. The character I selected
+      for my hero was not all imaginary, neither were many of the
+      scenes, which bear less apparent proofs of reality. The
+      subject was one long meditated on before undertaken; but as
+      the work proceeded, I felt at some places, the difficulty of
+      creating interest for persons, and incidents removed both by
+      time and country from my reader; and at others, my own
+      inadequacy to an effort, which mere zeal could never
+      accomplish. These causes induced me to deviate from the plan
+      I originally set down for my guidance; and combined with
+      failing health, have rendered what might have been a matter
+      of interest and amusement to the writer, a task of labor and
+      anxiety.
+
+      It is the first time I have had to ask my reader's
+      indulgence on such grounds; nor should I now allude to it,
+      save as affording the only apology I can render for the many
+      defects in a story, which, in defiance of me, took its
+      coloring from my own mind at the period, rather from the
+      reflex of the events I related.
+
+      The moral of my tale is simple,--the fatal influence crude
+      and uncertain notions of liberty will exercise over a
+      career, which, under happier direction of its energies, had
+      won honor and distinction, and the impolicy of the effort,
+      to substitute an adopted for a natural allegiance.
+
+      My estimate of Napoleon may seem to some to partake of
+      exaggeration; but I have carefully distinguished between the
+      Hero and the Emperor, and have not suffered my unqualified
+      admiration of the one to carry me on to any blind devotion
+      of the other.
+
+      Having begun this catalogue of excuses and explanations, I
+      know not where to stop. So, once more asking forgiveness for
+      all the errors of these volumes, I beg to subscribe myself,
+      in great respect and esteem,
+
+      Your humble and obedient servant,
+
+      Harry Lorrequer.
+
+      Templeogue House,
+
+      August 26th, 1844.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II (of II), by
+Charles James Lever
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