o catch a glimpse of
a crowd of well-dressed women, thronging either side of the old marble
arcade along which the Emperor was to pass.

"We were too late in starting, father; you can see that quite well." A
little piteous pout revealed the immense importance which she attached
to the sight of this particular review.

"Very well, Julie--let us go away. You dislike a crush."

"Do let us stay, father. Even here I may catch a glimpse of the Emperor;
he might die during this campaign, and then I should never have seen
him."

Her father shuddered at the selfish speech. There were tears in the
girl's voice; he looked at her, and thought that he saw tears beneath
her lowered eyelids; tears caused not so much by the disappointment as
by one of the troubles of early youth, a secret easily guessed by an old
father. Suddenly Julie's face flushed, and she uttered an exclamation.
Neither her father nor the sentinels understood the meaning of the cry;
but an officer within the barrier, who sprang across the court towards
the staircase, heard it, and turned abruptly at the sound. He went to
the arcade by the Gardens of the Tuileries, and recognized the young
lady who had been hidden for a moment by the tall bearskin caps of the
grenadiers. He set aside in favor of the pair the order which he himself
had given. Then, taking no heed of the murmurings of the fashionable
crowd seated under the arcade, he gently drew the enraptured child
towards him.

"I am no longer surprised at her vexation and enthusiasm, if _you_ are
in waiting," the old man said with a half-mocking, half-serious glance
at the officer.

"If you want a good position, M. le Duc," the young man answered, "we
must not spend any time in talking. The Emperor does not like to be kept
waiting, and the Grand Marshal has sent me to announce our readiness."

As he spoke, he had taken Julie's arm with a certain air of old
acquaintance, and drew her rapidly in the direction of the Place du
Carrousel. Julie was astonished at the sight. An immense crowd was
penned up in a narrow space, shut in between the gray walls of the
palace and the limits marked out by chains round the great sanded
squares in the midst of the courtyard of the Tuileries. The cordon of
sentries posted to keep a clear passage for the Emperor and his staff
had great difficulty in keeping back the eager humming swarm of human
beings.

"Is it going to be a very fine sight?" Julie asked (she was radiant
now