ing us around him and
sinking his voice as he addressed us.

'I have picked you out of the whole army,' said he, 'as being not only
the most formidable but also the most faithful of my soldiers. I was
convinced that you were all three men who would never waver in your
fidelity to me. If I have ventured to put that fidelity to the proof,
and to watch you while attempts were at my orders made upon your honour,
it was only because, in the days when I have found the blackest treason
amongst my own flesh and blood, it is necessary that I should be doubly
circumspect. Suffice it that I am well convinced now that I can rely
upon your valour.'

'To the death, sire!' cried Tremeau, and we both repeated it after him.

Napoleon drew us all yet a little closer to him, and sank his voice
still lower.

'What I say to you now I have said to no one--not to my wife or my
brothers; only to you. It is all up with us, my friends. We have come to
our last rally. The game is finished, and we must make provision
accordingly.'

My heart seemed to have changed to a nine-pounder ball as I listened to
him. We had hoped against hope, but now when he, the man who was always
serene and who always had reserves--when he, in that quiet, impassive
voice of his, said that everything was over, we realized that the clouds
had shut for ever, and the last gleam gone. Tremeau snarled and gripped
at his sabre, Despienne ground his teeth, and for my own part I threw
out my chest and clicked my heels to show the Emperor that there were
some spirits which could rise to adversity.

'My papers and my fortune must be secured,' whispered the Emperor. 'The
whole course of the future may depend upon my having them safe. They are
our base for the next attempt--for I am very sure that these poor
Bourbons would find that my footstool is too large to make a throne for
them. Where am I to keep these precious things? My belongings will be
searched--so will the houses of my supporters. They must be secured and
concealed by men whom I can trust with that which is more precious to me
than my life. Out of the whole of France, you are those whom I have
chosen for this sacred trust.

'In the first place, I will tell you what these papers are. You shall
not say that I have made you blind agents in the matter. They are the
official proof of my divorce from Josephine, of my legal marriage to
Marie Louise, and of the birth of my son and heir, the King of Rome. If
we cannot pr