as to what it was that the Emperor could want of
me! I paced up and down my little room in a fever of anticipation.
Sometimes I thought that perhaps he had heard of the guns which we had
taken at Austerlitz; but, then, there were so many who had taken guns at
Austerlitz, and two years had passed since the battle. Or it might be
that he wished to reward me for my affair with the _aide-de-camp_ of the
Russian Emperor. But then again a cold fit would seize me, and I would
fancy that he had sent for me to reprimand me. There were a few duels
which he might have taken in ill part, and there were one or two little
jokes in Paris since the peace.

But, no! I considered the words of Lasalle. 'If he had need of a brave
man,' said Lasalle.

It was obvious that my Colonel had some idea of what was in the wind. If
he had not known that it was to my advantage, he would not have been so
cruel as to congratulate me. My heart glowed with joy as this conviction
grew upon me, and I sat down to write to my mother and to tell her that
the Emperor was waiting, at that very moment, to have my opinion upon a
matter of importance. It made me smile as I wrote it to think that,
wonderful as it appeared to me, it would probably only confirm my mother
in her opinion of the Emperor's good sense.

At half-past three I heard a sabre come clanking against every step of
my wooden stair. It was Lasalle, and with him was a lame gentleman, very
neatly dressed in black with dapper ruffles and cuffs. We did not know
many civilians, we of the army, but, my word, this was one whom we could
not afford to ignore! I had only to glance at those twinkling eyes, the
comical, upturned nose, and the straight, precise mouth, to know that I
was in the presence of the one man in France whom even the Emperor had
to consider.

'This is Monsieur Etienne Gerard, Monsieur de Talleyrand,' said Lasalle.

I saluted, and the statesman took me in from the top of my panache to
the rowel of my spur, with a glance that played over me like a rapier
point.

'Have you explained to the lieutenant the circumstances under which he
is summoned to the Emperor's presence?' he asked, in his dry, creaking
voice.

They were such a contrast, these two men, that I could not help glancing
from one to the other of them: the black, sly politician, and the big,
sky-blue hussar with one fist on his hip and the other on the hilt of
his sabre. They both took their seats as I looked, Talleyrand