e, the time to drink a glass of water." "No," said General
Lamoriciere, "but the time to do the contrary," and he added, "To Louis
Bonaparte's health." They allowed them to get out, one by one, and they
were, able to inhale for a moment the fresh air in the open country by
the side of the road.

Then the convoy resumed its march.

As the day waned they saw through their port-hole a mass of high walls,
somewhat overtopped by a great round tower. A moment afterwards the
carriages entered beneath a low archway, and then stopped in the centre
of a long courtyard, steeply embanked, surrounded by high walls, and
commanded by two buildings, of which one had the appearance of a
barrack, and the other, with bars at all the windows, had the appearance
of a prison. The doors of the carriages were opened. An officer who wore
a captain's epaulets was standing by the steps. General Changarnier came
down first. "Where are we?" said he. The officer answered, "You are at
Ham."

This officer was the Commandant of the Fort. He had been appointed to
this post by General Cavaignac.

The journey from Noyon to Ham had lasted three hours and a half. They
had spent thirteen hours in the police van, of which ten were on the
railway.

They led them separately into the
prison, each to the room that was allotted to him. However, General
Lamoriciere having been taken by mistake into Cavaignac's room, the two
generals could again exchange a shake of the hand. General Lamoriciere
wished to write to his wife; the only letter which the Commissaries of
Police consented to take charge of was a note containing this line: "I
am well."

The principal building of the prison of Ham is composed of a story above
the ground floor. The ground floor is traversed by a dark and low
archway, which leads from the principal courtyard into a back yard, and
contains three rooms separated by a passage; the first floor contains
five rooms. One of the three rooms on the ground floor is only a little
ante-room, almost uninhabitable; there they lodged M. Baze. In the
remaining lower chambers they installed General Lamoriciere and General
Changarnier. The five other prisoners were distributed in the five rooms
of the first floor.

The room allotted to General Lamoriciere had been occupied in the time
of the captivity of the Ministers of Charles X. by the ex-Minister of
Marine, M. d'Haussez. It was a low, damp room, long uninhabited, and
which had served as a chapel, a