d from the throne, and where he
now re-appeared as conqueror and sovereign, would make some impression
on him, and impel him to think of the fragility of human grandeur. I
watched him attentively; but he did not appear to me, to experience
any emotion. Immediately on his arrival, he rambled over the gardens
and the palace with as much pleasure and curiosity, as if he came to
take possession of them for the first time. Napoleon occupied the
little apartments, and complaisantly made me notice their extreme
elegance. He then led me to his library, and in going up, said with an
air of satisfaction, "We shall be very well here."--"Yes, sire,"
answered I, "people are always well at home." He smiled, and I believe
was pleased with my well-timed compliment.

At eleven o'clock he dictated to me the orders of the day; and these
orders announced, that we should sleep at Essonne. It was not till
noon, that the news of the King's departure was brought at once by a
courier from M. de Lavalette, by a letter from Madame Hamalin, and by
M. de Seg.... He sent for me immediately. "You will set out first," he
said, "to get every thing ready."--"It is to Essonne, I presume, your
Majesty orders me to repair?"--"No, to Paris. The King and the Princes
have fled. I shall be at the Tuileries this evening." He gave me some
secret directions, and I quitted Fontainbleau with a heart full of
happiness and joy. I had never doubted Napoleon's triumph; but from
hope to reality how great the distance!

In fact the King had quitted Paris.

The aspect of affairs had never changed since the royal session of the
17th of March. The minister, persevering in his system of falsehood
and dissimulation, still distorted the truth with the same impudence,
and did not cease to predict the approaching destruction of Napoleon
and his adherents. At length, after a thousand subterfuges, it became
necessary to confess, that Napoleon was within a few leagues of Paris.
The King, whom the minister had not been afraid to deceive, had
scarcely time to think of retreating. In this painful situation, he
displayed a strength of mind above all praise. His courage was not
that of a warlike prince, who defends his capital inch by inch, and
trembles with rage and despair when forced to quit it; but that of a
good father, who separates himself with regret from his children, and
from the roof under which they were born. The Bonapartists themselves,
who made a great distinction betw