no one to enter or pass within the
precincts who was not provided with a regular leave, and empowering us
to detain all suspected individuals, and forward them for examination to
St. Cloud.

To avoid all suspicion as to the true object, the men were ordered to
pass from place to place as if with despatches, many being stationed in
different parts of the park; my duty requiring me to be continually on
the alert to visit these pickets, and make a daily report to the Prefet
de Police at Paris.

What the nature of the suspicion, or from what quarter Monsieur Savary
anticipated danger, I could not even guess; and though I well knew that
his sources of information were unquestionable, I began at last to think
that the whole was merely some plot devised by the police themselves,
to display uncommon vigilance and enhance their own importance. This
conviction grew stronger as day by day I remarked that no person more
than ordinary had even approached near the town of Versailles itself,
while the absurd exactitude of inquiry as to every minute thing that
occurred went on just as before.

While my life passed on in this monotonous fashion, the little Court of
Madame Bonaparte seemed to enjoy all its accustomed pleasure. The
actors of the Francais came down expressly from Paris, and gave nightly
representation in the Palace; _fourgons_ continued to arrive from the
capital with all the luxuries for the table; new guests poured in day
after day; and the lighted-up saloons, and the sounds of music that
filled the Court, told each evening, that whatever fear prevailed
without, the minds of those within the Palace, had little to cause
depression.

It was not without a feeling of wounded pride I saw myself omitted in
all the invitations; for although my rank was not sufficient of itself
to lead me to expect such an attention, my position as the officer on
guard would have fully warranted the politeness, had I not even already
received marks of civility while in Paris. From time to time, as I
passed through the park, I came upon some of the Court party; and it was
with a sense of painful humiliation I observed that Madame Bonaparte
had completely forgotten me, while from one whose indifference was
more galling still, I did not even obtain a look in passing. How had
I forfeited the esteem which voluntarily they had bestowed on
me,--the good opinion which had raised me from an humble cadet of the
Polytechnique to a commission in one o