l eyes wandered over the
wide horizon, the Meuse coursing through the valley at his feet,
before him the range of wooded heights whose summits recede and are
lost in the distance, on the left the waving tree-tops of Dieulet
forest, on the right the verdure-clad eminence of Sommanthe. He was
surrounded by his military family, aides and officers of rank; and a
colonel of dragoons, who had already applied to me for information
about the country, had just motioned me not to go away, when all at
once--"

Delaherche rose from his chair, for he had reached the point where the
dramatic interest of his story culminated, and it became necessary to
reenforce words by gestures.

"All at once there was a succession of sharp reports; and right in
front of us, over the wood of Dieulet, shells are seen circling
through the air. It produced on me no more effect than a display of
fireworks in broad daylight, sir, upon my word it didn't! The people
about the Emperor, of course, showed a good deal of agitation and
uneasiness. The colonel of dragoons comes running up again to ask if I
can give them an idea whence the fire proceeds. I answer him offhand:
'It is at Beaumont; there is not the slightest doubt about it.' He
returns to the Emperor, on whose knees an aide-de-camp was unfolding a
map. The Emperor was evidently of opinion that the fighting was not at
Beaumont, for he sent the colonel back to me a third time. But I
couldn't well do otherwise than stick to what I had said before, could
I, now?--the more that the shells kept flying through the air, nearer
and nearer, following the line of the Mouzon road. And then, sir, as
sure as I see you standing there, I saw the Emperor turn his pale face
toward me. Yes, sir, he looked at me a moment with those dim eyes of
his, that were filled with an expression of melancholy and distrust.
And then his face declined upon his map again, and he made no further
movement."

Delaherche, altho he was an ardent Bonapartist at the time of the
plebiscite, had admitted after our early defeats that the government
was responsible for some mistakes; but he stood up for the dynasty,
compassionating and excusing Napoleon III, deceived and betrayed as he
was by every one. It was his firm opinion that the men at whose door
should be laid the responsibility for all our disasters were none
other than those Republican deputies of the opposition who had stood
in the way of voting the necessary men and money.

"A