rshal.

'Yes, yes; he is a rough fellow,' said Gerard, in answer to my remark.
'He is one of those whom the Emperor had to warn that he wished them to
be soldiers only with the army. He and Rapp and Lefebvre, with their
big boots and their clanking sabres, were too much for the Empress's
drawing-room at the Tuileries. There is Vandamme also, the dark man
with the heavy face. Heaven help the English village that he finds his
quarters in! It was he who got into trouble because he broke the jaw of
a Westphalian priest who could not find him a second bottle of Tokay.'

'And that is Murat, I suppose?'

'Yes; that is Murat with the black whiskers and the red, thick lips, and
the brown of Egypt upon his face. He is the man for me! My word, when
you have seen him raving in front of a brigade of light cavalry, with
his plumes tossing and his sabre flashing, you would not wish to see
anything finer. I have known a square of grenadiers break and scatter
at the very sight of him. In Egypt the Emperor kept away from him, for
the Arabs would not look at the little General when this fine horseman
and swordsman was before them. In my opinion Lasalle is the better
light cavalry officer, but there is no one whom the men will follow as
they do Murat.'

'And who is the stern-looking man, leaning on the Oriental sword?'

'Oh, that is Soult! He is the most obstinate man in the world. He
argues with the Emperor. The handsome man beside him is Junot, and
Bernadotte is leaning against the tent-pole.'

I looked with interest at the extraordinary face of this adventurer,
who, after starting with a musket and a knapsack in the ranks, was not
contented with the baton of a marshal, but passed on afterwards to grasp
the sceptre of a king. And it might be said of him that, unlike his
fellows, he gained his throne in spite of Napoleon rather than by his
aid. Any man who looked at his singular pronounced features, the
swarthiness of which proclaimed his half Spanish origin, must have read
in his flashing black eyes and in that huge aggressive nose that he was
reserved for a strange destiny. Of all the fierce and masterful men who
surrounded the Emperor there was none with greater gifts, and none,
also, whose ambitions he more distrusted, than those of Jules
Bernadotte.

And yet, fierce and masterful as these men were, having, as Auguereau
boasted, fear neither of God nor of the devil, there was something which
thrilled or cowed th