ome soldiers whom the colonel had sent to fetch their horses,
which were outside the quarter.

"A few more minutes passed, and I was informed that the colonel was
waiting for me. Full of hope, I hastened into the street. M. Parguin,[M]
in the uniform of a brigadier-general, and a commander of battalion,
carrying the eagle in his hand, are by my side. About a dozen officers
follow me.

[Footnote M: M. Parguin was the gentleman to whom we have before
alluded, who was a highly esteemed young officer under Napoleon I., and
who, having married Mademoiselle Cotelet, the reader of Queen Hortense,
had purchased the estate of Wolfberg, in the vicinity of Arenemberg, and
became one of the most intimate friends of Prince Louis Napoleon.]

"The distance was short; it was soon traversed. The regiment was drawn
up in line of battle in the barrack-yard, inside of the rails. Upon the
grass forty of the horse-artillery were stationed.

"My mother, judge of the happiness I experienced at that moment. After
twenty-years of exile, I touched again the sacred soil of my country. I
found myself with Frenchmen whom the recollection of the Empire was
again to electrify.

"Colonel Vaudrey was alone in the middle of the yard. I directed my
steps towards him. Immediately the colonel, whose noble countenance and
fine figure had at that moment something of the sublime, drew his sword
and exclaimed:

"'Soldiers of the Fourth Regiment of Artillery! A great revolution is
being accomplished at this moment. You see here before you the nephew of
the Emperor Napoleon. He comes to reconquer the rights of the people.
The people and the army can rely upon him. It is around him that all
should rally who love the glory and the liberty of France. Soldiers! you
must feel, as does your chief, all the grandeur of the enterprise you
are about to undertake, all the sacredness of the cause you are about to
defend. Soldiers! can the nephew of the Emperor rely upon you?'

"His voice was instantly drowned by unanimous cries of _Vive Napoleon!
Vive l'Empereur!_ I then addressed them in the following words:

"'Resolved to conquer or to die for the cause of the French people, it
is to you first that I wish to present myself, because between you and
me exist grand recollections. It is in your regiment that the Emperor,
my uncle, served as captain. It is with you that he made his name famous
at the siege of Toulon, and it is your brave regiment again which opened
to