"Well, announce _me_ then," said the Marshal; "and, Tiernay,
do you throw yourself on one of those sofas there and wait for me."

I did as I was bade, and, partly from the unusual fatigue and in part from
the warmth of a summer evening, soon fell off into a heavy sleep. I was
suddenly awoke by a voice saying, "come along, captain, be quick, your
name has been called twice!" I sprang up and looked about; me, without the
very vaguest notion of where I was. "Where to? Where am I going?" asked I,
in my confusion. "Follow that gentleman," was the brief reply; and so I
did in the same dreamy state that a sleep-walker might have done. Some
confused impression that I was in attendance on General Marmont was all
that I could collect, when I found myself standing in a great room densely
crowded with officers of rank. Though gathered in groups and knots
chatting, there was, from time to time, a sort of movement in the mass
that seemed communicated by some single impulse; and then all would remain
watchful and attentive for some seconds, their eyes turned in the
direction of a large door at the end of the apartment. At last this was
thrown suddenly open, and a number of persons entered, at whose appearance
every tongue was hushed, and the very slightest gesture subdued. The crowd
meanwhile fell back, forming a species of circle round the room, in front
of which this newly entered group walked. I can not now remember what
struggling efforts I made to collect my faculties, and think where I was
then standing; but if a thunderbolt had struck the ground before me, it
could not have given me a more terrific shock than that I felt on seeing
the Emperor himself address the general officer beside me.

I can not pretend to have enjoyed many opportunities of royal notice. At
the time I speak of, such distinction was altogether unknown to me; but
even when most highly favored in that respect, I have never been able to
divest myself of a most crushing feeling of my inferiority--a sense at once
so humiliating and painful, that I longed to be away and out of a presence
where I might dare to look at him who addressed me, and venture on
something beyond mere replies to interrogatories. This situation, good
reader, with all your courtly breeding and aplomb to boot, is never
totally free of constraint; but imagine what it can be when, instead of
standing in the faint sunshine of a royal smile, you find yourself
cowering under the stern and relentles