al and commanding officer with feelings of
unmitigated hatred. Yet he had art enough to conceal his guilty
feelings and guilty projects. While he rode beside the colonel, his
thoughts ran somewhat in this vein:--

"Well, at least I have succeeded in marring their joy. Lioncourt's
triumph over me was short lived. He may never see his bride again. He
is venturesome and rash. We have sharp work before us, or I'm very
much mistaken, and Colonel Eugene Lioncourt may figure in the list of
killed in the first general engagement. Then I renew my suit, and if
Leonide again reject me, there's no virtue in determination."

While the colonel's regiment was slowly pursuing its way, the
festivities at the Tuileries were drawing to a close. Madame Lioncourt
wondered very much at the absence of her husband, and still more so
when the guests began to depart, and he did not reappear to escort her
to her carriage. It was then that the empress honored her with an
interview, and, with tears in her beautiful eyes, informed her of her
husband's march in obedience to orders. The poor lady bore bravely up
against the effect of this intelligence so long as she was in the
presence of the emperor and empress; but when alone in her carriage,
on her way to her now solitary home, she burst into a flood of tears,
and it seemed as if her very heart were breaking. The next morning
brought a short but kind note from her husband. It was overflowing
with affection and full of hope. The campaign, conducted by Napoleon's
genius, he thought, could not fail to be brief, and he should return
with new laurels, to lay them at the feet of his lovely bride. This
little note was treasured up by Leonide as if it had been the relic of
a saint, and its words of love and promise cheered her day after day
in the absence of her husband.

At last, news came to the capital from the seat of war. The battle of
Austerlitz had been fought and won. The cannon thundered from the
Invalides, Paris blazed with illuminations, and the steeples reeled
with the crashing peals of the joy bells. No particulars came at
first; many had been killed and wounded; but the French eagles were
victorious, and this was all the people at first cared for.
Lioncourt's regiment had covered itself with glory, but no special
mention was made of him in the first despatches.

At last, one morning, a visitor was announced to Madame Lioncourt, and
she hastily descended to her salon to receive him. St. Eu