esult--Napoleon went to Elba, and Louis
XVIII. reigned over France in his stead. Ney accepted the new order of
things, and was created a peer of France, knight of St. Louis, and
governor of the sixth Military Division. But the world was for the
time at peace; and Ney's occupation was gone. He had been a fighter
all his life--he could not turn courtier at the end. He had married,
in 1810, Mlle Auguie, who had been brought up in the court of Louis
XVI., was a friend of Hortense Beauharnais, and naturally fond of
gayety and society. The great marshal was a simple and rather
illiterate man, who had had no time to cultivate fashionable graces,
so it happened that when Madame la Marechal gave a banquet or a ball,
Ney used not to appear, but dined by himself, in his own apartments,
as far removed as possible from the noise of the festival. It is said
that outside the field of battle he was one of the timidest of men,
and even submitted quite tamely to the insolence of his own servants.

In January, 1815, he departed for his country-seat of Coudreaux, near
Chateaudun, where he lived in the simplest possible fashion, till on
March 6th, an aide-de-camp of the Minister of War brought him an order
to return at once to the head-quarters of the Military Division of
which he was commander. Instead of going directly to his post, he went
by way of Paris, where he heard for the first time of the landing of
Napoleon.

"It is a great misfortune," said he. "Whom can we send against him?"

Then, having visited the king, and assured him of his devotion to the
monarchy, he went to his command at Besancon. Next morning he heard
that Grenoble had declared for the emperor, and that the occupation of
Lyons was inevitable. He could observe for himself the dissatisfaction
of the troops by whom he was surrounded. On the 12th he was at
Lons-le-Saulnier, organizing his troops, and writing to the minister
of war for ammunition and horses. But he soon saw that resistance was
hopeless. The Bourbons had managed, as usual, to make themselves
hated. The king's brother and Marshal Macdonald had been obliged to
flee from Lyons when Napoleon appeared. All the soldiers were
delighted at the thought of having their "Little Corporal" back again.
On the night of the 13th Ney received an emissary from Napoleon. What
memories must have stirred in his heart, of old perils and old
glories! How could he resist the mighty spell of the past? On the 14th
he announced to