to humour De Lamartine in that way," he added, "for
if ever a man was justified in believing in his star it was he. I'll
tell you a story which is scarcely known to half a dozen men, including
the Emperor and myself; I am not aware of its having been told by any
biographer. The moment we ascertained the truth of the news that reached
us from Paris, we made for the coast, and, on Saturday morning, we
crossed in the mail-packet. It was very rough, and we had a good
shaking, so that when we got to Boulogne we were absolutely 'done up.'
But we heard that a train was to start for Paris, and, as a matter of
course, the Prince would not lose a minute. We had to walk to
Neufchatel, about three miles distant, because there was something the
matter with the rails, I do not know what. We flung ourselves into the
first compartment, which already contained two travellers. Almost
immediately we had got under way, one of these, who had looked very
struck when we entered, addressed the Prince by name. He turned out to
be Monsieur Biesta, who had paid a visit to Napoleon during his
imprisonment at Ham, and who immediately recognized him. Monsieur Biesta
had just left the Duc de Nemours. I do not know whether he was at that
time a Republican, a Monarchist, or an Imperialist, but he was a man of
honour, and it was thanks to him that the son of Louis-Philippe made his
escape. The other one was the Marquis d'Arragon, who died about a
twelvemonth afterwards. All went well until we got to Amiens, where we
had to wait a very long while, the train which was to have taken us on
to Paris having just left. For once in a way the Prince got impatient.
He who on the eve of the Coup d'Etat remained, at any rate outwardly,
perfectly stolid, was fuming and fretting at the delay. One would have
thought that the whole of Paris was waiting at the Northern station to
receive him with open arms, and to proclaim him Emperor there and then.
But impatient or not, we had to wait, and, what was worse or better, the
train that finally took us came to a dead stop at Persan, where the news
reached us that the rails had been broken up by the insurgents at
Pontoise, that a frightful accident had happened in consequence to the
train we had missed by a few minutes at Amiens, in which at least thirty
lives were lost, besides a great number of wounded. But for the merest
chance we should have been among the passengers. Was I right in saying
that the Prince was justified in