y,' said he to me
at parting; 'but, above all, no failure! mind that--no failure!'

CHAPTER LII. KOMORN FORTY TEARS AGO

I doubt if our great Emperor dated his first despatch from Schoenbrunn
with a prouder sense of elevation than did I write 'Komorn' at the
top of my first letter to Marshal Marmont, detailing, as I had been
directed, every incident of my reception. I will not pretend to say
that my communication might be regarded as a model for diplomatic
correspondence; but, having since that period seen something of the
lucubrations of great envoys and plenipos, I am only astonished at my
unconscious imitation of their style--blending, as I did, the objects of
my mission with every little personal incident, and making each trivial
circumstance bear upon the fortune of my embassy.

I narrated my morning interview with Prince Metternich, whose courteous
but haughty politeness was not a whit shaken by the calamitous position
of his country, and who wished to treat the great events of the campaign
as among the transient reverses which war deals out, on this side
to-day, on that to-morrow. I told that my confidence in the impregnable
character of Kuffstein only raised a smile, for it had already been
surrendered to the Tyrolese; and I summed up my political conjectures
by suggesting that there was enough of calm confidence in the Minister's
manner to induce me to suspect that they were calculating on the support
of the northern powers, and had not given up the cause for lost. I knew
for certain that a Russian courier had arrived and departed since my
own coming; and although the greatest secrecy had attended the event,
I ascertained the fact, that he had come from St. Petersburg, and was
returning to Moscow, where the Emperor Alexander then was. Perhaps I was
a little piqued--I am afraid I was--at the indifference manifested at my
own presence, and the little, or indeed no, importance, attached to my
prolonged stay. For when I informed Count Stadion that I should await
some tidings from Vienna before returning thither, he very politely
expressed his pleasure at the prospect of my company, and proposed that
we should have some partridge-shooting, for which the country along the
Danube is famous. The younger brother of this Minister, Count Ernest
Stadion, and a young Hungarian magnate, Palakzi, were my constant
companions. They were both about my own age, but had only joined the
army that same spring, and were most