enly the 'pendule' on the chimney-piece struck two.
It was in one of those accidental pauses in the conversation when any
sound is heard with unusual distinctness. Talleyrand started as he heard
it, and then turning to Caulaincourt, whispered, 'Yes; 'tis all over
now!'--words which, accidentally overheard, without significance, were
yet to convey a terrible meaning when the dreadful secret of that night
was disclosed.

If the whole of Europe was convulsed by the enormity of this crime--the
foulest that stains the name of Bonaparte--the Parisians soon forgot it
in the deeper interest of the great event that was now approaching--the
assumption of the Imperial title by Napoleon.

The excitement on this theme was so great and absorbing, that nothing
else was spoken or thought of. Private sorrows and afflictions were
disregarded and despised, and to obtrude one's hardships on the notice
of others, seemed, at this juncture, a most ineffable selfishness. That
I, a prisoner, friendless and unknown as I was, found none to
sympathise with me, or take interest in my fate, is, therefore, nothing
extraordinary. In fact, I appeared to have been entirely forgotten; and
though still in durance, nothing was said either of the charge to be
preferred against me, nor the time when I should be brought to trial.

Giacourt, an old lieutenant of the marines, and at that time
Deputy-Governor of the Temple, was kind and good-natured towards me,
occasionally telling of the events which were happening without, and
giving me the hope that some general amnesty would, in all likelihood,
liberate all those whose crimes were not beyond the reach of mercy.
The little cell I occupied (and to Giacourt's kindness I owed the sole
possession of it) looked out upon the tall battlements of the outer
walls, which excluded all view beyond, and thus drove me within myself
for occupation and employment. In this emergency, I set about to write
some notices of my life--some brief memoirs of those changeful fortunes
which had accompanied me from boyhood. Many of those incidents which I
relate now, and many of those traits of mind or temper that I recall,
were then for the first time noted down, and thus graven on my memory.

My early boyhood, my first experience as a soldier, the campaign of the
'Schwarzwald,' Ireland, and Genoa, all were mentioned; and writing as
I did solely for myself, and my own eyes, I set down many criticisms on
the generals, and their plans