w did that woman get here?" He was
mounted on a white horse, richly caparisoned, and wore the celebrated
gray top-coat over his green uniform. He was scanning with a field-glass
the Prussian army massed beyond the Saale. Laurence understood then why
the carriage remained there, and why the Emperor's escort respected it.
She was seized with a convulsive tremor--the hour had come! She heard
the heavy sound of the tramp of men and the clang of their arms as they
arrived at a quick step on the plateau. The batteries had a language,
the caissons thundered, the brass glittered.

"Marechal Lannes will take position with his whole corps in the advance;
Marechal Lefebvre and the Guard will occupy this hill," said the other
officer, who was Major-general Berthier.

The Emperor dismounted. At his first motion Roustan, his famous
mameluke, hastened to hold his horse. Laurence was stupefied with
amazement; she had never dreamed of such simplicity.

"I shall pass the night on the plateau," said the Emperor.

Just then the Grand-marechal Duroc, whom the gendarme had finally
found, came up to the Marquis de Chargeboeuf and asked the reason of his
coming. The marquis replied that a letter from the Prince de Talleyrand,
of which he was the bearer, would explain to the marshal how urgent
it was that Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and himself should obtain an
audience of the Emperor.

"His Majesty will no doubt dine at his bivouac," said Duroc, taking the
letter, "and when I find out what your object is, I will let you know
if you can see him. Corporal," he said to the gendarme, "accompany this
carriage, and take it close to that hut at the rear."

Monsieur de Chargeboeuf followed the gendarme and stopped his horses
behind a miserable cabin, built of mud and branches, surrounded by a few
fruit-trees, and guarded by pickets of infantry and cavalry.

It may be said that the majesty of war appeared here in all its
grandeur. From this height the lines of the two armies were visible in
the moonlight. After an hour's waiting, the time being occupied by the
incessant coming and going of the aides-de-camp, Duroc himself came for
Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and the marquis, and made them enter the hut,
the floor of which was of battened earth like that of a stable.

Before a table with the remains of dinner, and before a fire made of
green wood which smoked, Napoleon was seated in a clumsy chair. His
muddy boots gave evidence of a long tramp acr