n behind it.

"_Mort de ma vie_!" ejaculated Lannes, loudly and impetuously.

"Well, what is the matter?" asked Napoleon, turning hastily to him.

Lannes was still staring up at the window; but the charming person had
already disappeared, and the curtains were closed again.

"Sire," faltered Lannes, in confusion, "sire, I believe I myself am
bewitched; I beheld an apparition just now."

"Did your good wife appear to you?" asked Napoleon, laughing.

"Would she were such a fair-haired angel!" exclaimed Lannes, heaving a
sigh. "But in that case, sire, I should very earnestly oppose her
appearance at the windows of the imperial rooms--"

"Hush, you old babbler!" said Napoleon, laughing; "is it necessary,
then, to confess every thing one has dreamed?" And, as he liked to do
when in good-humor, he pulled the marshal's ear so violently that Lannes
made a very wry face.

The emperor turned with a grave bearing to his soldiers, and the parade
commenced. After it was over, he repaired to the castle, to work with
his adjutant-general in his cabinet. Before doing so, however, he said
to Marshal Lannes: "I wish you to dine with me to-day, and to-night I
will play a game of _vingt-et-un_ with you, Talleyrand, and Duroc; I
must get even with you for yesterday. Do not forget, marshal--we shall
dine together to-day!"

"Sire," said Lannes, joyfully, "were you to place a dish of the boiled
ears of the Russians before me, I would eat them with great relish if
you look at me as kindly as you are doing now!"

Napoleon laughed and ascended the palace staircase. An hour later a
dusty carriage rolled into the yard of Castle Finkenstein. It was
Marshal Lefebvre, who, agreeably to the emperor's invitation, had
arrived. The marshal felt somewhat embarrassed and anxious. This order
of Napoleon to set out immediately on receipt of the dispatch, and
repair to his headquarters at Finkenstein, had filled the conqueror of
Dantzic with some apprehension, lest the emperor had summoned him to
rebuke him for having granted such honorable terms to the Prussian
garrison, and for permitting them to march out with their arms, instead
of making them prisoners of war. The marshal therefore entered the
anteroom with a face somewhat pale, and requested the officer in waiting
to announce him.

"His majesty is at work in his cabinet," said the officer. "On such
occasions no one is permitted to disturb him, unless he be a bearer of
important dispatches."