. Presently Rollo
observed a peculiar movement among the carriages before them, as if they
were making way for something that was coming; and at the same time he
saw hundreds of people running forward from the groves and booths,
across the side avenues, to the margin of the carriage way.

"The emperor!" said Alfred, drawing in his horses at the same time.

An instant afterward, Rollo, who, on hearing Alfred's words, started
from his seat and stood up in the carriage to look, saw two elegantly
dressed officers, in splendid uniforms, galloping along toward them in
the middle of the avenue. They were followed at a little distance by two
others; and then came a very beautiful barouche, drawn by four glossy
black horses, magnificently caparisoned. Two gentlemen were seated in
this carriage, one of whom bowed repeatedly to the crowd that were
gazing at the spectacle from the sides of the avenue as he rode rapidly
along. Behind this carriage came another, with a gentleman and a lady in
it, and afterward two more troopers. The whole cavalcade moved on so
rapidly, that, before Rollo had had scarcely time to look at it, it had
passed entirely by.

"The emperor!" said Alfred to Rollo. "He is going out to take a ride."

"Is that the emperor?" exclaimed Rollo. "He looks like any common man.
But if I had four such beautiful black horses as he has got, I should be
glad. I would drive them myself, instead of having a coachman."

The movement and the sensation produced by the passing of the emperor
and his train along the avenue immediately subsided, and the other
carriages resumed their ordinary course. Alfred's horses trotted on
faster than ever. A thousand picturesque and striking objects glided
rapidly by--the trees and the booths of the Elysian Fields; the tall,
gilded lampposts, and the spouting fountains of the Place de la
Concorde; omnibuses, cabs, wagons, chariots, and foot passengers without
number; and, finally, the tall column of the Place Vendome. Winding
round in a graceful curve through this magnificent square, the carriage
rolled on in the direction of the Boulevards, and, after going rapidly
on for nearly half a mile in that spacious avenue, it turned into the
street which led to the hotel. It stopped, at length, before the door,
and Rollo got out, while Mr. Holiday remained in the carriage. Rollo
went up stairs, and after about five minutes he came down again,
bringing not only Carlos with him, but also his uncle G