es and nobles flocked about him. Those who stayed at home repeated
wonderful stories of his victories and prayed for him and fed the flame
which spread through all the country. It was felt that no sacrifice was
too great to win his favor; that to him, as to a deity, everything that
he desired should be yielded up, since he was to restore the liberty of
Poland.

And hence, when the carriage of the emperor dashed into Bronia,
surrounded by Polish lancers and French cuirassiers, the enormous crowd
surged forward and blocked the way so that their hero could not pass
because of their cheers and cries and supplications.

In the midst of it all there came a voice of peculiar sweetness from
the thickest portion of the crowd.

"Please let me pass!" said the voice. "Let me see him, if only for a
moment!"

The populace rolled backward, and through the lane which they made a
beautiful girl with dark blue eyes that flamed and streaming hair that
had become loosened about her radiant face was confronting the emperor.
Carried away by her enthusiasm, she cried:

"Thrice welcome to Poland! We can do or say nothing to express our joy
in the country which you will surely deliver from its tyrant."

The emperor bowed and, with a smile, handed a great bouquet of roses to
the girl, for her beauty and her enthusiasm had made a deep impression
on him.

"Take it," said he, "as a proof of my admiration. I trust that I may
have the pleasure of meeting you at Warsaw and of hearing your thanks
from those beautiful lips."

In a moment more the trumpets rang out shrilly, the horsemen closed up
beside the imperial carriage, and it rolled away amid the tumultuous
shouting of the populace.

The girl who had so attracted Napoleon's attention was Marie Walewska,
descended from an ancient though impoverished family in Poland. When
she was only fifteen she was courted by one of the wealthiest men in
Poland, the Count Walewska. He was three or four times her age, yet her
dark blue eyes, her massive golden hair, and the exquisite grace of her
figure led him to plead that she might become his wife. She had
accepted him, but the marriage was that of a mere child, and her
interest still centered upon her country and took the form of
patriotism rather than that of wifehood and maternity.

It was for this reason that the young Countess had visited Bronia. She
was now eighteen years of age and still had the sort of romantic
feeling which led her to thin