perfectly well before. However, he was
really deaf in a slight degree. At other times he
would overwhelm you with such rapid and abrupt
interrogatories, that you had not time to
understand him, and were compelled to give your
answers in confusion. He used then to laugh at your
embarrassment; and when he had driven you out of
your presence of mind and confidence, he amused
himself at your expense.--_Note of the author of
the work._]

[Footnote 37: "Ma gloire est faite a moi. _Mon nom
vivra autant que celui de Dieu!!!_"]

During the whole of this discourse, the Emperor continued striding up
and down, and appeared violently agitated. He paused a little while,
and then he began again. "They (i.e. the emigrants) know too well that
I am here, and they would like to assassinate me. I discover new
plots, new snares every day. They have sent to Corsica one of the
assassins of Georges, a wretch whom the English journals themselves
have pointed out to Europe as a blood-thirsty assassin; but let us be
on the alert. If he misses me, I won't miss him. I shall send my
grenadiers after him, and he shall be shot as an example to others."

After a few moments of silence, he said, "Do my generals go to court?
they must cut a sad figure there." I waited for the end of this
digression, in order to resume the thread of my discourse. As I was
convinced that I could not possibly lead the conversation, I resolved
to let the Emperor have it according to his own way, and I answered,
"Yes, Sire, and they are furious to see themselves superseded in
favour by emigrants who have never heard the sound of a cannon."--"The
emigrants will never alter. As long as they were only required to
dance attendance in my anti-chamber, I had more than enough of them.
When it was necessary to show any heart, they slunk away like.... I
committed a great error, when I recalled that anti-national race into
France. If it had not been for me, they would have died of starvation
abroad; but then I had great motives. I wanted to reconcile Europe to
us, and to close the revolution.... What do my soldiers say about
me?"--"The soldiers, Sire, talk constantly about your immortal
victories. They never pronounce your name but with respect,
admiration, and grief. When the