emple of Glory. Thus the purchaser of a chateau
sometimes receives a letter addressed to the original proprietor.
Fougas returned by the _Rue de la Paix_ and the _Place Vendome_, and
saluted, in passing, the only familiar figure he had yet found in Paris.
The new costume of Napoleon on the column did not displease him in any
way. He preferred the cocked hat to a crown, and the gray surtout to a
theatrical cloak.
The night was restless. In the Colonel's brain a thousand diverse
projects crossed each other in all directions. He prepared the little
speech which he should make to the Emperor, going to sleep in the middle
of a phrase, and waking up with a start in the attempt to lay hold on
the idea which had so suddenly vanished. He put out and relit his candle
twenty times. The recollection of Clementine was occasionally
intermingled with dreams of war and political utopias. But I must
confess that the young girl's figure seldom got any higher than the
second place.
But if the night appeared too long, the morning seemed short in
proportion. The idea of meeting the new master of the empire face to
face, inspired and chilled him in turn. For an instant he hoped that
something would be lacking in his toilet--that some shopkeeper would
furnish him an honorable pretext for postponing his visit until the next
day. But everybody displayed the most desperate punctuality. Precisely
at noon, the trousers _a la Cosaque_ and the frogged surtout were on the
foot of the bed opposite the famous Bolivar hat.
"I may as well be dressing," said Fougas. "Possibly this young man may
not be at home. In that case I'll leave my name, and wait until he sends
for me."
He got himself up gorgeously in his own way, and, although it may appear
impossible to my readers, Fougas, in a black satin scarf and frogged
surtout, was not homely nor even ridiculous. His tall figure, lithe
build, lofty and impressive carriage, and brusque movements, were all in
a certain harmony with the costume of the olden time. He appeared
strange, and that was all. To keep his courage up, he dropped into a
restaurant, ate four cutlets, a loaf of bread, a slice of cheese, and
washed it all down with two bottles of wine. The coffee and supplements
brought him up to two o'clock, and that was the time he had set for
himself.
He tipped his hat slightly over one ear, buttoned his buckskin gloves,
coughed energetically two or three times before the sentinel at the _Rue
|