upon (O
Beneficence of Princes, thou art not, then, but an empty
name!) he smiled slightly, and said, twisting his
moustache, 'You remained in Prussia from 1813 to
1859?'--'Yes, sire.'--'Prisoner of war under exceptional
conditions?'--'Yes, sire.'--'The treaties of 1814 and
1815 stipulated for the release of prisoners?'--'Yes,
sire.'--'They have been violated, then, in your
case?'--'Yes, sire.'--'Well, then, Prussia owes you an
indemnity. I will see that it is recovered by diplomatic
proceedings.'--'Yes sire. What goodness!' Now, there's
an idea which would never have occurred to me! To
squeeze money out of Prussia--Prussia, who showed
herself so greedy for our treasures in 1814 and 1815!
_Vive l'Empereur!_ My well-beloved Clementine! Oh, may
our glorious and magnanimous sovereign live forever!
_Vivent l'Imperatrice et le Prince Imperial!_ I saw
them! The Emperor presented me to his family! The Prince
is an admirable little soldier! He condescended to beat
the drum on my new hat. I wept with emotion. Her Majesty
the Empress said, with an angelic smile, that she had
heard my misfortunes spoken of. 'Oh, Madame!' I replied,
'such a moment as this compensates them a hundred
fold.'--'You must come and dance at the Tuilleries next
winter.'--'Alas, Madame, I have never danced but to the
music of cannon; but I shall spare no effort to please
you! I will study the art of Vestris."--'_I_'ve managed
to learn the quadrille very nicely,' joined in Leblanc.

"The Emperor deigned to express his happiness at getting
back an officer like me, who had yesterday, so to speak,
taken part in the finest campaigns of the century, and
retained all the traditions of the great war. This
encouraged me. I no longer feared to remind him of the
famous principle of the good old time--to treat for
peace only in capitals! 'Take care!' said he; 'it was on
the strength of that principle that the allied armies
twice came to settle the basis of peace at
Paris.'--'They'll not come here again,' cried I,
'without passing over my body!' I dwelt upon the
troubles apt to come from too much intimacy with
England. I expressed a hope of at once proceeding to the
conquest of the world. First, to get back our frontiers
for ourselves; next, the natural frontiers of Europe:
for Europe is but th