o the forest, swung round, with
the right wing in the advance. As it reached beyond our division in
the rear, we advanced our line still more obliquely, and again the
order came, Halt! The road running out of Fleurus was opposite us, a
blank wall on the left; behind which were trees and a large house, and
in front a windmill of red brick, like a tower.

We had hardly halted, when the Emperor came out of this mill with three
or four generals and two old peasants in blouses, holding their cotton
caps in their hands. The whole division commenced to shout, "Vive
l'Empereur!"

I saw him plainly as he came along a path in front of the battalion,
with his head bent down and his hands behind his back listening to the
old bald peasant. He took no notice of the shouts, but turned round
twice and pointed toward Ligny. I saw him as plainly as I could see
Father Goulden when we sat opposite each other at table. He had grown
much stouter than when he was at Leipzig, and looked yellow. If it had
not been for his gray coat and his hat, I should hardly have recognized
him. His cheeks were sunken and he looked much older. All this came,
I presume, from his troubles at Elba, and in thinking of the mistakes
he had made; for he was a wise man, and could see his own faults. He
had destroyed the revolution which had sustained him, he had recalled
the emigres who despised him, he had married an archduchess who
preferred Vienna to Paris, and he had chosen his bitterest enemies for
his counsellors.

[Illustration: The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head
bent forward.]

In short he had put everything back where it was before the revolution,
nothing was wanting but Louis XVIII., and then the kings had put Louis
XVIII. on his throne again. Now he had come to overthrow the
legitimate sovereign, and some called him a despot, and some a Jacobin.
It was unfortunate for him that he had done everything possible to
facilitate the return of the Bourbons. Nothing remained to him but his
army, if he lost that, he lost everything, for many of the people
wanted liberty like Father Goulden, others wanted tranquillity and
peace like Mother Gredel, and like me and all those who were forced
into the war.

These things made him terribly anxious, he had lost the confidence of
the whole world. The old soldiers alone preserved their attachment to
him, and asked only to conquer or die. With such notions you cannot
fail of one or the ot