him. It is necessary to know, in order to understand the significance of
this pantomime, that the Abbe Sieges had been recently taking lessons in
horseback, riding in the garden of the Luxembourg, to the great amusement
of the pedestrians, who gathered in crowds to enjoy the awkward and
ungraceful exhibition made by this new master of horse.

The breakfast ended, Eugene reported for duty to General Bonaparte, whose
aide-de-camp he was, and his friends rejoined the various commands to
which they belonged.

I went out immediately behind them; for from a few words that had just
been dropped at my young master's, I suspected that something grave and
interesting was about to take place. M. Eugene had appointed a
rendezvous with his comrades at Pont-Tournant; so I repaired to that
spot, and found a considerable gathering of officers in uniform and on
horseback, assembled in readiness to escort General Bonaparte to
Saint-Cloud.

The commandant of each part of the army had been requested by General
Bonaparte to give a breakfast to their corps of officers; and they had
done so like my young master. Nevertheless, the officers, even the
generals, were not all in the secret; and General Murat himself, who
rushed into the Hall of the Five Hundred at the head of the grenadiers,
believed that it was only a question of exemption, on account of age,
that General Bonaparte intended to propose, in order that he might obtain
the place of director.

I have learned from an authoritative source, that when General Jube, who
was devoted to General Bonaparte, assembled in the court of the
Luxembourg, the guard of the directors of which he was commander, the
honest M. Gohier, president of the Directory, put his head out of the
window, and cried to Jube: "Citizen General, what are you doing down
there?"--"Citizen President, you can see for yourself I am mustering the
guard."--"Certainly, I see that very plainly, Citizen General; but why
are you mustering them?"--"Citizen President, I am going to make an
inspection of them, and order a grand maneuver. Forward--march!" And
the citizen general filed out at the head of his troop to rejoin General
Bonaparte at Saint-Cloud; while the latter was awaited at the house of
the citizen president, and the breakfast delayed to which General
Bonaparte had been invited for that very morning.

General Marmont had also entertained at breakfast the officers of the
division of the army which he commanded (it w