nt I see no obstacle to my pursuing it."

"Let me at least send an escort with you."

I thanked him and declined the offer; and leaving the ranks of the
procession, mingled with the crowd, and in a few minutes after reached
my hotel without further molestation. The hour was come, I saw plainly,
in which I must leave France. Not only was every tie which bound me to
that land severed, but to remain was only to oppose myself singly to
the downward current of popular opinion which now threatened to overturn
every landmark and vestige of the Empire. Up to this moment, I never
confessed to my heart with what secret hope I had prolonged each day of
my stay,--how I cherished within me the expectation that I should once
again, though but for an instant, see her who lived in all my thoughts,
and, unknown to my self, formed the mainspring of all my actions!

This hope only became confessed when about to leave me forever.

As I busied myself in the preparations for departure, a note arrived
from De Beauvais, stating that he desired particularly to see and confer
with me that same evening, and requesting me on no account to be from
home, as his business was most pressing. I felt little curiosity to
know to what he might allude, and saw him enter my room some hours later
without a single particle of anxiety as to his communication.

"I am come, Burke," said he, after a few commonplaces had been exchanged
between us,--"I am come, Burke, on a mission which I hope you will
believe the sincerest regard for you has prompted me to undertake, and
which, whatever objections it may meet with from you, none can arise, I
am certain, on the score of his fidelity who now makes this proposition
to you. To be brief: the Count d'Artois has sent me to offer you your
grade and rank in the army of his Majesty Louis the Eighteenth. Your
last gazette was as colonel; but there is a rumor you should have
received your appointment as general of brigade. There will be little
difficulty in arranging your brevet on that understanding; for your
services, brief as they were, have not been unnoticed. Marshal Ney
himself bears testimony to your conduct at Montereau; and your name
twice occurs on the list of the minister of war for promotion.
Strange claims these, you will say, to recompense from the rightful
sovereign of France, gained as they were in the service of the Usurper!
But it is the prerogative of legitimacy to be great and noble-minded,
and to recog