e!" at this.
The people and the soldiers embraced one another, and that night and for
the next five or six days there was, if anything, even more rejoicing
than there had been on the return of Louis XVIII. We still hoped for the
continuance of peace, but who could say how long the peace would last?

Phalsbourg was ordered to put itself into a state of defence, a large
workshop was set up at the arsenal for the repairing of arms, and
engineers and artillerymen came over from Metz to make earthworks in the
fortifications. It seemed to me that a large number of men would be
required for all the guns and forts, and that my watchmaking days would
soon be exchanged for active service. I began to think that, after all,
religious processions were better than being sent to fight against
people one knew nothing about.

_III.--On the Road to Waterloo_

Aunt Gredel had not been to see us for a month, and it was a great
comfort to Catherine and me when one Sunday M. Goulden proposed that we
should all three pay her a visit at Quatre Vents. As soon as she saw us,
Aunt Gredel rushed to kiss her daughter, and called out, "You are a good
man, M. Goulden, better a thousand times than I am. How glad I am to see
you! It doesn't matter about being a Jacobin or anything else; the main
thing is to have a good heart."

It was not until the afternoon that M. Goulden explained that he had
known for some days that I should be called up to rejoin my old
regiment, and that he had arranged with the commandant of artillery that
I should be received at the arsenal as a workman. What relief this was
to us, for I could not bear the thought of separation from Catherine. So
from that day I went to work at the arsenal, and Aunt Gredel came to see
us again as she had been accustomed to do.

It can be guessed with what spirit I worked at the arsenal, and how
pleased I was when the commandant expressed satisfaction at my work. But
I was not allowed to stop at Phalsbourg.

On May 23 the commandant told me that I must go to Metz with the 3rd
battalion, to which I belonged. He assured me, however, that I should be
kept at Metz in the workshops, and we all did our best to believe that I
was fortunate in my destination. M. Goulden, however, warned me before I
left that France was threatened by her enemies, that the allies would
make no peace with the emperor, but were determined to set Louis XVIII.
once more on the throne, and that now the question was n