unhappy secretary out of the tent.

'Oh, yes, he has hours, but he will not observe them. You see that it
is already long after dinner time, but he has gone to this review.
After the review something else will probably take up his attention, and
then something else, until suddenly in the evening it will occur to him
that he has had no dinner. "My dinner, Constant, this instant!" he will
cry, and poor Constant has to see that it is there.'

'But it must be unfit to eat by that time,' said I.

The secretary laughed in the discreet way of a man who has always been
obliged to control his emotions.

'This is the Imperial kitchen,' said he, indicating a large tent just
outside the headquarters. 'Here is Borel, the second cook, at the door.
How many pullets to-day, Borel?'

'Ah, Monsieur de Meneval, it is heartrending,' cried the cook. 'Behold
them!' and, drawing back the flap of the entrance, he showed us seven
dishes, each of them containing a cold fowl. 'The eighth is now on the
fire and done to a turn, but I hear that His Majesty has started for the
review, so we must put on a ninth.'

'That is how it is managed,' said my companion, as we turned from the
tent. 'I have known twenty-three fowls got ready for him before he
asked for his meal. That day he called for his dinner at eleven at
night. He cares little what he eats or drinks, but he will not be kept
waiting. Half a bottle of Chambertin, a red mullet, or a pullet a la
Marengo satisfy every need, but it is unwise to put pastry or cream upon
the table, because he is as likely as not to eat it before the fowl.
Ah, that is a curious sight, is it not?'

I had halted with an exclamation of astonishment. A groom was cantering
a very beautiful Arab horse down one of the lanes between the tents.
As it passed, a grenadier who was standing with a small pig under his
arm hurled it down under the feet of the horse. The pig squealed
vigorously and scuttled away, but the horse cantered on without changing
its step.

'What does that mean?' I asked.

'That is Jardin, the head groom, breaking in a charger for the Emperor's
use. They are first trained by having a cannon fired in their ears,
then they are struck suddenly by heavy objects, and finally they have
the test of the pig being thrown under their feet. The Emperor has not
a very firm seat, and he very often loses himself in a reverie when be
is riding, so it might not be very safe if the horse were not wel