if there has ever been a man who has
justified the choice of a nation so completely. He works harder than
any of his subjects. He is a general beloved by his soldiers. He is a
master beloved by his servants. He never has a holiday, and he is
always ready for his work. There is not under the roof of the Tuileries
a more abstemious eater or drinker. He educated his brothers at his own
expense when he was a very poor man, and he has caused even his most
distant relatives to share in his prosperity. In a word, he is
economical, hard-working, and temperate. We read in the London papers
about this Prince of Wales, Monsieur de Laval, and I do not think that
he comes very well out of the comparison.'

I thought of the long record of Brighton scandals, London scandals,
Newmarket scandals, and I had to leave George undefended.

'As I understand it,' said I, 'it is not the Emperor's private life, but
his public ambition, that the English attack.'

'The fact is,' said de Caulaincourt, 'that the Emperor knows, and we all
know, that there is not room enough in the world for both France and
England. One or other must be supreme. If England were once crushed we
could then lay the foundations of a permanent peace. Italy is ours.
Austria we can crush again as we have crushed her before. Germany is
divided. Russia can expand to the south and east. America we can take
at our leisure, finding our pretext in Louisiana or in Canada. There is
a world empire waiting for us, and there is the only thing that stops
us.' He pointed out through the opening of the tent at the broad blue
Channel.

Far away, like snow-white gulls in the distance, were the sails of the
blockading fleet. I thought again of what I had seen the night before--the
lights of the ships upon the sea and the glow of the camp upon the
shore. The powers of the land and of the ocean were face to face whilst
a waiting world stood round to see what would come of it.

CHAPTER XII

THE MAN OF ACTION

De Meneval's tent had been pitched in such a way that he could overlook
the Royal headquarters, but whether it was that we were too absorbed in
the interest of our conversation, or that the Emperor had used the other
entrance in returning from the review, we were suddenly startled by the
appearance of a captain dressed in the green jacket of the Chasseurs of
the Guard, who had come to say that Napoleon was waiting for his
secretary. Poor de Meneval's face