paid for what had been prepared, and took some
refreshments away with them. The carriages did not overtake the Emperor
until they came to La Calade, where he had arrived a quarter of an hour
before with Amaudru.

They found him standing by the fire in the kitchen of the inn talking
with the landlady. She had asked him whether the tyrant was soon to pass
that way? "Ah! sir," said she, "it is all nonsense to say we have got
rid of him. I always, have said, and always will say, that we shall
never be sure of being done with him until he be laid at the bottom of a
well, covered over with stones. I wish we had him safe in the well in
our yard. You see, sir, the Directory sent him to Egypt to get rid of
him; but he came back again! And he will come back again, you maybe sure
of that, sir; unless--" Here the good woman, having finished skimming her
pot, looked up and perceived that all the party were standing uncovered
except the individual to whom, she had been speaking. She was
confounded, and the embarrassment she experienced at having spoken so ill
of the Emperor to the Emperor himself banished all her anger, and she
lavished every mark of attention, and respect on Napoleon and his
retinue. A messenger was immediately sent to Aix to purchase ribbons for
making white cockades. All the carriages were brought into the courtyard
of the inn, and the gate was closed; the landlady informed Napoleon that
it would not be prudent for him to venture on passing through Aix, where
a population of more than 20,000 were waiting to stone him.

Meanwhile dinner was served, and Napoleon sat down to table. He
admirably disguised the agitation which he could not fail to experience,
and I have been assured, by some of the individuals who were present on
that remarkable occasion, that he never made himself more agreeable. His
conversation, which was enriched by the resources of his memory and his
imagination, charmed every one, and he remarked, with an air of
indifference which was perhaps affected, "I believe the new French
Government has a design on my life."

The Commissioners, informed of what was going on at Aix, proposed sending
to the Mayor an order for closing the gates and adopting measures for
securing the public tranquillity. About fifty individuals had assembled
round the inn, and one among them offered to carry a letter to the Mayor
of Aix The Commissioners accepted his services, and in their letter
informed the Mayor that if th