‘He is at the Castle of Grosbois.’

‘Do you know him well?’

‘I had not seen him until yesterday.’

‘He is a very useful servant of the Emperor, but—­but—­’ he inclined his head downward to my ear, ’some more congenial service will be found for you, Monsieur de Laval,’ and so, with a bow, he whisked round, and tapped his way across the tent again.

‘Why, my friend, you are certainly destined for something great,’ said the hussar lieutenant.  ’Monsieur de Talleyrand does not waste his smiles and his bows, I promise you.  He knows which way the wind blows before he flies his kite, and I foresee that I shall be asking for your interest to get me my captaincy in this English campaign.  Ah, the council of war is at an end.’

As he spoke the inner door at the end of the great tent opened, and a small knot of men came through dressed in the dark blue coats, with trimmings of gold oak-leaves, which marked the marshals of the Empire.  They were, all but one, men who had hardly reached their middle age, and who, in any other army, might have been considered fortunate if they had gained the command of a regiment; but the continuous wars and the open system by which rules of seniority yielded to merit had opened up a rapid career to a successful soldier.  Each carried his curved cocked hat under his arm, and now, leaning upon their sword-hilts, they fell into a little circle and chatted eagerly among themselves.

‘You are a man of family, are you not?’ asked my hussar.

‘I am of the same blood as the de Rohans and the Montmorencies.’

’So I had understood.  Well, then, you will understand that there have been some changes in this country when I tell you that those men, who, under the Emperor, are the greatest in the country have been the one a waiter, the next a wine smuggler, the next a cooper of barrels, and the next a house painter.  Those are the trades which gave us Murat, Massena, Ney, and Lannes.’

Aristocrat as I was, no names had ever thrilled me as those did, and I eagerly asked him to point me out each of these famous soldiers.

‘Oh, there are many famous soldiers in the room,’ said he.  ‘Besides,’ he added, twisting his moustache, ’there may be junior officers here who have it in them to rise higher than any of them.  But there is Ney to the right.’

I saw a man with close-cropped red hair and a large square-jowled face, such as I have seen upon an English prize-fighter.

‘We call him Peter the Red, and sometimes the Red Lion, in the army,’ said my companion.  ’He is said to be the bravest man in the army, though I cannot admit that he is braver than some other people whom I could mention.  Still he is undoubtedly a very good leader.’

‘And the general next him?’ I asked.  ’Why does he carry his head all upon one side?’

’That is General Lannes, and he carries his head upon his left shoulder because he was shot through the neck at the siege of St. Jean d’Acre.  He is a Gascon, like myself, and I fear that he gives some ground to those who accuse my countrymen of being a little talkative and quarrelsome.  But monsieur smiles?’