mother and I thought of the Emperor.  It made me weep to think that the one would lose so excellent a son and the other the best light cavalry officer he ever had since Lasalle’s time.  But presently I dashed the tears from my eyes.  ‘Courage!’ I cried, striking myself upon the chest.  ’Courage, my brave boy.  Is it possible that one who has come safely from Moscow without so much as a frost-bite will die in a French wine-cellar?’ At the thought I was up on my feet and clutching at the letter in my tunic, for the crackle of it gave me courage.

My first plan was to set fire to the house, in the hope of escaping in the confusion.  My second to get into an empty wine-cask.  I was looking round to see if I could find one, when suddenly, in the corner, I espied a little low door, painted of the same grey colour as the wall, so that it was only a man with quick sight who would have noticed it.  I pushed against it, and at first I imagined that it was locked.  Presently, however, it gave a little, and then I understood that it was held by the pressure of something on the other side.  I put my feet against a hogshead of wine, and I gave such a push that the door flew open and I came down with a crash upon my back, the candle flying out of my hands, so that I found myself in darkness once more.  I picked myself up and stared through the black archway into the gloom beyond.

There was a slight ray of light coming from some slit or grating.  The dawn had broken outside, and I could dimly see the long, curving sides of several huge casks, which made me think that perhaps this was where the Mayor kept his reserves of wine while they were maturing.  At any rate, it seemed to be a safer hiding-place than the outer cellar, so gathering up my candle, I was just closing the door behind me, when I suddenly saw something which filled me with amazement, and even, I confess, with the smallest little touch of fear.

I have said that at the further end of the cellar there was a dim grey fan of light striking downwards from somewhere near the roof.  Well, as I peered through the darkness, I suddenly saw a great, tall man skip into this belt of daylight, and then out again into the darkness at the further end.  My word, I gave such a start that my shako nearly broke its chin-strap!  It was only a glance, but, none the less, I had time to see that the fellow had a hairy Cossack cap on his head, and that he was a great, long-legged, broad-shouldered brigand, with a sabre at his waist.  My faith, even Etienne Gerard was a little staggered at being left alone with such a creature in the dark.

But only for a moment.  ‘Courage!’ I thought.  ’Am I not a hussar, a brigadier, too, at the age of thirty-one, and the chosen messenger of the Emperor?’ After all, this skulker had more cause to be afraid of me than I of him.  And then suddenly I understood that he was afraid—­horribly afraid.  I could read it from his quick step and his bent shoulders as he ran among the barrels, like a rat making for its hole.  And, of course, it must have been he who had held the door against me, and not some packing-case or wine-cask as I had imagined.  He was the pursued then, and I the pursuer.  Aha, I felt my whiskers bristle as I advanced upon him through the darkness!  He would find that he had no chicken to deal with, this robber from the North.  For the moment I was magnificent.