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Ch. XVI.]
the Emperor Napoleon.
179

ing contrast to the stern features of the rest of the island. It was one of those days in which the past and the future are alike disregarded; anxious thought is suspended for a moment, and the present alone is felt and enjoyed. I remember bounding up to St. Dennis and asking for Napoleon; my joyousness was somewhat damped by the gravity with which he replied, that the emperor was watching the approach of the "Conqueror," then coming in, bearing the flag of Admiral Pamplin. "You will find him," he said, "near Madame Bertrand's, but he is in no mood for badinage to-day, Mademoiselle." Notwithstanding this check, I proceeded towards the cottage, and in a moment the whole tone of my mind was changed from gaiety to sadness. Young as I was, I could not help being strongly impressed by the intense melancholy of his expression; "the ashes of a thousand thoughts were on his brow;" he was stand-

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