Page:Book of the Riviera.djvu/153

 Rh The princess, looking at him steadfastly, replied, "I cannot kiss you in that Austrian dress. Oh, Napoleon, what have you done?" The ex-Emperor at once retired, and having substituted a greatcoat of his Old Guard for the Austrian suit, entered the chamber of his sister, who ran to him and embraced him tenderly. Then, going to the window, he saw a crowd in the court in a very uncertain temper. He descended at once, and noticing among them an old man with a gash across his nose and a red ribbon in his button-hole, he went up to him at once, and asked, "Are you not Jacques Dumont?"

"Yes, yes, Sire!" And the old soldier drew himself up and saluted.

"You were wounded, but it seems to me that it was long ago." "Sire, at the battle of Tebia, with General Suchet. I was unable to serve longer. But even now, whenever the drum beats, I feel like a deserter. Under your ensign, Sire, I could still serve whenever your Majesty would command." The old man shed tears as he said, "My name! To recollect that after fifteen years! " All hesitation among the crowd as to how they would receive Napoleon was at an end. He had won every heart. Napoleon, as it happens, had a very bad memory for names. What is probable is, that Pauline pointed the old soldier out to her brother from the window, and named him, before Napoleon descended. The English frigate, the Undaunted, was lying in the Gulf of Fréjus. The fallen Emperor manifested considerable reluctance to go on board. However, on April 28th he sailed from S. Raphael, and after a rough