XI. THE SECRETARY

XII. THE MAN OF ACTION

XIII. THE MAN OF DREAMS

XIV. JOSEPHINE

XV. THE RECEPTION OF THE EMPRESS

XVI. THE LIBRARY OF GROSBOIS

XVII. THE END





CHAPTER I


THE COAST OF FRANCE

I dare say that I had already read my uncle's letter a hundred times,
and I am sure that I knew it by heart. None the less I took it out of
my pocket, and, sitting on the side of the lugger, I went over it again
with as much attention as if it were for the first time. It was written
in a prim, angular hand, such as one might expect from a man who had
begun life as a village attorney, and it was addressed to Louis de
Laval, to the care of William Hargreaves, of the Green Man in Ashford,