'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.