Lieutenant Gerard shrugged his shoulders.

'I am very sorry for Mademoiselle your cousin,' said he, 'but a fine
girl should not love such a man when there are so many gallant soldiers
upon the country side. I hear that the Emperor is weary of these
endless plottings, and that an example will be made of him.'

Whilst the young hussar and I had been talking we had been cantering
down the broad white road, until we were now quite close to the camp,
which we could see lying in its arrangement of regiments and brigades
beneath us. Our approach lay over the high ground, so that we could see
down into this canvas city, with its interminable lines of picketed
horses, its parks of artillery, and its swarms of soldiers. In the
centre was a clear space, with one very large tent and a cluster of low
wooden houses in the middle of it, with the tricolour banner waving
above them.

'That is the Emperor's quarters, and the smaller tent there is the
headquarters of General Ney, who commands this corps. You understand
that this is only one of several armies dotted along from Dunkirk in the
north to this, which is the most southerly. The Emperor goes from one
to the other, inspecting each in its turn, but this is the main body,
and contains most of the picked troops, so that it is we who see most of
him, especially now that the Empress and the Court have come to Pont de
Briques. He is in there at the present moment,' he added in a hushed
voice, pointing to the great white tent in the centre.

The road into the camp ran through a considerable plain, which was
covered by bodies of cavalry and infantry engaged upon their drill.