remarkable series of novels, short stories, plays, and operas.
"Waterloo" was published in 1865, and has enjoyed a wide
popularity in many languages. Like "The Conscript," its
predecessor, the charm of "Waterloo" consists largely in the
character of Joseph Bertha, the young clockmaker of
Phalsbourg, who tells the story. Bertha is a peaceful citizen
who hates war and has no taste for glory. Yet he is nothing of
a coward, and behaves like a man when he is forced to fight.
To the student of history, the light thrown on the rise and
fall of the Bourbon popularity in France, 1813-14, in this
novel, will always be of interest. Chatrian died in Paris on
September 4, 1890, and Erckmann at Luneville, on March 14,
1899.


_I.--Napoleon Returns_


Never was anything so joyous as the spring of 1814 Louis XVIII. was
king, and the war was over. All except the old soldiers were content;
and only when the nobles, who had fled at the Revolution, returned, and
it was said that they were going to bring back all their old ideas, did
M. Goulden express any dissatisfaction. There were great religious
processions everywhere and expiatory services, and talk of rebuilding
all the convents, and setting up the nobles again in their castles. But
these things did not trouble me, because I was married to Catherine, and
knew nothing about politics.

The treatment of the old soldiers enraged me. On the day of the
religious procession at Phalsbourg, half a dozen old veterans, restored