To her, as soon as an opportunity came, I gave the news of her brother's
end, and his last message. She was terribly affected; and the love we
bore in common to the dead, and her own wonderful beauty, aroused in me
a passion that was not the less fervent because I felt it was almost
hopeless. I did not dare to ask her love, but I had her friendship
without asking. She it was who warned me of the dangerous intrigues of
De Beauvais and his associates. She it was who, when I fell a victim to
their intrigues, laboured with General d'Auvergne, who had befriended me
while I was at college, to restore me to liberty.

I had heard that De Beauvais and his fellow royalists were plotting in a
château near Versailles, and that a scheme was afoot to capture them. In
hot haste I rode to the château, hoping secretly to warn my friend. He
did indeed escape, but it was my lot to be caught with the conspirators.
For the second time in my short life I saw the inside of a prison; I was
in danger of the guillotine; despair had almost overpowered me, when I
learnt that my friends had prevailed--my sword was returned to me. I
became again an officer of the army of him who was now emperor, and I
set forth determined to wipe out on the battlefield the doubts that
still clung to my loyalty. Marie de Meudon was wedded, by the emperor's
wish, to the gallant and beloved soldier on whose staff I proudly
served--General d'Auvergne.

In four vast columns of march, the mighty army poured into the heart of
Germany. But not until we reached Mannheim did we learn the object of
the war. We were to destroy the Austro-Russian coalition, and the first
blow was to be struck at Ulm. When Ulm had capitulated, General
d'Auvergne and his staff returned to Elchingen, and on the night when we
reached the place I was on the point of lying down supperless in the
open air, when I met an old acquaintance, Corporal Pioche, a giant