going, kept up an unceasing bustle.

"Are those all for the service of the Emperor?" he inquired, meaning
to say something humorous to the girl, who was laying a snow-white
cloth upon the table.

"Yes, for the Emperor himself, and no one else!" she pleasantly
replied, glad of a chance to show her white teeth once more; and then
she went on to enumerate the suite from information that she had
probably received from the stablemen, who had been coming to the inn
to drink since the preceding day; there were the staff, comprising
twenty-five officers, the sixty cent-gardes and the half-troop of
guides for escort duty, the six gendarmes of the provost-guard; then
the household, seventy-three persons in all, chamberlains, attendants
for the table and the bedroom, cooks and scullions; then four
saddle-horses and two carriages for the Emperor's personal use, ten
horses for the equerries, eight for the grooms and outriders, not
mentioning forty-seven post-horses; then a _char a banc_ and twelve
baggage wagons, two of which, appropriated to the cooks, had
particularly excited her admiration by reason of the number and
variety of the utensils they contained, all in the most splendid
order.

"Oh, sir, you never saw such stew-pans! they shone like silver. And
all sorts of dishes, and jars and jugs, and lots of things of which it
would puzzle me to tell the use! And a cellar of wine, claret,
burgundy, and champagne--yes! enough to supply a wedding feast."

The unusual luxury of the snowy table-cloth and the white wine
sparkling in his glass sharpened Maurice's appetite; he devoured his