"Nevertheless," added Alcide Jolivet, "I felt compelled to remark
to my cousin--"

"Your cousin?" repeated Harry Blount in a tone of surprise,
interrupting his brother of the pen.

"Yes," returned Alcide Jolivet, "my cousin Madeleine. It is with her
that I correspond, and she likes to be quickly and well informed,
does my cousin. I therefore remarked to her that, during this fete,
a sort of cloud had appeared to overshadow the sovereign's brow."

"To me, it seemed radiant," replied Harry Blount, who perhaps,
wished to conceal his real opinion on this topic.

"And, naturally, you made it 'radiant,' in the columns of
the Daily Telegraph."

"Exactly."

"Do you remember, Mr. Blount, what occurred at Zakret in 1812?"

"I remember it as well as if I had been there, sir,"
replied the English correspondent.

"Then," continued Alcide Jolivet, "you know that, in the middle of a
fete given in his honor, it was announced to the Emperor Alexander
that Napoleon had just crossed the Niemen with the vanguard of
the French army. Nevertheless the Emperor did not leave the fete,
and notwithstanding the extreme gravity of intelligence which might cost
him his empire, he did not allow himself to show more uneasiness."