Here more than ever I must beg the indulgence of my readers as to the
order in which I relate the events I witnessed during the Emperor's stay
at Fontainebleau, and those connected with them which did not come to my
knowledge until later. I must also apologize for any inaccuracy in dates
of which I may be guilty, though I remember collectively, so to speak,
all that occurred during the unhappy twenty days which ensued between the
occupation of Paris and the departure of his Majesty for the Island of
Elba; for I was so completely absorbed in the unhappy condition of my
good master that all my faculties hardly sufficed for the sensations I
experienced every moment. We suffered in the Emperor's sufferings; it
occurred to none of us to imprint on his memory the recollection of so
much agony, for we lived, so to speak, only provisionally.

During the first days of our stay at Fontainebleau the idea that the
Emperor would soon cease to reign over France was very far from entering
the minds of any of those around him, for every one was possessed with
the conviction that the Emperor of Austria would not consent that his
son-in-law, daughter, and grandson should be dethroned; in this they were
strangely mistaken. I remarked during these first days that even more
petitions than usual were addressed to his Majesty; but I am ignorant
whether he responded favorably, or even if he replied at all. The
Emperor often took up the daily papers, but after casting his eyes over
them threw them down angrily; and if we recall the shameless abuse in
which those writers indulged who had so often lavished fulsome praises on
him, it may well be understood that such a transition would naturally
excite his Majesty's disgust. The Emperor usually remained alone; and
the person whom he saw most frequently was the Duke of Bassano, the only
one of his ministers then at Fontainebleau; for the Duke of Vicenza,
being charged continually with missions, was, so to speak, constantly on