Floing, where the regiment was posted, and he became, if that were
possible, even more gracious than ever upon learning that Weiss
proposed to pass the night at Bazeilles, where he himself, he
declared, had just been telling the captain that he intended to take a
bed, in order to see how things were looking at the dyehouse.

"We'll go together and be company for each other, Weiss. But first
let's go as far as the Sous-Prefecture; we may be able to catch a
glimpse of the Emperor."

Ever since he had been so near having the famous conversation with him
at Baybel his mind had been full of Napoleon III.; he was not
satisfied until he had induced the two soldiers to accompany him. The
Place de la Sous-Prefecture was comparatively empty; a few men were
standing about in groups, engaged in whispered conversation, while
occasionally an officer hurried by, haggard and careworn. The bright
hues of the foliage were beginning to fade and grow dim in the
melancholy, thick-gathering shades of night; the hoarse murmur of the
Meuse was heard as its current poured onward beneath the houses to the
right. Among the whisperers it was related how the Emperor--who with
the greatest difficulty had been prevailed on to leave Carignan the
night before about eleven o'clock--when entreated to push on to
Mezieres had refused point-blank to abandon the post of danger and
take a step that would prove so demoralizing to the troops. Others
asserted that he was no longer in the city, that he had fled, leaving
behind him a dummy emperor, one of his officers dressed in his
uniform, a man whose startling resemblance to his imperial master had
often puzzled the army. Others again declared, and called upon their
honor to substantiate their story, that they had seen the army wagons
containing the imperial treasure, one hundred millions, all in