That evening Napoleon slept at the Elysée. It was but three months since he had returned from Elba, but in that time he came to an abyss which had engulfed his fortune. That abyss was Waterloo; only saved to the allies--who at four in the afternoon were practically defeated--by the coming up of the Germans at six. Among the books of reference and contemporary works of a varying nature from which a writer in this generation must build up his facts anew, is found a wide difference in years as to the date of the birth of Dumas _père_. As might be expected, the weight of favour lies with the French authorities, though by no means do they, even, agree among themselves. His friends have said that no unbiassed, or even complete biography of the author exists, even in French; and possibly this is so. There is about most of them a certain indefiniteness and what Dumas himself called the "colour of sour grapes." The exact date of his birth, however, is unquestionably 1802, if a photographic reproduction of his natal certificate, published in Charles Glinel's "Alex. Dumas et Son Oeuvre," is what it seems to be. Dumas' aristocratic parentage--for such it truly was--has been the occasion of much scoffing and hard words. He pretended not to it himself, but it was founded on family history, as the records plainly tell, and whether Alexandre, the son of the brave General Dumas, the Marquis de la Pailleterie, was prone to acknowledge it or not does not matter in the least. The "feudal particle" existed plainly in his pedigree, and with no discredit to any concerned. [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF DUMAS' OWN STATEMENT OF HIS BIRTH] General Dumas, his wife, and his son are buried in the cemetery of Villers-Cotterets, where the exciting days of the childhood of Dumas, the romancer, were spent, in a plot of ground "conceded in perpetuity to the family." The plot forms a rectangle six metres by five, surrounded by towering pines. The three monuments contained therein are of the utmost simplicity, each consisting of an inclined slab of stone. The inscriptions are as follows: FAMILLE Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie général dé division né à Jeremie Ile et Côte de Saint Dominique le 25 mars 1762, décédé à Villers-Cotterets le 27 février 1806 ALEXANDRE Marie-Louise-Elizabeth Labouret Épouse du général de division Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie née à Villers-Cotterets le 4 juillet 1769 décédée le 1er aout 1838 DUMAS Alexandre Dumas né à Villers-Cotterets le 24 juillet 1802 décédé le 5 décembre 1870 à Puys transféré à Villers-Cotterets le 15 avril 1872