Leaping from his carriage, Napoleon turned back with Belliard, exclaiming--"What means this? Why here with your cavalry, Belliard? And where are the enemy?"--"At the gates of Paris."--"And the army?"--"It is following me."--"Where are my wife and son?--Where Marmont?--Where Mortier?"--"The Empress set out for Rambouillet, and thence for Orleans. The maréchals are busy completing their arrangements at Paris." He then gave an account of the battle; and Napoleon instantly ordered his carriage for Paris. They had already proceeded a mile and a half on the road. The same conversation proceeded, and we give it as preserved, because it marks the character of the principal personage, and the tone of his feeling, much better than these can be collected from his expressions upon more formal occasions, and when he had in view some particular purpose.[31] General Belliard reminded him there were no longer any troops in Paris. "It matters not," said Napoleon; "I will find the national guard there. The army will join me to-morrow, or the day after, and I will put things on a proper footing."--"But I must repeat to your Majesty, you cannot go to Paris. The national guard, in virtue of the treaty, mount guard at the barriers, and though the allies are not to enter till seven o'clock in the morning, it is possible they may have found their way to the outposts, and that your Majesty may find Russian or Prussian parties at the gates, or on the Boulevards."--"It is all one--I am determined to go there--My carriage!--Follow me with your cavalry."--"But, Sire, your Majesty will expose Paris to the risk of storm or pillage. More than 20,000 men are in possession of the heights--for myself, I have left the city in consequence of a convention, and cannot therefore return."--"What is that convention? who has concluded it?"--"I cannot tell, Sire; I only know from the Duke of Treviso that such exists, and that I must march to Fontainbleau."--"What is Joseph about?--Where is the minister at war?"--"I do not know; we have received orders from neither of them during the whole day. Each maréchal acted on his own responsibility. They have not been seen to-day with the army--At least not with the Duke of Treviso's corps."--"Come, we must to Paris--nothing goes right when I am absent--they do nothing but make blunders."