The fair Empress, dressed in strange clothes, had rushed away in the carriage of her American dentist, for it was not even a Frenchman, but a foreigner, who had had the courage to protect the unfortunate woman. And the gentle Utopian Emperor had tried in vain to be killed on the battlefield. Two horses had been killed under him, but he had not received so much as a scratch. And after this he had given up his sword. And we, at home, had all wept with anger, shame, and grief at this giving up of the sword. Yet what courage it must have required for this brave man to carry out such an act! He had wanted to save a hundred thousand men, to spare a hundred thousand lives, and to reassure a hundred thousand mothers. Our poor, beloved Emperor! History will some day do him justice, for he was good, humane, and confiding. Alas! alas! he was too confiding! I stopped a minute before entering the prefect’s suite of rooms. I was obliged to wipe my eyes, and, in order to change the current of my thoughts, I said to my _petite dame_: “Tell me, should you think me pretty if you saw me now for the first time?” “Oh, yes!” she replied warmly. “So much the better!” I said, “for I want this old prefect to think me pretty. There are so many things I must ask him for.” On entering his room, what was my surprise to recognize in him the lieutenant I knew. He had become captain and then prefect of the Seine. When my name was announced by the usher, he sprang up from his chair and came forward with his face beaming and both hands stretched out. “Ah, you had forgotten me!” he said; and then he turned to greet Mme. Guérard in a friendly way. “But I never thought I was coming to see you,” I replied; “and I am delighted,” I continued, “for you will let me have everything I ask for.” “Only that!” he remarked, with a short burst of laughter. “Well, will you give your orders, madame?” he continued. “Yes, I want bread, milk, meat, vegetables, sugar, wine, brandy, potatoes, eggs, coffee,” I said in one breath. “Oh, let me get my breath!” exclaimed the count-prefect. “You speak so quickly that I am gasping.” I was quiet a moment, and then I continued: “I have started an _ambulance_ at the Odéon, but as it is a military _ambulance_, the municipal authorities refuse me food. I have five wounded men already, and I can manage for them, but other wounded men are being sent to me, and I shall have to give them food.” “You shall be supplied above and beyond all your wishes,” said the prefect. “There is food in the palace which was being stored by the unfortunate Empress. She had prepared enough for months and months. I will have all you want sent to you, except meat, bread, and milk, and as regards these I will give orders that your _ambulance_ shall be included in the municipal service, although it is a military one. Then I will give you an order for salt and some other things, which you will be able to get from the Opera.”