_I._ Formerly, sire, we did; now we can neither discount nor get any discounted. _N._ How is business with you? _I._ At present, your majesty, there is none doing _N._ How so? _I._ Because all trade is totally at a stand. _N._ But have you not your fair just now? _I._ Yes, but it is so only in name. _N._ Why? _I._ As all communication has for a considerable time been suspended, and the roads are unsafe for goods, neither sellers nor buyers will run the risk of coming; and, besides, the greatest scarcity of money prevails in this country. _N._ (_Taking much snuff_) So, so! What is the name of your employer? I mentioned his name. _N._ Is he married? _I._ Yes, sire. _N._ Has he any children. _I._ He has, and they are married too. _N._ In what capacity are you employed by him? _I._ As a clerk. _N._ Then you have a cashier too, I suppose? _I._ Yes, sire, at your service. _N._ What wages do you receive? I mentioned a sum that I thought fit. He now motioned with his hand, and I retired with a low bow. During the whole conversation the emperor was in very good humour, laughed frequently, and took a great deal of snuff. After the interview, on coming out of the room, I appeared a totally different and highly important person to all those who a quarter of an hour before had not deigned to take the slightest notice of me. Both officers and domestics now shewed me the greatest respect. The emperor lodged in the first floor; his favourite Mameluke, an uncommonly handsome man, was constantly about his person. The second floor was occupied by the prince of Neufchatel, who had a very sickly appearance, and the duke of Bassano, the emperor's secretary. On the ground floor a front room was converted into a _sallon au service_. Here were marshals Oudinot, Mortier, Ney, Reynier, with a great number of generals, aid-de-camps, and other officers in waiting, who lay at night upon straw, crowded as close as herrings in a barrel. In the left wing lodged the duke of Vicenza, master of the horse; and above him the physician to the emperor, whose name, I think, was M. Yvan. The right wing was occupied by the _officiers du palais_. The smallest room was turned into the bed-chamber of a general; and every corner was so filled, that the servants and other attendants were obliged to sleep on the kitchen floor. Upon my remonstrance to the valet of the _marechal du palais_ I was allowed to keep a small apartment for my own use, and thought to guard myself against unwelcome intruders by inscribing with chalk my high rank--_maitre de la maison_--in large letters upon the door. At first the new-comers passed respectfully before my little cell, and durst scarcely venture to peep in at the door; but it was not long before French curiosity overleaped this written barrier. For sometime this place served my people and several neighbours in the village as a protecting asylum at night.