After his defeat at Waterloo Napoleon, limping lamely Parisward, down through the Forests of Compiegne and Villers-Cotterets, sought in the Elysee-Napoleon the repose and rest which he so much needed, the throng meanwhile promenading before the palace windows, shouting at the tops of their voices "Vive l'Empereur!" though, as the world well knew, his power had waned forever; the eagle's wings were broken. The throng still crowded the precincts of the palace, but the emperor fled secretly by the garden gate. On the return of the Duchesse de Bourbon from Spain the magnificent structure became again the Elysee-Bourbon. The duchess ceded the palace to the Duc and Duchesse de Berry but, at the duke's death, in 1820, his widow abandoned it. Some time after it was occupied by the Duc de Bordeaux, and, in 1830, it became one of the long list of establishments whose maintenance devolved upon the Civil List, though it remained practically uninhabited all through the reign of Louis Philippe. In 1848, the National Assembly designated the palace as the official residence for the presidents of the French Republic. Three years after, on the night of the first of December, as the last preparations were being made by Louis Bonaparte for the Coup d' Etat and the final strangling of the young republic, the residence of the president was transferred to the Tuileries, and the palace of the Faubourg Saint Honore was again left without a tenant, and served only to give hospitality from time to time to passing notables. After the burning of the Tuileries, and the coming of the Third Republic, the Elysee Palace again became the presidential residence, and so it remains to-day. One of the most notable of modern events connected with the Elysee Palace was the _diner de ceremonie_ offered by the president of the Republic and Madame Fallieres to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt in April, 1910. The dinner was served in the "Grand Salle des Fetes" and the music which accompanied the repast was furnished by the band of the _Garde Republicain_, beginning with the national anthem of America and finishing with that of France. Never had a private citizen, a foreigner, been so received by the first magistrate of France. The toast of President Fallieres was as follows: "Before this repast terminates I wish to profit by the occasion offered to drink the health of Monsieur Theodore Roosevelt, an illustrious man, a great citizen and a good friend of France and the cause of peace. I raise my glass to Madame Roosevelt who may be assured of our respectful and sympathetic homage, and I am very glad to be able to say to our guests that we count ourselves very fortunate in being allowed to meet them in person and show them this mark of respect." CHAPTER X VINCENNES AND CONFLANS [Illustration: VINCENNES UNDER CHARLES V]