Marshal Ney, as we have seen, took no steps what ever, on his return to Gosselies from his midnight interview with the Emperor, to get his command in readiness for the work of the coming day. Frasnes, in any event, he must have known, would have to be occupied in force, whether an advance from that place to Quatre Bras should be decided on or not.[396] Yet, instead of getting the divisions of Foy and Jerome up to Frasnes at once, where Bachelu and Piré already were, and supplying their place at Gosselies by the divisions of the 1st Corps, one of which, we know (Durutte’s), had bivouacked between Jumet and Gosselies, he suffered them to remain at Gosselies; and, so far as appears, sent officers to hurry up d’Erlon only after he had ordered him to Frasnes (_ante_, p. 119), that is, after 11 A.M. Then there was a delay of an hour and three-quarters, for which Ney was not directly responsible, which was caused by Reille,[397] who, instead of obeying Ney’s order to march promptly from Gosselies to the front on receipt of any orders of movement from the headquarters of the army, delayed doing so until he had informed Ney, who was at Frasnes, that he had heard from Girard that the Prussians were concentrating near St. Amand, and had thereupon received fresh orders. But this delay could never have occurred had Reille been at Frasnes himself, to which place he ought to have been ordered by Ney hours before. It is, therefore, perfectly correct to say, that if Reille’s two divisions at Gosselies had been, early in the morning, ordered to Frasnes, where Bachelu and Piré had been since the previous evening, Marshal Ney could have commenced the battle of Quatre Bras with all the 2d Corps, except Girard’s division, which was with the main army, at eleven o’clock, the hour when he received his orders from Soult and his letter from the Emperor. Or, if he had thought best to defer the attack until he should have communicated to the Emperor the information as to the concentration of the Prussian army near St. Amand conveyed by Girard,[398] he would have been able to obey his orders, whatever they were, the moment his messenger returned. There was also no reason why d’Erlon should not have been likewise ordered up from Gosselies to Frasnes to support Reille, certainly with Durutte’s division, leaving the other divisions to come along as fast as they could. And it is not going too far to say that the measures above suggested were simply those which common sense would dictate, to an officer in Ney’s position.[399]