"'For that reason I send two other officers with copies of the same despatch. There are three of you; the enemy will kill two, the third will get there, and France will be saved.' "'Yes, sire.' "'The one who returns shall be a brigadier-general.' "'Yes, sire.' "Every detail of this interview, every word of the Emperor, every response which I had the honor to address to him, is still engraved upon my memory. All three of us set out separately. Alas! not one of us reached the goal aimed at by his valor, and I have learned to-day that France was not saved. But when I see these blockheads of historians asserting that the Emperor forgot to send orders to General Rapp, I feel a terrible itching to cut their ---- story short, at least. "'When a prisoner in the hands of the Russians in a German village, I had the consolation of finding an old philosopher, who gave me the rarest proofs of friendship. Who would have told me, when I succumbed to the numbness of the cold in the tower of Liebenfeld, that that sleep would not be the last? God is my witness, that in then addressing, from the bottom of my heart, a last farewell to Clementine, I did not even hope to see her again. I will see you again, then, O sweet and confiding Clementine--best of spouses, and, probably, of mothers! What do I say? I see her now! My eyes do not deceive me! This is surely she! There she is, just as I left her! Clementine! In my arms! On my heart! Look here! What's this you've been whining to me, the rest of you? Napoleon is not dead, and the world has not grown forty-six years older, for Clementine is still the same!" The betrothed of Leon Renault was about entering the room, and stopped petrified at finding herself so overwhelmingly received by the Colonel. CHAPTER XIV. THE GAME OF LOVE AND WAR. As she was evidently backward in falling into his arms, Fougas imitated Mahomet, and ran to the mountain. "Oh, Clementine!" said he, covering her with kisses, "the friendly Fates give you back to my devotion. I clasp once more the partner of my life and the mother of my child!" The young lady was so astounded, that she did not even dream of defending herself. Happily, Leon Renault extricated her from the hands of the Colonel, and placed himself between them, determined to defend his own. "Monsieur," cried he, clenching his fists, "you deceive yourself entirely, if you think you know _Mademoiselle_. She is not a person of your time, but of ours; she is not your _fiancee_, but mine; she has never been the mother of your child, and I trust that she will be the mother of mine!" Fougas was iron. He seized his rival by the arm, sent him off spinning like a top, and put himself face to face with the young girl. "Are you Clementine?" he demanded of her. "Yes, Monsieur." "I call you all to witness that she is my Clementine!" Leon returned to the charge, and seized the Colonel by the collar, at the risk of getting himself dashed against the walls.