All at once there was a great noise, and beating of drums and fanfare of trumpets, and the air resounded with cries of "Vive l'empereur! Down with the Bourbons! Down with traitors!"
"What is that, Montholon?" asked the emperor.
"Sire, it is Brayer's division: twenty thousand men who have returned from la Vendée; they have stopped in front of the Castle palings."
"What do they want?"
"They demand their emperor again, and if he will not come to them, they declare they will come and take him."
The emperor remained wrapped in thought for a moment; he was probably calculating that with the 80,000 men under Soult, the 20,000 men under Brayer, 50,000 of the federated army and 3,000,000 of National Guard, he would still have a splendid means of defence at his disposal, and could maintain a fine struggle.
He was told that General Brayer wished to speak to the emperor.
"Let him come in."
"Sire, sire, in the name of my soldiers, in my own name, and in the name of France, come, sire,—we are waiting for you."
"What to do?"