Just then the escort halted, and I heard a laugh in front, close to where the Emperor was standing; but from the crowded staff around him, could not see what was going forward.
“What is it?” said I, curious to learn the least incident of the scene.
“Advance a pace or two, Captain,” said the young officer I addressed; “you can see it all.”
I did so, and then beheld—oh, with what delight and surprise!—my poor friend, Pioche, seated on the driving-seat of a gun, with his hand in salute as the Emperor spoke to him.
“Thou wilt not have promotion, nor a pension. What, then, can I do for thee?” said Napoleon, smiling. “Hast any friend in the service whom I could advance for thy sake?»
“Yes, parbleu!” said Pioche, scratching his forehead, with a sort of puzzle and confusion even the Emperor smiled at, “I have a friend. But mayhap those wouldn't like—”
“Ask me for nothing thou thinkest I could not, ought not to grant,” said the Emperor, sternly. “What is't now?”
The poor corporal seemed thoroughly nonplussed, and for a second or two could not reply. At last, as if summoning all his courage for the effort, he said,—
“Well, thou canst but refuse, and then the fault will be all thine. She is a brave girl, and had she been a man—”
“Whom can he mean?” said Napoleon. “Is the man's head wandering?”