"I know him to be a sharp observer. As to his information, I know that Bismarck has received him; that he has had intercourse with various political personages in Germany, and that he has a talent for discovering the direction of popular opinion. Nevertheless I think he over-estimates the power of Prussia. Bismarck impressed him greatly, and the impression made is mirrored in his report. We have seen the same before; this Prussian minister well knows how to gain those whom he wishes to win."
The emperor gazed thoughtfully before him. "I fear," he said, in a low voice, "that the man is right, and that we have a great and difficult historical problem before us. Can we support Austria without wounding Italy, already too strong to be ignored? Can Prussia prevail, and Germany be reconstituted, without danger to the prestige of France--yes, even to our frontier! Alsace and Lorraine once were German."
Piétri smiled.
"Your majesty loves to jest!"
"Ah! Piétri," said the emperor, placing his hand on his secretary's shoulder, partly to impress his words, partly as if seeking a support, "you do not know the Germans; I know and understand them, for I have lived amongst them. The German nation is a lion, which knows not his own power; a child might lead him with a chain of flowers,--yet in his claws there is strength to destroy the whole European world, when he knows his own nature and when he once tastes blood. And in this war he will taste blood--the old jest, 'l'appetit vient en mangeant' will turn to frightful earnest; let this Prussian lion once break his chain, and he will be a frightfully dangerous neighbour."
The emperor said this half aloud in short broken sentences, while his eyes, as if following a vision, stared into space.
A quiet smile played round Piétri's lips.
"Your majesty has a dark hour," said he, in the calm encouraging tone used to one ill and excited; "I believe the strongest element in the German lion is sleep--should he awake and play the dangerous pranks your majesty describes, he will find on our frontier our large armies and the imperial eagle. The impertinent lion will soon be taught his place."
The emperor let his head sink down on the arm still resting on Piétri's shoulder; his whole figure seemed to collapse, his eyes glowed wildly beneath their veil of eyelashes, his breath came with difficulty through his parted lips, as if it struggled to form words which might express his gloomy thoughts. The mighty emperor seemed oppressed by the darkest forebodings; at last, without the least movement in his lips, he said, in a low tone which filled the quiet room with a trembling shudder,
"I am not the Great Napoleon!"