"Of Italy?"
"Rome."
"Of Russia?"
"St. Petersburg."
He looked up quickly. "St. Petersburg now; it was Moscow."
Then he asked, sternly and abruptly, "Qui l'a brulé?" ["Who burned it?">[
Betsy trembled. There was something terrifying now in his expression, as well as in the tones of his voice. She could not find words to reply as she recalled what she had heard about the burning of the great Russian city and the question as to whether the French or the Russians had set it on fire.
"Qui l'a brulé?" repeated Napoleon.
But there was a twinkle in his eye and a smile in his voice that encouraged Betsy to venture a stammering "I don't know, sir."
"Oui, oui," he responded, laughing heartily. "Vous savez très bien. C'est moi qui l'a brulé." ["Yes, yes, you understand well. It is I who burned it.">[