The Emperor, wrapped up in his own thoughts, was not listening. He walked across the room from left to right and right to left, then beckoned to one of the officers standing in the gallery:
"My car. . . . And tell them to get ready. . . . We're starting."
He stopped, watched Lupin for a moment and, going up to the count:
"You too, Waldemar, be off . . . Straight to Paris, without a break . . ."
Lupin pricked up his ears. He heard Waldemar reply:
"I should like to have a dozen additional guards. . . . With that devil of a man. . . ."
"Take them. And look sharp. You must get there to-night."
Lupin stamped his foot violently on the floor:
"Well, no, Sire! No, no, no! It shan't be, I swear it shan't! No, no never!"
"What do you mean?"