The Eagle of the Empire | Page 2

principles, however, are unchanged, and over the fields upon which Napoleon marched and fought, armies are marching and fighting in practically the same way to-day. And great Captains are still studying Frederick, Wellington and Bonaparte as they have ever done.
The author modestly hopes that this book may not only entertain by the love story, the tragic yet happily ended romance within its pages--for there is romance here aside from the great Captain and his exploits--but that in a small way it may serve to set forth not so much the brilliance and splendor and glory of war as the horror of it.
We are frightfully fascinated by war, even the most peaceable and peace-loving of us. May this story help to convey to the reader some of the other side of it; the hunger, the cold, the weariness, the suffering, the disaster, the despair of the soldier; as well as the love and the joy and the final happiness of the beautiful Laure and the brave Marteau to say nothing of redoubtable old Bal-Arr��t, the Bullet-Stopper--whose fates were determined on the battlefield amid the clash of arms.
CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY.
THE HEMLOCKS, EDGECLIFF TERRACE, PARK-HILL-ON-HUDSON. YONKERS, N. Y.
EPIPHANY-TIDE, 1915.

CONTENTS
PROLOGUE VIVE L'EMPEREUR
BOOK I: THE EMPEROR AT BAY
Chapter
I.
BEARERS OF EVIL TIDINGS II. THE EMPEROR DREAMS III. THE ARMY MARCHES AWAY IV. MARTEAU AND BAL-ARR��T RIDE V. WHEN THE COSSACKS PASSED VI. MARTEAU BARGAINS FOR THE WOMAN VII. A RESCUE AND A SIEGE VIII. A TRIAL OR ALLEGIANCE IX. THE EMPEROR EATS AND RIDES X. HOW MARTEAU WON THE CROSS XI. AN EMPEROR AND A GENTLEMAN XII. AN ALLIANCE DECLINED XIII. THE THUNDERBOLT STROKE XIV. THE HAMMER OF THE WAR GOD
BOOK II: THE EAGLE'S FLIGHT
XV. THE BRIDGE AT ARCIS XVI. THE GATE IN THE WALL XVII. A VETERAN OF THE ARMY OF ITALY XVIII. ALMOST A GENTLEMAN XIX. THE GREAT HONOR ROLL XX. WHEN THE VIOLETS BLOOM AGAIN XXI. LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT XXII. IN THE COUNTESS LAURE'S BED-CHAMBER XXIII. THE MARQUIS GRANTS AN INTERVIEW XXIV. ON THE WHOLE DEATH MAY BE BETTER THAN LIFE XXV. NOT EVEN LOVE CAN FIND A WAY XXVI. THEY MEET A LION IN THE WAY XXVII. COMRADE! GENERAL! EMPEROR!
BOOK III: THE LAST TRY
XXVIII. AT THE STAMP OF THE EMPEROR'S FOOT XXIX. WATERLOO--THE FINAL REVIEW XXX. WATERLOO--THE CHARGE OF D'ERLON XXXI. WATERLOO--THE LAST OF THE GUARD XXXII. AT LAST THE EAGLE AND THE WOMAN

PROLOGUE
VIVE L'EMPEREUR
The weatherworn Chateau d'Aumenier stands in the midst of a noble park of trees forming part of an extensive domain not far to the northwest of the little town of S��zanne, in the once famous county of Champagne, in France. The principal room of the castle is a great hall in the oldest part of the venerable pile which dates back for eight hundred years, or to the tenth century and the times of the famous Count Eudes himself, for whom it was held by one of his greatest vassals.
The vast apartment is filled with rare and interesting mementos of its distinguished owners, including spoils of war and trophies of the chase, acquired in one way or another in the long course of their history, and bespeaking the courage, the power, the ruthlessness, and, sometimes, the unscrupulousness of the hard-hearted, heavy-handed line. Every country in Europe and every age, apparently, has been levied upon to adorn this great hall, with its long mullioned windows, its enormous fireplace, its huge carved stone mantel, its dark oak paneled walls and beamed ceiling. But, the most interesting, the most precious of all the wonderful things therein has a place of honor to itself at the end farthest from the main entrance.
Fixed against this wall is a broken staff, or pole, surmounted by a small metallic figure. The staff is fastened to the wall by clamps of tempered steel which are further secured by delicate locks of skillful and intricate workmanship. The pole is topped by the gilded effigy of an eagle.
In dimensions the eagle is eight inches high, from head to feet, and nine and a half inches wide, from wing tip to wing tip. Heraldically, "Un Aigle ��ploy��" it would be called. That is, an eagle in the act of taking flight--in the vernacular, a "spread eagle." The eagle looks to the left, with its wings half expanded. In its talons it grasps a thunderbolt, as in the old Roman standard. Those who have ever wandered into the Monastery of the Certosa, at Milan, have seen just such an eagle on one of the tombs of the great Visconti family. For, in truth, this emblem has been modeled after that one.
Below the thunderbolt is a tablet of brass, three inches square, on which is a raised number. In this instance, the number is five. The copper of which the eagle is molded was originally gilded, but in