to kiss him? Who could foretell the cruel doom - heedless of



such favours and such splendid promises - that awaited the

pretty child? Who could hear the brave young soldier's last



shrieks of solitary agony? Who could see the forsaken body

slashed with knives and assegais? Ah! who could dream of



that fond mother's heart, when the end came, which eclipsed

even the disasters of a nation!



One by-day, when my wife and I were riding with the Emperor

through the forest of Compiegne, a rough-looking man in a



blouse, with a red comforter round his neck, sprang out from

behind a tree; and before he could be stopped, seized the



Emperor's bridle. In an instant the Emperor struck his hand

with a heavy hunting stock; and being free, touched his horse



with the spur and cantered on. I took particular notice of

his features and his demeanour, from the very first moment of



the surprise. Nothing happened but what I have described.

The man seemed fierce and reckless. The Emperor showed not



the faintest signs of discomposure. All he said was, turning

to my wife, 'Comme il avait l'air sournois, cet homme!' and



resumed the conversation at the point where it was

interrupted.



Before we had gone a hundred yards I looked back to see what

had become of the offender. He was in the hands of two GENS



D'ARMES, who had been invisible till then.

'Poor devil,' thought I, 'this spells dungeon for you.'



Now, with Kinglake's acrimonious charge of the Emperor's

personal cowardice" target="_blank" title="n.懦弱，胆怯">cowardicerunning in my head, I felt that this



exhibition of SANG FROID, when taken completely unawares,

went far to refute the imputation. What happened later in



the day strongly confirmed this opinion.

After dark, about six o'clock, I took a stroll by myself



through the town of Compiegne. Coming home, when crossing

the bridge below the Palace, I met the Emperor arm-in-arm



with Walewski. Not ten minutes afterwards, whom should I

stumble upon but the ruffian who had seized the Emperor's



bridle? The same red comforter was round his neck, the same

wild look was in his face. I turned after he had passed, and



at the same moment he turned to look at me.

Would this man have been at large but for the Emperor's



orders? Assuredly not. For, supposing he were crazy, who

could have answered for his deeds? Most likely he was



shadowed; and to a certainty the Emperor would be so. Still,

what could save the latter from a pistol-shot? Yet, here he



was, sauntering about the badly lighted streets of a town

where his kenspeckle figure was familiar to every inhabitant.



Call this fatalism if you will; but these were not the acts

of a coward. I told this story to a friend who was well



'posted' in the club gossip of the day. He laughed.

'Don't you know the meaning of Kinglake's spite against the



Emperor?' said he. 'CHERCHEZ LA FEMME. Both of them were in

love with Mrs. - '



This is the way we write our histories.

Wishing to explore the grounds about the palace before anyone



was astir, I went out one morning about half-past eight.

Seeing what I took to be a mausoleum, I walked up to it,



found the door opened, and peeped in. It turned out to be a

museum of Roman antiquities, and the Emperor was inside,



arranging them. I immediately withdrew, but he called to me

to come in.



He was at this time busy with his Life of Caesar; and, in his

enthusiasm, seemed pleased to have a listener to his



instructive explanations; he even encouraged the curiosity

which the valuablecollection and his own remarks could not



fail to awaken.

Not long ago, I saw some correspondence in the Times' and



other papers about what Heine calls 'Das kleine

welthistorische Hutchen,' which the whole of Europe knew so



well, to its cost. Some six or seven of the Buonaparte hats,

• incident [´insidənt] n.小事件；事变 (初中英语单词)


• performance [pə´fɔ:məns] n.履行；行为；工作 (初中英语单词)


• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)


• resistance [ri´zistəns] n.抵抗；抵制；耐力 (初中英语单词)


• impression [im´preʃən] n.印刷；印象；效果 (初中英语单词)


• portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)


• privilege [´privilidʒ] n.特权 vt.给….特权 (初中英语单词)


• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)


• emperor [´empərə] n.皇帝 (初中英语单词)


• prince [´prins] n.王子；亲王；君主 (初中英语单词)


• imperial [im´piəriəl] a.帝国的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)


• character [´kæriktə] n.特性；性质；人物；字 (初中英语单词)


• driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• height [hait] n.高度；顶点；卓越 (初中英语单词)


• normandy [´nɔ:məndi] n.诺曼底 (初中英语单词)


• costume [´kɔstju:m] n.服装(试样)；女装 (初中英语单词)


• gallop [´gæləp] n.&v.奔驰；急速行进 (初中英语单词)


• stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)


• extreme [ik´stri:m] a.尽头的 n.极端 (初中英语单词)


• constant [´kɔnstənt] a.坚定的；坚贞的 (初中英语单词)


• majesty [´mædʒisti] n.壮丽；崇高；尊严 (初中英语单词)


• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)


• upward [´ʌpwəd] a.&ad.向上(的)；以上 (初中英语单词)


• background [´bækgraund] n.背景；经历；幕后 (初中英语单词)


• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)


• career [kə´riə] n.经历；生涯；职业 (初中英语单词)


• achievement [ə´tʃi:vmənt] n.完成；成就，成绩 (初中英语单词)


• permanent [´pə:mənənt] a.永久的；不变的 (初中英语单词)


• foundation [faun´deiʃən] n.建立；基金；地基 (初中英语单词)


• immortal [i´mɔ:təl] a.不死的n.不朽的人物 (初中英语单词)


• ancestor [´ænsəstə] n.祖宗，祖先 (初中英语单词)


• earnest [´ə:nist] a.认真的 n.认真；诚恳 (初中英语单词)


• contents [´kɔ:ntents] n.容纳物；要旨 (初中英语单词)


• velvet [´velvit] n.&a.天鹅绒(般的) (初中英语单词)


• jacket [´dʒækit] n.茄克衫；外套 (初中英语单词)


• sprang [spræŋ] spring 的过去式 (初中英语单词)


• instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)


• fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)


• invisible [in´vizəbəl] a.看不见的；无形的 (初中英语单词)


• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)


• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)


• strongly [´strɔŋli] ad.强烈地；强有力地 (初中英语单词)


• coward [´kauəd] n.胆怯者 a.胆小的 (初中英语单词)


• valuable [´væljuəbəl, -jubəl] a.有价值的，贵重的 (初中英语单词)


• collection [kə´lekʃən] n.收集；征收；募捐 (初中英语单词)


• solely [´səulli] ad.唯一；单独；完全 (高中英语单词)


• related [ri´leitid] a.叙述的；有联系的 (高中英语单词)


• amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)


• picturesque [,piktʃə´resk] a.似画的；别致的 (高中英语单词)


• cavalry [´kævəlri] n.骑兵(部队) (高中英语单词)


• sergeant [´sɑ:dʒənt] n.警官；军士 (高中英语单词)


• delicacy [´delikəsi] n.精美；娇弱，微妙 (高中英语单词)


• charcoal [´tʃɑ:kəul] n.木炭；炭笔 (高中英语单词)


• dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)


• congratulate [kən´grætjuleit] vt.祝贺 (高中英语单词)


• gravity [´græviti] n.严肃；严重；重力 (高中英语单词)


• initiative [i´niʃiətiv] n.主动权；首创精神 (高中英语单词)


• inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞；灵感；启发 (高中英语单词)


• dessert [di´zə:t] n.(餐后)甜食 (高中英语单词)


• solitary [´sɔlitəri] a.独居的；孤独的 (高中英语单词)


• bridle [´braidl] n.(马)笼头；束缚 (高中英语单词)


• reckless [´rekləs] a.不注意的；鲁莽的 (高中英语单词)


• dungeon [´dʌndʒən] n.地牢，土牢 (高中英语单词)


• stroll [strəul] n.&v.漫步；散步；游荡 (高中英语单词)


• certainty [´sə:tənti] n.确实(性)；确信 (高中英语单词)


• gossip [´gɔsip] n.&vi.说闲话；聊天 (高中英语单词)


• explore [ik´splɔ:] v.勘探；探索；探查 (高中英语单词)


• withdrew [wið´dru:] withdraw的过去式 (高中英语单词)


• caesar [´si:zə] n.凯撒；暴君；独裁者 (高中英语单词)


• correspondence [,kɔri´spɔndəns] n.通信；符合；相当 (高中英语单词)


• trivial [´triviəl] a.琐碎的；不重要的 (英语四级单词)


• clearing [´kliəriŋ] n.(森林中的)空旷地 (英语四级单词)


• empress [´empris] n.女皇；皇后 (英语四级单词)


• unusually [ʌn´ju:ʒuəli] ad.异常地；非常 (英语四级单词)


• bedside [´bedsaid] n.床边 a.护理的 (英语四级单词)


• consolidate [kən´sɔlideit] v.巩固；合并；联合 (英语四级单词)


• heedless [´hi:dlis] a.不注意的，不留心的 (英语四级单词)


• knives [naivz] knife的复数 (英语四级单词)


• comforter [´kʌmfətə] n.慰问者；毛围巾；圣灵 (英语四级单词)


• demeanour [di´mi:nə] n.行为；举止；态度 (英语四级单词)


• offender [ə´fendə] n.冒犯者；罪犯 (英语四级单词)


• bridge [bridʒ] n.桥(梁)；鼻梁；桥牌 (英语四级单词)


• assuredly [ə´ʃuəridli] ad.确实地；确信地 (英语四级单词)


• listener [´lisənə] n.(收)听者，听众之一 (英语四级单词)


• hunting [´hʌntiŋ] n.打猎 (英语六级单词)


• hungary [´hʌŋgəri] n.匈牙利 (英语六级单词)


• covert [kʌvət] a.隐藏的 n.隐藏处 (英语六级单词)


• ordeal [ɔ:´di:l] n.严峻考验；折磨 (英语六级单词)


• speculate [´spekjuleit] vi.思索；推测；投机 (英语六级单词)


• unwise [ʌn´waiz] a.不聪明的，愚笨的 (英语六级单词)


• forsaken [fə´seik] forsake的过去分词 (英语六级单词)


• cowardice [´kauədis] n.懦弱，胆怯 (英语六级单词)


• ruffian [´rʌfiən] n.流氓 a.残暴的 (英语六级单词)