Then, at last, for the first
time I caught a glimpse of Grouchy's advance guard. Scattered
parties of Hussars passed me on either side, but some distance
of, among the trees. I heard the beating of a drum far away, and
the low, dull murmur which an army makes upon the march. Any
moment I might come upon the staff and deliver my message to
Grouchy in person, for I knew well that on such a march a Marshal
of France would certainly ride with the van of his army.
Suddenly the trees thinned in front of me, and I understood with
delight that I was coming to the end of the wood? whence I could
see the army and find the Marshal.
Where the track comes out from amid the trees there is a small
cabaret, where wood-cutters and waggoners drink their wine.
Outside the door of this I reined up my horse for an instant
while I took in the scene which was before me. Some few miles
away I saw a second great forest, that of St. Lambert, out of
which the Emperor had seen the troops advancing. It was easy to
see, however, why there had been so long a delay in their leaving
one wood and reaching the other, because between the two ran the
deep defile of the Lasnes, which had to be crossed.
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