Imagine my terrible position! Hour after hour was passing; the
sun was sinking toward the west.
And yet this cursed inn, in which I lay hid, was like a little
island amid a rushing stream of furious Prussians.
It was all important that I should reach Marshal Grouchy, and yet
I could not show my nose without being made prisoner. You can
think how I cursed and tore my hair. How little do we know what
is in store for us!
Even while I raged against my ill-fortune, that same fortune was
reserving me for a far higher task than to carry a message to
Grouchy--a task which could not have been mine had I not been
held tight in that little inn on the edge of the Forest of Paris.
Two Prussian corps had passed and a third was coming up, when I
heard a great fuss and the sound of several voices in the
sitting-room. By altering my position I was able to look down
and see what was going on.
Two Prussian generals were beneath me, their heads bent over a
map which lay upon the table. Several aides- de-camp and staff
officers stood round in silence.
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