Another instant carried me from
the final conclusion to prompt and vigorous action. I rushed to
the side of the Emperor, who stood petrified, with the carriage
between him and our enemies. "Your coat, Sire! your hat!" I
cried. I dragged them of him.
Never had he been so hustled in his life. In an instant I had
them on and had thrust him into the carriage. The next I had
sprung on to his famous white Arab and had ridden clear of the
group upon the road.
You have already divined my plan; but you may well ask how could
I hope to pass myself off as the Emperor.
My figure is as you still see it, and his was never beautiful,
for he was both short and stout. But a man's height is not
remarked when he is in the saddle, and for the rest one had but
to sit forward on the horse and round one's back and carry
oneself like a sack of flour. I wore the little cocked hat and
the loose grey coat with the silver star which was known to every
child from one end of Europe to the other. Beneath me was the
Emperor's own famous white charger.
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