“Really, Sire, this is madness.  Sire, we entreat you—­”

His only answer was to repeat his gesture; probably he thought that the appearance of a group of brilliant uniforms on that deserted road would draw the fire of the batteries on the left bank.  Entirely unattended he rode forward into the midst of the storm of shot and shell, calmly, unhurriedly, with his unvarying air of resigned indifference, the air of one who goes to meet his appointed fate.  Could it be that he heard behind him the implacable voice that was urging him onward, that voice from Paris:  “March! march! die the hero’s death on the piled corpses of thy countrymen, let the whole world look on in awe-struck admiration, so that thy son may reign!” —­could that be what he heard?  He rode forward, controlling his charger to a slow walk.  For the space of a hundred yards he thus rode forward, then halted, awaiting the death he had come there to seek.  The bullets sang in concert with a music like the fierce autumnal blast; a shell burst in front of him and covered him with earth.  He maintained his attitude of patient waiting.  His steed, with distended eyes and quivering frame, instinctively recoiled before the grim presence who was so close at hand and yet refused to smite horse or rider.  At last the trying experience came to an end, and the Emperor, with his stoic fatalism, understanding that his time was not yet come, tranquilly retraced his steps, as if his only object had been to reconnoiter the position of the German batteries.

“What courage, Sire!  We beseech you, do not expose yourself further—­”

But, unmindful of their solicitations, he beckoned to his staff to follow him, not offering at present to consult their safety more than he did his own, and turned his horse’s head toward la Moncelle, quitting the road and taking the abandoned fields of la Ripaille.  A captain was mortally wounded, two horses were killed.  As he passed along the line of the 12th corps, appearing and vanishing like a specter, the men eyed him with curiosity, but did not cheer.

To all these events had Delaherche been witness, and now he trembled at the thought that he, too, as soon as he should have left the brick works, would have to run the gauntlet of those terrible projectiles.  He lingered, listening to the conversation of some dismounted officers who had remained there.

“I tell you he was killed on the spot; cut in two by a shell.”

“You are wrong, I saw him carried off the field.  His wound was not severe; a splinter struck him on the hip.”

“What time was it?”

“Why, about an hour ago—­say half-past six.  It was up there around la Moncelle, in a sunken road.”

“I know he is dead.”

“But I tell you he is not!  He even sat his horse for a moment after he was hit, then he fainted and they carried him into a cottage to attend to his wound.”

“And then returned to Sedan?”