“On January 23 I received a summons from Jules Favre.  He seized me by both hands, and asked me to carry, early the next morning, a despatch to M. de Bismarck, and to get it into his hands before daybreak.  No one was to know of this despatch except the German officer bearing a flag of truce, to whom I was to give it with my own hand.  ‘Then all is over?’ I said to Jules Favre.  ‘Yes,’ he answered, ’we have only bread enough for a few more days.  God only knows what the people of Paris may do to us when we are forced to let them know the truth.  We must do our best to guard against the disastrous consequences of their strong feeling of patriotism.  The Government does not intend to rid itself of its responsibilities, but its first duty is to provide bread for the capital.’

“With some difficulty,” continued d’Herisson, “I reached Sevres, and the next morning before daybreak gave Jules Favre’s letter to the Prussian officer.  I sent back an express to Jules Favre with the news, and then went to Baron Rothschild’s desolated villa at Suresnes to wait the answer.  Two hours later, came a message from the French officer commanding the nearest outpost to say that a flag of truce had brought word that M. de Bismarck would see M. Jules Favre, and that a carriage would be in waiting on the left bank of the Seine to take him to headquarters.”

This knowledge of the negotiation at the French outposts was a disclosure that Jules Favre had desired to avoid.

“When I brought Jules Favre the news,” continues d’Herisson, “he was greatly moved.  His hands trembled so that he could hardly break the seal of the letter.”

[Illustration:  JULES FAVRE.]

Seeing that news of what was passing would most certainly be brought in from the outposts, it seemed best that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs should start at once for the interview.  There was in the courtyard a coupe with a handsome horse, once belonging to Napoleon III., and driven by one of his former coachmen.  Jules Favre at once got into it, with his son-in-law and M. d’Herisson.  They passed with some difficulty through the Bois de Boulogne, the roads having been torn up and trees felled in every direction.  On reaching a French outpost Jules Favre, afraid of being recognized, concealed his face.  Their only means of crossing the Seine at Sevres was to take a small boat which had served General Burnside a few days before.  But the Prussians had been making a target of it ever since, and it was riddled with bullets.  Having bailed it out, however, with an old saucepan, they stuffed their handkerchiefs into the worst leaks, and crossed the Seine in safety.

In a miserable old carriage, attended by a Prussian escort, Jules Favre was borne away to his terrible interview with Bismarck, leaving d’Herisson behind.  Favre did not come back for many hours.  His first words to his aide-de-camp were:  “Oh, my dear fellow, I was wrong to go without you.  What have I not suffered?”