“The very mystery in which the whole seems enveloped,” said Filmot, “would, in itself, be enough to interest me in it; particularly so now, when I have reason to believe myself in the presence of the chief actor—­of him whom hitherto I have always regarded as the creation of an excited imagination.”

“And why a creature of the imagination?” inquired M. Delevert.  “Is it because I had it in my power to appear before the Emperor and to leave him unseen by other eyes?  Or is it because of the truth of my predictions?  Neither was impossible; neither required means beyond those which the scientific student of the book of nature, when properly instructed, can obtain.  I resorted once even to a use of the utmost powers of nature, as far as they are known to me, in order to entice him, by a palpable proof of my ability to aid him, to promise that he would become an instrument in the hands of those who sought to usher in the dawn of a happier age, the age of true liberty, true equality; an age in which every man and woman would be able to feel, through the advantages of education and equal political and moral rights, unhampered by false prejudices, that all human beings were created free and equal.  It was on the night before the battle of Austerlitz, when he, as was his frequent custom, visited the outpost, wrapped in his plain gray coat.  At the hour of midnight, I presented myself before him, and offered to show him the plans of the enemy for the following day, on condition that he would not endeavor to meddle with anything he should see, except so far as necessary to obtain the promised information.  He knew something of my ability to fulfil what I promised, and therefore did not doubt me, but gave his imperial word to fulfil his part of the compact.  I then led him a few paces beyond the camp, and bade him be seated on a large stone, a fragment of an old heathen altar-stone.  He had hardly taken his seat before a phantom-like being, in the garb of an officer in the Austrian army, was seen kneeling before him with a portfolio in his hand.  Napoleon opened it, and found there all the information he desired.  He complied strictly with his promise, and returned the portfolio as soon as he had taken his notes, and the officer disappeared like a vapor of the night.  I then turned to the surprised monarch, and offered to repeat this specimen of my skill before every subsequent battle, if he would moderate his ambition and be content to be the first among his equals, the father of a wide-spread patriarchal family.  But he angrily refused to listen to such a proposal, and, having somewhat recovered from his surprise, called for his guards to seize me.  Fool!  He stood upon a spot where I could have killed him without the danger of its ever becoming known to any one.  While he turned to look for his myrmidons, the ground opened beneath my feet, and I disappeared before he had time to see by what means I escaped.