secretly—­the enemy must not suspect where the bridges will be erected; all the portions of the structures must be made on the island of Lobau, then the bridges must appear out of nothingness, like a miracle before the astonished eyes of the foe.  These bridges, gentlemen, will be the road for us all to gain new laurels, win fresh victories, and surround the immortal fame of our eagles with new glory.  I went to Germany to chastise and force into submission and obedience the insolent German princes who wished to oppose me.  I know that they are conspiring, that their treacherous designs are directed toward robbing France of her sovereign, who was summoned to his authority by the will of the French nation.  But they, like all who venture to rebel against me, must learn that God has placed in my hand the sword of retribution and of vengeance, and that it will crush those who blasphemously seek to conspire against me and dispute my power.  Austria has done this, Prussia would fain attempt it, but I will deter Prussia by chastising Austria.  To work, gentlemen!  In six weeks, at latest, we must give Austria a decisive battle which will make it depend solely on my will whether I permit the house of Hapsburg to reign longer or bury it in the nonentity of inglorious oblivion!”

After the emperor, standing among his silent generals, had spoken in a voice which rose louder and louder till it finally echoed like menacing thunder through the hall, he nodded a farewell, by a haughty bend of the head, and returned to his office, whose door he now not merely left ajar, but closed with a loud bang.

With his hands behind his back, an angry expression upon his face, and a frowning brow, the emperor paced up and down his room, absorbed in gloomy thought.  Sometimes a flash of indignation illumined his face, and he raised his arm with a threatening gesture, as if, like a second Jupiter, to hurl back into the depths the Titans who dared to rise to his throne.

“To appoint a successor,” he muttered in a fierce, threatening tone, “they dare to think, to busy themselves with that.  The ingrates!  It is I who gave them fame, honor, titles, wealth; they are already cogitating about my death—­my successor!  It is a conspiracy which extends throughout the whole army.  I know it.  I was warned in Spain against the plots of the Carbonari, and the caution has been repeated here.  And I must keep silence.  I cannot punish the traitors, for that would consign the majority of my generals to the ax of the executioner.  But I will give them all a warning example.  I will intimidate them, let them have an intimation that I am aware of their treacherous plans.”

He sank down into the armchair which stood before his writing-desk, took a pen-knife and began to mark and cut the arm of the chair with as much zeal and perseverance as if the object in view was to accomplish some useful and urgent task.  Then, when the floor was covered with tiny chips, and the black, delicately carved wood of the old-fashioned armchair was marked with white streaks and spots, the emperor hurled the knife down and rose hastily from his seat.