was soon sent for.  As he ascended the winding path leading to the pavilion he saw Napoleon standing at the threshold of the door.  His body was slightly bent, and his hands behind his back:  he wore his usual plain and simple uniform and the well-known hat.  The Emperor was alone.  He took a fancy to walk a little; but there was no level ground on any side of the pavilion, which was surrounded by huge pieces of rock.  Taking the arm of his companion, however, he began to converse in a cheerful strain.  When Napoleon was about to retire to rest the servants found that one of the windows was open close to the bed:  they barricaded it as well as they could, so as to exclude the air, to the effects of which the Emperor was very susceptible.  Las Cases ascended to an upper room.  The valets de chambres lay stretched in their cloaks across the threshold of the door.  Such was the first night Napoleon passed at the Briars.

An English officer was lodged with them in the house as their guard, and two non-commissioned officers were stationed near the house to watch their movements.  Napoleon the next day proceeded with his dictation, which occupied him for several hours, and then took a walk in the garden, where he was met by the two Misses Balcombe, lively girls about fourteen years of age, who presented him with flowers, and overwhelmed him with whimsical questions.  Napoleon was amused by their familiarity, to which he had been little accustomed.  “We have been to a masked ball,” said he, when the young ladies had taken their leave.

The next day a chicken was brought for breakfast, which the Emperor undertook to carve himself, and was surprised at his succeeding so well, it being a long time since he had done so much.  The coffee he considered so bad that on tasting it he thought himself poisoned, and sent it away.

The mornings were passed in business; in the evening Napoleon sometimes strolled to the neighbouring villa, where the young ladies made him play at whist.  The Campaign of Italy was nearly finished, and Las Cases proposed that the other followers of Napoleon who were lodged in the town should come up every morning to assist in transcribing The Campaign of Egypt, the History of the Consulate, etc.  This suggestion pleased the ex-Emperor, so that from that time one or two of his suite came regularly every day to write to his dictation, and stayed to dinner.  A tent, sent by the Colonel of the 53d Regiment, was spread out so as to form a prolongation of the pavillion.  Their cook took up his abode at the Briars.  The table linen was taken from the trunks, the plate was set forth, and the first dinner after these new arrangements was a sort of fete.