It is certainly a long ride, and as we marched hither we found that the roads were very bad, and certainly where the army has passed they are so cut up by the artillery and wagons that they are sure to be quite unfit for going at racing speed.

Therefore I think that if we present ourselves at the palace early in the morning, we shall have done all that can be expected of us." It was indeed two o'clock in the morning when they arrived at the gates of Paris.

Accustomed though they all were to horse exercise, the journey had been a very fatiguing one.

Until night fell they had ridden briskly, talking as they went on the probable state of affairs in France and of the military operations that were likely to be undertaken as the result of the victory, but progress became slow after darkness set in.

The roads were in many places detestably bad.