It was so thoroughly alive that he believed it must be a reproduction of some great painting.

He stood a long time, fascinated by this picture of the young republican general who rose like a meteor over Europe and who changed the world.
John, like nearly all young men, viewed the Napoleonic cycle with a certain awe and wonder.

A student, he had considered Napoleon the great democratic champion and mainly in the right as far as Austerlitz.

Then swollen ambition had ruined everything and, in his opinion, another swollen ambition, though for far less cause, was now bringing equal disaster upon Europe.

A belief in one's infallibility might come from achievement or birth, but only the former could win any respect from thinking men.
It seemed to John presently that the deep, inscrutable eyes were gazing at him, and he felt a quivering at the roots of his hair.