He was practically a prisoner on the little island of Elba, adjacent to that greater island of Corsica, where he had been born.

The great circle of his life had been completed.

And all the achievements were to be comprehended between those two little islands in the blue Mediterranean--from Corsica to Elba, the phrase ran.

Was that all?
Much water had flowed under the bridges of Europe since that mad ride of the infantry in the farm wagons to face Schwarzenberg after their smashing and successful attacks upon Bluecher, although the intervening time had been short.

A year had scarcely elapsed, but that twelve months had been crowded with incident, excitement, and vivid interest almost unparalleled by any similar period in modern history.