Having come to his decision, as announced to the young soldier, who had got his horses and his comrade and gone, the Emperor, with that supreme command of himself which few men possessed, had at last got a few hours of rest.

He had dressed himself with the assistance of his faithful valet, Constant, who had given him a bath and shaved him, and he now confronted the two astonished marshals with an air serene--even cheerful.
"Dispatches!" he said, as they approached him.

"It is a question of a very different matter.

Tell Caulaincourt to prolong the negotiations, but to concede nothing, to commit me to nothing.

I am going to beat Bluecher.