Cutting my way through them, I advanced boldly upon a battery and sabred the gunners before they could bring their pieces to bear.

Looking around, I saw that I had in fact penetrated the French centre.

Before I was well aware of the locality, I was hailed by a sharp voice in French,-- "Come here, sir!" I obeyed, and advanced to the side of a little man in a cocked hat.
"Has Grouchy come ?" "Not yet, sire," I replied,--for it was the Emperor.
"Ha!" he said suddenly, bending his piercing eyes on my uniform; "a prisoner ?" "No, sire," I said, proudly.
"A spy ?" I placed my hand upon my sword, but a gesture from the Emperor bade me forbear.
"You are a brave man," he said.
I took my snuff-box from my pocket, and, taking a pinch, replied by handing it, with a bow, to the Emperor.
His quick eye caught the cipher on the lid.

"What! a D'Enville?
Ha! this accounts for the purity of your accent.

Any relation to Roderick d'Enville ?" "My father, sire." "He was my school-fellow at the Ecole Polytechnique.