XXIII.
A DOOMED MAN.
Méneval was not long with Napoleon without discovering that Napoleon, after the return from Elba, had lost his nerve, and knew he was a doomed man:
"He told me . . . that in making his attempt he had understood that he could appeal only to the courage and patriotism of the nation and to his sword. 'And for the rest,' he added, with a melancholy smile, 'God is great and merciful.' All his words were stamped with a calm sadness and a resignation which produced a great impression upon me. I no longer found him animated with that certainty of success which had formerly rendered him confident and invincible. It seemed as if his faith in his fortune, which had induced him to attempt the very hardy enterprise of his return from the island of Elba, and which had supported him during his miraculous march through France, had abandoned him on his entry into Paris."
Finally, after Waterloo, Méneval followed Napoleon to Malmaison, the scene of his early greatness and of his final overthrow:
"Walking one day with the Emperor in the private garden which adjoined his cabinet, he told me that he counted on me to follow him. I had no other intention. As I needed a little
