She cried a little, and fainted away--but that will not hurt a
woman; I know she will soon be better. I secured my prize, and here
I am, and here is your excellency's eye-shade."
"And a good one it is. I thank you, my boy; I will wear it in honor
of you, for my eyes are aching dreadfully, and I have need of a
shade. I will raise this standard when we make our entrance into
Paris, and I believe, pipe-master, the fair Parisians will rejoice
at seeing me dressed in the latest Parisian fashion. But now,
milliner, cut off the crown, else I cannot use it."
"I will do so at once," said Christian, taking a pair of scissors
from his dressing-pouch, and transforming a lady's bonnet into an
eye-shade.
A few hours afterward, all was quiet on the Montmartre, and on all
the other heights around Paris. After the battle the armies needed
sleep, and it was undisturbed, for there was no longer an enemy to
dispute their possession of the French capital.
CHAPTER LII.
NIGHT AND MORNING NEAR PARIS.
So the allied armies encamped and rested round the bivouac-fires,
while, at a house in the suburbs of La Chapelle, the
plenipotentiaries of the sovereigns were still negotiating with the
French marshals the terms on which the city was to be surrendered.
But he who now rode along the road to Paris at a gallop in an open
carriage knew no peace or rest.
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