"
Ivan went weeping out of the room to prepare a remedy.
Napoleon turned his eyes with an expression of agony toward Maret
and Caulaincourt, who were kneeling before him. "My friends," he
said, "I sought death! But you see God did not will it! He commands
me to live and suffer." [Footnote: Constant's "Memoires," vol. vi.,
p. 88. Fain, "Manuscrit."]
On the morning after this night of terror, the emperor rose from his
couch, and his face, which for the last few days had been so gloomy,
assumed now a serene expression. "Providence has spared me for other
purposes," he murmured to himself. "Well, then, I shall live! To the
living belongs the future!"! [Footnote: Bausset's "Memoires," vol.
ii., p. 244.]
A week afterward, on the 20th of April, Napoleon left Fontainebleau
for Elba. In the court-yard of the palace the Old Guard was drawn up
in the splendor of their arms, with their eagles and banners. Near
the ranks of the soldiers, in front of the main portal, stood
Bonaparte's travelling-carriage, and beside it the foreign
commissioners. Before setting out, he wished to take leave of his
faithful soldiers. Advancing into the midst of the Old Guard, he
addressed them in a firm voice: "Soldiers of my Old Guard, I bid you
adieu! During twenty years I have ever found you in the path of
honor. In the last days, as in those of our prosperity, you have
never ceased to be models of bravery and fidelity.
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