258 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAP, and on the other a mighty nation. When, leav- XIV " ins the room where all this had been contrived and rehearsed, he came out into the free air, and rode through street after street, it became every minute more certain that Paris was too busy, too grave, too scornful, to think of hailing him Em- peror ; nay, strange to say, the people, being fastidious or careless, or imperfectly aware of what had been done, refused to give him even that wondering attention which seemed to be in- sured to him by the transactions of the foregoing night ; and yet, there they were — the proffered Csesar and his long-prepared group of Captains — sitting published on the backs of real horses, with appropriate swords and dresses. Perhaps what a man in this plight might the most hate would be the sun — the cold December sun. Prince Louis rode home, and went in out of sight. seclusion Thenceforth, for the most part, he remained and gloom * of Prince c i ose s ] m t up in the Elysee. lhere, m an inner Louis L J . Napoleon. r0 om, still decked in red trousers, but with his back to the daylight, they say he sat bent over a fireplace for hours and hours together, resting his elbows on his knees, and burying his face in his hands. What is better known is, that in general, dur- ing this period of danger, tidings were not suffered to go to him straight. It seems that, either in obedience to his own dismal instinct, or else be- cause his associates had determined to prevent him from ruining them by his gloom, he wag kept sheltered from immediate contact with alarm-
