quitted the path leading to the guard's bivouac, and went towards Pratzen to observe what was going on in the enemy's advance guard. He remained a long time watching, and at the approach of night he returned to Brunn without going to see his chasseurs. Thus I remained several days in mortal anxiety, although I heard of the successive return of sundry detachments. Finally, the battle being at hand, and the Emperor being very busy, the idea of making the verification which I had so much dreaded passed out of his thoughts, but I had had a good lesson. So when I became colonel and the Emperor questioned me on the number of combatants present in the squadrons of my regiment, I always told the exact truth."
V.
NAPOLEON'S DIPLOMATIC METHODS.
Marbot, having told how Napoleon could be deceived, proceeds to give an instructive instance of how Napoleon could deceive. The scene, which is about to be described, took place at the critical moment when the King of Prussia was still wavering between peace and war—between joining in the coalition against Napoleon or remaining neutral. To get some idea of what Napoleon was doing, the King sent Herr von Haugwitz on a diplomatic mission invented for the occasion. It was just after the battle of
