the conversation which preceded my admission into this sanctuary, which I pictured as a sort of place from which nothing but invisible oracles proceeded, accompanied by lightning and thunder. Such was the very simple investiture by which I received a post, the responsibility of which seemed so terrible that, when it was proposed to me, I could only think of it with terror. After this short audience, and this laconic dialogue, the First Consul made a sign with his hand which I took for an order to withdraw, and left me to go into an adjoining drawing-room, where no doubt, some business awaited him. Slightly reassured by the simplicity of this commencement I went back the way I had come, preceded by my guide, who had waited for me outside the door. Nothing but solitude and silence reigned in the dimly-lighted corridors through which I passed. I met nobody on my way out, except a sentry placed at the gate of the inner court."
V.
FIRST DICTATION.
Our poor Méneval, who was then only twenty-four years of age, went home to bed, but had a sleepless night. He was probably relieved when the night was over, for, as he goes on to say:
"I got up before daybreak, and made my way to the Tuileries, arriving there before the
