Pagina 876 van 3800

"What! It is as if I were glad of a chance to take advantage of

his being alone and despondent! A strange face may seem

unpleasant or painful to him at this moment of sorrow; besides,

what can I say to him now, when my heart fails me and my mouth

feels dry at the mere sight of him?" Not one of the innumerable

speeches addressed to the Emperor that he had composed in his

imagination could he now recall. Those speeches were intended for

quite other conditions, they were for the most part to be spoken

at a moment of victory and triumph, generally when he was dying

of wounds and the sovereign had thanked him for heroic deeds, and

while dying he expressed the love his actions had proved.