'
'And who is the stern-looking man, leaning on the Oriental sword?'
'Oh, that is Soult! He is the most obstinate man in the world. He
argues with the Emperor. The handsome man beside him is Junot, and
Bernadotte is leaning against the tent-pole.'
I looked with interest at the extraordinary face of this adventurer,
who, after starting with a musket and a knapsack in the ranks, was not
contented with the baton of a marshal, but passed on afterwards to grasp
the sceptre of a king. And it might be said of him that, unlike his
fellows, he gained his throne in spite of Napoleon rather than by his
aid. Any man who looked at his singular pronounced features, the
swarthiness of which proclaimed his half Spanish origin, must have read
in his flashing black eyes and in that huge aggressive nose that he was
reserved for a strange destiny. Of all the fierce and masterful men who
surrounded the Emperor there was none with greater gifts, and none,
also, whose ambitions he more distrusted, than those of Jules
Bernadotte.
And yet, fierce and masterful as these men were, having, as Auguereau
boasted, fear neither of God nor of the devil, there was something which
thrilled or cowed them in the pale smile or black frown of the little
man who ruled them.
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