After reflecting a little, he decided
to adopt the latter course. "You are rather too young to impose upon an
old fellow like me," he remarked. "I don't like boasters--"
"One moment!" interrupted Lecoq; "allow me to explain. You have
certainly heard of a terrible battle which resulted in one of the
greatest defeats that ever happened to France--the battle of Waterloo?"
"I don't see the connection--"
"Answer, if you please."
"Yes--then! I have heard of it!"
"Very well; you must know then that for some time victory seemed likely
to rest with the banners of France. The English began to fall back, and
the emperor had already exclaimed: 'We have them!' when suddenly on the
right, a little in the rear, a large body of troops was seen advancing.
It was the Prussian army. The battle of Waterloo was lost."
In all his life, worthy Father Absinthe had never made such a strenuous
effort to understand anything. In this case his perseverance was not
wholly useless, for, springing from his stool, and probably in much the
same tone that Archimedes cried "Eureka!" he exclaimed, "I understand.
The man's words were only an allusion."
"It is as you have said," remarked Lecoq, approvingly. "But I had
not finished. If the emperor was thrown into consternation by the
appearance of the Prussians, it was because he was momentarily
expecting the arrival of one of his own generals from the same
direction--Grouchy--with thirty-five thousand men. So if this man's
allusion was exact and complete, he was not expecting an enemy, but a
friend.
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