in your honor ; I have perhaps risked my life in order
to see you. I wish to learn from yourselves what are
your feelings and opinions. If the nation views the
present state of the country as I do, I think I can be
useful. The great man is no more, but our cause is
the same as in his time. The eagle, that sacred em-
blem, represents, as in 1815, the rights of the people
and the national glory. I act not from personal ambi-
tion, therefore telr me if I am wrong, and although
exile with its cares and sorrows has weighed heavily
upon me, I will resign myself to living in a foreign
land, until happier days." " No ! " exclaimed the as-
sembled officers, "you shall not languish in exile; we
have long sympathized with you ; we will restore you
to your country."

The ardor of the conspirators went on increasing,
and, had they not possessed resolution and daring of
their own, there was a woman among them who would
have set them a bold example. Madame Gordon, the
daughter . of a captain of the imperial guards, and
brought "up in the worship of the Emperor, appeared
at Strasbourg and Baden as a professional singer.
Louis Napoleon became her ardent admirer. She was
informed of all his projects, and immediately plunged
into the conspiracy with the characteristic impetuosity
of female zeal. Young, beautiful, and fascinating, this
ambitious lady speedily acquired great influence
among the conspirators, and urged on the development
of the plot.
