He had picked
up a good deal of information about the positions and details of the
battle, and being naturally a sagacious Wallon, and speaking French
pretty fluently, he became the favourite _cicerone_, and every lie he
told was taken for gospel. Year after year, until his death, in 1824,
he continued his popularity, and raised the price of his rounds from a
couple of francs to five; besides as much for the hire of a horse, his
own property; for he pretended that the fatigue of walking so many
hours was beyond his powers. It has been said, that in this way he
realized every summer a couple of hundred Napoleons. It is surprising
how any one could believe the story he told; for supposing that he had
been seized upon by Napoleon, what use could such a vagabond be as a
guide? What was he to show? The British army was staring the Emperor
in the face at a mile distant. This _soi-disant_ hero could only be
an incumbrance during the conflict, if his courage could have been
screwed up to remain at Napoleon's side, as he pretended he had done,
and that when he became panicstruck on the approach of the Prussians,
he was rewarded for his services with a twenty-franc coin.
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