For some reason or
another the old General took a fancy to me, and finding that I
could talk French fluently, he used to take me to his room, stuff
me with chocolate, and tell me about Napoleon's Russian campaign
in 1812, in which he had taken part, I was then seven years old,
and the old Comte must have been seventy-eight or so, but it is
curious that I should have heard from the actual lips of a man who
had taken part in it, the account of the battle of Borodino, of
the entry of the French troops into Moscow, of the burning of
Moscow, and of the awful sufferings the French underwent during
their disastrous retreat from Moscow. General de Flahault had been
present at the terrible carnage of the crossing of the Beresina on
November 26, 1812, and had got both his feet frost-bitten there,
whilst his faithful servant David had died from the effects of the
cold. I wish that I could have been older then, or have had more
historical knowledge, for it was a unique opportunity for
acquiring information. I wish, too, that I could recall more of
what M. de Flahault told me.
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