These disabilities, which his sister thought most lucky,
helped her immensely to keep her brother out of all possible mischief.
His frame of mind at that time, she noted with dismay, became very far
from reasonable. That general officer, still menaced by the loss of a
limb, was discovered one night in the stables of the chateau by a groom
who, seeing a light, raised an alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying
half buried in the straw of the litter, and he himself was hopping on
one leg in a loose box around a snorting horse he was trying to
saddle. Such were the effects of imperial magic upon an unenthusiastic
temperament and a pondered mind. Beset, in the light of stable lanterns,
by the tears, entreaties, indignation, remonstrances and reproaches of
his family, he got out of the difficult situation by fainting away there
and then in the arms of his nearest relatives, and was carried off to
bed. Before he got out of it again the second reign of Napoleon, the
Hundred Days of feverish agitation and supreme effort passed away like a
terrifying dream. The tragic year 1815, begun in the trouble and unrest
of consciences, was ending in vengeful proscriptions.
How General Feraud escaped the clutches of the Special Commission and
the last offices of a firing squad, he never knew himself. It was partly
due to the subordinate position he was assigned during the Hundred Days.
He was not given active command but was kept busy at the cavalry depot
in Paris, mounting and despatching hastily drilled troopers into the
field.
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