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diff --git a/10581-0.txt b/10581-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f54e608 --- /dev/null +++ b/10581-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6377 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10581 *** + +UNCLE BERNAC + + +A MEMORY OF THE EMPIRE + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter +I. THE COAST OF FRANCE + +II. THE SALT-MARSH + +III. THE RUINED COTTAGE + +IV. MEN OF THE NIGHT + +V. THE LAW + +VI. THE SECRET PASSAGE + +VII. THE OWNER OF GROSBOIS + +VIII. COUSIN SYBYLLE + +IX. THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE + +X. THE ANTE-ROOM + +XI. THE SECRETARY + +XII. THE MAN OF ACTION + +XIII. THE MAN OF DREAMS + +XIV. JOSEPHINE + +XV. THE RECEPTION OF THE EMPRESS + +XVI. THE LIBRARY OF GROSBOIS + +XVII. THE END + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE COAST OF FRANCE + +I dare say that I had already read my uncle's letter a hundred times, +and I am sure that I knew it by heart. None the less I took it out of +my pocket, and, sitting on the side of the lugger, I went over it again +with as much attention as if it were for the first time. It was written +in a prim, angular hand, such as one might expect from a man who had +begun life as a village attorney, and it was addressed to Louis de +Laval, to the care of William Hargreaves, of the Green Man in Ashford, +Kent. The landlord had many a hogshead of untaxed French brandy from +the Normandy coast, and the letter had found its way by the same hands. + +'My dear nephew Louis,' said the letter, 'now that your father is dead, +and that you are alone in the world, I am sure that you will not wish to +carry on the feud which has existed between the two halves of the +family. At the time of the troubles your father was drawn towards the +side of the King, and I towards that of the people, and it ended, as you +know, by his having to fly from the country, and by my becoming the +possessor of the estates of Grosbois. No doubt it is very hard that you +should find yourself in a different position to your ancestors, but I am +sure that you would rather that the land should be held by a Bernac than +by a stranger. From the brother of your mother you will at least always +meet with sympathy and consideration. + +'And now I have some advice for you. You know that I have always been +a Republican, but it has become evident to me that there is no use in +fighting against fate, and that Napoleon's power is far too great to be +shaken. This being so, I have tried to serve him, for it is well to +howl when you are among wolves. I have been able to do so much for +him that he has become my very good friend, so that I may ask him what +I like in return. He is now, as you are probably aware, with the army +at Boulogne, within a few miles of Grosbois. If you will come over at +once he will certainly forget the hostility of your father in +consideration of the services of your uncle. It is true that your name +is still proscribed, but my influence with the Emperor will set that +matter right. Come to me, then, come at once, and come with confidence. + 'Your uncle, + 'C. BERNAC.' + +So much for the letter, but it was the outside which had puzzled me +most. A seal of red wax had been affixed at either end, and my uncle +had apparently used his thumb as a signet. One could see the little +rippling edges of a coarse skin imprinted upon the wax. And then above +one of the seals there was written in English the two words, 'Don't +come.' It was hastily scrawled, and whether by a man or a woman it was +impossible to say; but there it stared me in the face, that sinister +addition to an invitation. + +'Don't come!' Had it been added by this unknown uncle of mine on +account of some sudden change in his plans? Surely that was +inconceivable, for why in that case should he send the invitation at +all? Or was it placed there by some one else who wished to warn me from +accepting this offer of hospitality? The letter was in French. The +warning was in English. Could it have been added in England? But the +seals were unbroken, and how could any one in England know what were the +contents of the letter? + +And then, as I sat there with the big sail humming like a shell above my +head and the green water hissing beside me, I thought over all that I +had heard of this uncle of mine. My father, the descendant of one of +the proudest and oldest families in France, had chosen beauty and virtue +rather than rank in his wife. Never for an hour had she given him cause +to regret it; but this lawyer brother of hers had, as I understood, +offended my father by his slavish obsequiousness in days of prosperity +and his venomous enmity in the days of trouble. He had hounded on the +peasants until my family had been compelled to fly from the country, and +had afterwards aided Robespierre in his worst excesses, receiving as a +reward the castle and estate of Grosbois, which was our own. At the +fall of Robespierre he had succeeded in conciliating Barras, and through +every successive change he still managed to gain a fresh tenure of the +property. Now it appeared from his letter that the new Emperor of +France had also taken his part, though why he should befriend a man with +such a history, and what service my Republican uncle could possibly +render to him, were matters upon which I could form no opinion. + +And now you will ask me, no doubt, why I should accept the invitation +of such a man--a man whom my father had always stigmatised as a usurper +and a traitor. It is easier to speak of it now than then, but the fact +was that we of the new generation felt it very irksome and difficult to +carry on the bitter quarrels of the last. To the older _emigres_ the +clock of time seemed to have stopped in the year 1792, and they remained +for ever with the loves and the hatreds of that era fixed indelibly upon +their souls. They had been burned into them by the fiery furnace +through which they had passed. But we, who had grown up upon a strange +soil, understood that the world had moved, and that new issues had +arisen. We were inclined to forget these feuds of the last generation. +France to us was no longer the murderous land of the _sans-culotte_ and +the guillotine basket; it was rather the glorious queen of war, attacked +by all and conquering all, but still so hard pressed that her scattered +sons could hear her call to arms for ever sounding in their ears. It +was that call more than my uncle's letter which was taking me over the +waters of the Channel. + +For long my heart had been with my country in her struggle, and yet +while my father lived I had never dared to say so; for to him, who had +served under Conde and fought at Quiberon, it would have seemed the +blackest treason. But after his death there was no reason why I should +not return to the land of my birth, and my desire was the stronger +because Eugenie--the same Eugenie who has been thirty years my wife--was +of the same way of thinking as myself. Her parents were a branch of the +de Choiseuls, and their prejudices were even stronger than those of my +father. Little did they think what was passing in the minds of their +children. Many a time when they were mourning a French victory in the +parlour we were both capering with joy in the garden. There was a +little window, all choked round with laurel bushes, in the corner of the +bare brick house, and there we used to meet at night, the dearer to each +other from our difference with all who surrounded us. I would tell her +my ambitions; she would strengthen them by her enthusiasm. And so all +was ready when the time came. + +But there was another reason besides the death of my father and the +receipt of this letter from my uncle. Ashford was becoming too hot to +hold me. I will say this for the English, that they were very generous +hosts to the French emigrants. There was not one of us who did not +carry away a kindly remembrance of the land and its people. But in +every country there are overbearing, swaggering folk, and even in quiet, +sleepy Ashford we were plagued by them. There was one young Kentish +squire, Farley was his name, who had earned a reputation in the town as +a bully and a roisterer. He could not meet one of us without uttering +insults not merely against the present French Government, which might +have been excusable in an English patriot, but against France itself and +all Frenchmen. Often we were forced to be deaf in his presence, but at +last his conduct became so intolerable that I determined to teach him a +lesson. There were several of us in the coffee-room at the Green Man +one evening, and he, full of wine and malice, was heaping insults upon +the French, his eyes creeping round to me every moment to see how I was +taking it. 'Now, Monsieur de Laval,' he cried, putting his rude hand +upon my shoulder, 'here is a toast for you to drink. This is to the +arm of Nelson which strikes down the French.' He stood leering at me to +see if I would drink it. 'Well, sir,' said I, 'I will drink your toast +if you will drink mine in return.' 'Come on, then!' said he. So we +drank. 'Now, monsieur, let us have your toast,' said he. 'Fill your +glass, then,' said I. 'It is full now.' 'Well, then, here's to the +cannon-ball which carried off that arm!' In an instant I had a glass of +port wine running down my face, and within an hour a meeting had been +arranged. I shot him through the shoulder, and that night, when I came +to the little window, Eugenie plucked off some of the laurel leaves and +stuck them in my hair. + +There were no legal proceedings about the duel, but it made my position +a little difficult in the town, and it will explain, with other things, +why I had no hesitation in accepting my unknown uncle's invitation, in +spite of the singular addition which I found upon the cover. If he had +indeed sufficient influence with the Emperor to remove the proscription +which was attached to our name, then the only barrier which shut me off +from my country would be demolished. + +You must picture me all this time as sitting upon the side of the lugger +and turning my prospects and my position over in my head. My reverie +was interrupted by the heavy hand of the English skipper dropping +abruptly upon my arm. + +'Now then, master,' said he, it's time you were stepping into the +dingey.' + +I do not inherit the politics of the aristocrats, but I have never lost +their sense of personal dignity. I gently pushed away his polluting +hand, and I remarked that we were still a long way from the shore. + +'Well, you can do as you please,' said he roughly; 'I'm going no nearer, +so you can take your choice of getting into the dingey or of swimming +for it.' + +It was in vain that I pleaded that he had been paid his price. I did +not add that that price meant that the watch which had belonged to three +generations of de Lavals was now lying in the shop of a Dover goldsmith. + +'Little enough, too!' he cried harshly. 'Down sail, Jim, and bring her +to! Now, master, you can step over the side, or you can come back to +Dover, but I don't take the Vixen a cable's length nearer to Ambleteuse +Beef with this gale coming up from the sou'-west.' + +'In that case I shall go,' said I. + +'You can lay your life on that!' he answered, and laughed in so +irritating a fashion that I half turned upon him with the intention of +chastising him. One is very helpless with these fellows, however, for a +serious affair is of course out of the question, while if one uses a +cane upon them they have a vile habit of striking with their hands, +which gives them an advantage. The Marquis de Chamfort told me that, +when he first settled in Sutton at the time of the emigration, he lost a +tooth when reproving an unruly peasant. I made the best of a necessity, +therefore, and, shrugging my shoulders, I passed over the side of the +lugger into the little boat. My bundle was dropped in after me--conceive +to yourself the heir of all the de Lavals travelling with a +single bundle for his baggage!--and two seamen pushed her off, pulling +with long slow strokes towards the low-lying shore. + +There was certainly every promise of a wild night, for the dark cloud +which had rolled up over the setting sun was now frayed and ragged at +the edges, extending a good third of the way across the heavens. It had +split low down near the horizon, and the crimson glare of the sunset +beat through the gap, so that there was the appearance of fire with a +monstrous reek of smoke. A red dancing belt of light lay across the +broad slate-coloured ocean, and in the centre of it the little black +craft was wallowing and tumbling. The two seamen kept looking up at the +heavens, and then over their shoulders at the land, and I feared every +moment that they would put back before the gale burst. I was filled +with apprehension every time when the end of their pull turned their +faces skyward, and it was to draw their attention away from the +storm-drift that I asked them what the lights were which had begun to +twinkle through the dusk both to the right and to the left of us. + +'That's Boulogne to the north, and Etaples upon the south,' said one of +the seamen civilly. + +Boulogne! Etaples! How the words came back to me! It was to Boulogne +that in my boyhood we had gone down for the summer bathing. Could I not +remember as a little lad trotting along by my father's side as he paced +the beach, and wondering why every fisherman's cap flew off at our +approach? And as to Etaples, it was thence that we had fled for +England, when the folks came raving to the pier-head as we passed, and I +joined my thin voice to my father's as he shrieked back at them, for a +stone had broken my mother's knee, and we were all frenzied with our +fear and our hatred. And here they were, these places of my childhood, +twinkling to the north and south of me, while there, in the darkness +between them, and only ten miles off at the furthest, lay my own castle, +my own land of Grosbois, where the men of my blood had lived and died +long before some of us had gone across with Duke William to conquer the +proud island over the water. How I strained my eager eyes through the +darkness as I thought that the distant black keep of our fortalice might +even now be visible! + +'Yes, sir,' said the seaman, ''tis a fine stretch of lonesome coast, and +many is the cock of your hackle that I have helped ashore there.' + +'What do you take me for, then?' I asked. + +'Well, 'tis no business of mine, sir,' he answered. 'There are some +trades that had best not even be spoken about.' + +'You think that I am a conspirator?' + +'Well, master, since you have put a name to it. Lor' love you, sir, +we're used to it.' + +'I give you my word that I am none.' + +'An escaped prisoner, then?' + +'No, nor that either.' + +The man leaned upon his oar, and I could see in the gloom that his face +was thrust forward, and that it was wrinkled with suspicion. + +'If you're one of Boney's spies--' he cried. + +'I! A spy!' The tone of my voice was enough to convince him. + +'Well,' said he,' I'm darned if I know what you are. But if you'd been +a spy I'd ha' had no hand in landing you, whatever the skipper might +say.' + +'Mind you, I've no word to say against Boney,' said the other seaman, +speaking in a very thick rumbling voice. 'He's been a rare good friend +to the poor mariner.' + +It surprised me to hear him speak so, for the virulence of feeling +against the new French Emperor in England exceeded all belief, and high +and low were united in their hatred of him; but the sailor soon gave me +a clue to his politics. + +'If the poor mariner can run in his little bit of coffee and sugar, and +run out his silk and his brandy, he has Boney to thank for it,' said he. +'The merchants have had their spell, and now it's the turn of the poor +mariner.' + +I remembered then that Buonaparte was personally very popular amongst +the smugglers, as well he might be, seeing that he had made over into +their hands all the trade of the Channel. The seaman continued to pull +with his left hand, but he pointed with his right over the +slate-coloured dancing waters. + +'There's Boney himself,' said he. + +You who live in a quieter age cannot conceive the thrill which these +simple words sent through me. It was but ten years since we had first +heard of this man with the curious Italian name--think of it, ten +years, the time that it takes for a private to become a non-commissioned +officer, or a clerk to win a fifty-pound advance in his salary. He had +sprung in an instant out of nothing into everything. One month people +were asking who he was, the next he had broken out in the north of Italy +like the plague; Venice and Genoa withered at the touch of this swarthy +ill-nourished boy. He cowed the soldiers in the field, and he outwitted +the statesmen in the council chamber. With a frenzy of energy he rushed +to the east, and then, while men were still marvelling at the way in +which he had converted Egypt into a French department, he was back again +in Italy and had beaten Austria for the second time to the earth. He +travelled as quickly as the rumour of his coming; and where he came +there were new victories, new combinations, the crackling of old systems +and the blurring of ancient lines of frontier. Holland, Savoy, +Switzerland--they were become mere names upon the map. France was +eating into Europe in every direction. They had made him Emperor, this +beardless artillery officer, and without an effort he had crushed down +those Republicans before whom the oldest king and the proudest nobility +of Europe had been helpless. So it came about that we, who watched him +dart from place to place like the shuttle of destiny, and who heard his +name always in connection with some new achievement and some new +success, had come at last to look upon him as something more than human, +something monstrous, overshadowing France and menacing Europe. His +giant presence loomed over the continent, and so deep was the impression +which his fame had made in my mind that, when the English sailor pointed +confidently over the darkening waters, and cried 'There's Boney!' I +looked up for the instant with a foolish expectation of seeing some +gigantic figure, some elemental creature, dark, inchoate, and +threatening, brooding over the waters of the Channel. Even now, after +the long gap of years and the knowledge of his downfall, that great man +casts his spell upon you, but all that you read and all that you hear +cannot give you an idea of what his name meant in the days when he was +at the summit of his career. + +What actually met my eye was very different from this childish +expectation of mine. To the north there was a long low cape, the name +of which has now escaped me. In the evening light it had been of the +same greyish green tint as the other headlands; but now, as the darkness +fell, it gradually broke into a dull glow, like a cooling iron. +On that wild night, seen and lost with the heave and sweep of the boat, +this lurid streak carried with it a vague but sinister suggestion. +The red line splitting the darkness might have been a giant half-forged +sword-blade with its point towards England. + +'What is it, then?' I asked. + +'Just what I say, master,' said he. 'It's one of Boney's armies, with +Boney himself in the middle of it as like as not. Them is their camp +fires, and you'll see a dozen such between this and Ostend. +He's audacious enough to come across, is little Boney, if he could dowse +Lord Nelson's other eye; but there's no chance for him until then, and +well he knows it.' + +'How can Lord Nelson know what he is doing?' I asked. + +The man pointed out over my shoulder into the darkness, and far on the +horizon I perceived three little twinkling lights. + +'Watch dog,' said he, in his husky voice. + +'Andromeda. Forty-four,' added his companion. + +I have often thought of them since, the long glow upon the land, and the +three little lights upon the sea, standing for so much, for the two +great rivals face to face, for the power of the land and the power of +the water, for the centuries-old battle, which may last for centuries to +come. And yet, Frenchman as I am, do I not know that the struggle is +already decided?--for it lies between the childless nation and that +which has a lusty young brood springing up around her. If France falls +she dies, but if England falls how many nations are there who will carry +her speech, her traditions and her blood on into the history of the +future? + +The land had been looming darker, and the thudding of waves upon the +sand sounded louder every instant upon my ears. I could already see the +quick dancing gleam of the surf in front of me. Suddenly, as I peered +through the deepening shadow, a long dark boat shot out from it, like a +trout from under a stone, making straight in our direction. + +'A guard boat!' cried one of the seamen. + +'Bill, boy, we're done!' said the other, and began to stuff something +into his sea boot. + +But the boat swerved at the sight of us, like a shying horse, and was +off in another direction as fast as eight frantic oars could drive her. +The seamen stared after her and wiped their brows. 'Her conscience +don't seem much easier than our own,' said one of them. 'I made sure it +was the preventives.' + +'Looks to me as if you weren't the only queer cargo on the coast +to-night, mister,' remarked his comrade. 'What could she be?' + +'Cursed if I know what she was. I rammed a cake of good Trinidad +tobacco into my boot when I saw her. I've seen the inside of a French +prison before now. Give way, Bill, and have it over.' + +A minute later, with a low grating sound, we ran aground upon a gravelly +leach. My bundle was thrown ashore, I stepped after it, and a seaman +pushed the prow off again, springing in as his comrade backed her into +deep water. Already the glow in the west had vanished, the storm-cloud +was half up the heavens, and a thick blackness had gathered over the +ocean. As I turned to watch the vanishing boat a keen wet blast flapped +in my face, and the air was filled with the high piping of the wind and +with the deep thunder of the sea. + +And thus it was that, on a wild evening in the early spring of the year +1805, I, Louis de Laval, being in the twenty-first year of my age, +returned, after an exile of thirteen years, to the country of which my +family had for many centuries been the ornament and support. She had +treated us badly, this country; she had repaid our services by insult, +exile, and confiscation. But all that was forgotten as I, the only de +Laval of the new generation, dropped upon my knees upon her sacred soil, +and, with the strong smell of the seaweed in my nostrils, pressed my +lips upon the wet and pringling gravel. + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE SALT-MARSH + +When a man has reached his mature age he can rest at that point of +vantage, and cast his eyes back at the long road along which he has +travelled, lying with its gleams of sunshine and its stretches of shadow +in the valley behind him. He knows then its whence and its whither, and +the twists and bends which were so full of promise or of menace as he +approached them lie exposed and open to his gaze. So plain is it all +that he can scarce remember how dark it may have seemed to him, or how +long he once hesitated at the cross roads. Thus when he tries to recall +each stage of the journey he does so with the knowledge of its end, and +can no longer make it clear, even to himself, how it may have seemed to +him at the time. And yet, in spite of the strain of years, and the many +passages which have befallen me since, there is no time of my life which +comes back so very clearly as that gusty evening, and to this day I +cannot feel the briny wholesome whiff of the seaweed without being +carried back, with that intimate feeling of reality which only the sense +of smell can confer, to the wet shingle of the French beach. + +When I had risen from my knees, the first thing that I did was to put my +purse into the inner pocket of my coat. I had taken it out in order to +give a gold piece to the sailor who had handed me ashore, though I have +little doubt that the fellow was both wealthier and of more assured +prospects than myself. I had actually drawn out a silver half-crown, +but I could not bring myself to offer it to him, and so ended by giving +a tenth part of my whole fortune to a stranger. The other nine +sovereigns I put very carefully away, and then, sitting down upon a flat +rock just above high water mark, I turned it all over in my mind and +weighed what I should do. Already I was cold and hungry, with the wind +lashing my face and the spray smarting in my eyes, but at least I was no +longer living upon the charity of the enemies of my country, and the +thought set my heart dancing within me. But the castle, as well as I +could remember, was a good ten miles off. To go there now was to arrive +at an unseemly hour, unkempt and weather-stained, before this uncle whom +I had never seen. My sensitive pride conjured up a picture of the +scornful faces of his servants as they looked out upon this bedraggled +wanderer from England slinking back to the castle which should have been +his own. No, I must seek shelter for the night, and then at my leisure, +with as fair a show of appearances as possible, I must present myself +before my relative. Where then could I find a refuge from the storm? + +You will ask me, doubtless, why I did not make for Etaples or Boulogne. +I answer that it was for the same reason which forced me to land +secretly upon that forbidding coast. The name of de Laval still headed +the list of the proscribed, for my father had been a famous and +energetic leader of the small but influential body of men who had +remained true at all costs to the old order of things. Do not think +that, because I was of another way of thinking, I despised those who had +given up so much for their principles. There is a curious saint-like +trait in our natures which draws us most strongly towards that which +involves the greatest sacrifice, and I have sometimes thought that if +the conditions had been less onerous the Bourbons might have had fewer, +or at least less noble, followers. The French nobles had been more +faithful to them than the English to the Stuarts, for Cromwell had no +luxurious court or rich appointments which he could hold out to those +who would desert the royal cause. No words can exaggerate the +self-abnegation of those men. I have seen a supper party under my +father's roof where our guests were two fencing-masters, three +professors of language, one ornamental gardener, and one translator of +books, who held his hand in the front of his coat to conceal a rent in +the lapel. But these eight men were of the highest nobility of France, +who might have had what they chose to ask if they would only consent to +forget the past, and to throw themselves heartily into the new order of +things. But the humble, and what is sadder the incapable, monarch of +Hartwell still held the allegiance of those old Montmorencies, Rohans, +and Choiseuls, who, having shared the greatness of his family, were +determined also to stand by it in its ruin. The dark chambers of that +exiled monarch were furnished with something better than the tapestry of +Gobelins or the china of Sevres. Across the gulf which separates my old +age from theirs I can still see those ill-clad, grave-mannered men, and +I raise my hat to the noblest group of nobles that our history can show. + +To visit a coast-town, therefore, before I had seen my uncle, or learnt +whether my return had been sanctioned, would be simply to deliver myself +into the hands of the _gens d'armes_, who were ever on the look-out for +strangers from England. To go before the new Emperor was one thing and +to be dragged before him another. On the whole, it seemed to me that my +best course was to wander inland, in the hope of finding some empty barn +or out-house, where I could pass the night unseen and undisturbed. Then +in the morning I should consider how it was best for me to approach my +uncle Bernac, and through him the new master of France. + +The wind had freshened meanwhile into a gale, and it was so dark upon +the seaward side that I could only catch the white flash of a leaping +wave here and there in the blackness. Of the lugger which had brought +me from Dover I could see no sign. On the land side of me there seemed, +as far as I could make it out, to be a line of low hills, but when I +came to traverse them I found that the dim light had exaggerated their +size, and that they were mere scattered sand-dunes, mottled with patches +of bramble. Over these I toiled with my bundle slung over my shoulder, +plodding heavily through the loose sand, and tripping over the creepers, +but forgetting my wet clothes and my numb hands as I recalled the many +hardships and adventures which my ancestors had undergone. It amused me +to think that the day might come when my own descendants might fortify +themselves by the recollection of that which was happening to me, for in +a great family like ours the individual is always subordinate to the +race. + +It seemed to me that I should never get to the end of the sand-dunes, +but when at last I did come off them I heartily wished that I was back +upon them again; for the sea in that part comes by some creek up the +back of the beach, forming at low tide a great desolate salt-marsh, +which must be a forlorn place even in the daytime, but upon such a night +as that it was a most dreary wilderness. At first it was but a softness +of the ground, causing me to slip as I walked, but soon the mud was over +my ankles and half-way up to my knees, so that each foot gave a loud +flop as I raised it, and a dull splash as I set it down again. I would +willingly have made my way out, even if I had to return to the +sand-dunes, but in trying to pick my path I had lost all my bearings, +and the air was so full of the sounds of the storm that the sea seemed +to be on every side of me. I had heard of how one may steer oneself by +observation of the stars, but my quiet English life had not taught me +how such things were done, and had I known I could scarcely have +profited by it, since the few stars which were visible peeped out here +and there in the rifts of the flying storm-clouds. I wandered on then, +wet and weary, trusting to fortune, but always blundering deeper and +deeper into this horrible bog, until I began to think that my first +night in France was destined also to be my last, and that the heir of +the de Lavals was destined to perish of cold and misery in the depths of +this obscene morass. + +I must have toiled for many miles in this dreary fashion, sometimes +coming upon shallower mud and sometimes upon deeper, but never making my +way on to the dry, when I perceived through the gloom something which +turned my heart even heavier than it had been before. This was a +curious clump of some whitish shrub--cotton-grass of a flowering +variety--which glimmered suddenly before me in the darkness. Now, an +hour earlier I had passed just such a square-headed, whitish clump; so +that I was confirmed in the opinion which I had already begun to form, +that I was wandering in a circle. To make it certain I stooped down, +striking a momentary flash from my tinder-box, and there sure enough was +my own old track very clearly marked in the brown mud in front of me. +At this confirmation of my worst fears I threw my eyes up to heaven in +my despair, and there I saw something which for the first time gave me a +clue in the uncertainty which surrounded me. + +It was nothing else than a glimpse of the moon between two flowing +clouds. This in itself might have been of small avail to me, but over +its white face was marked a long thin V, which shot swiftly across like +a shaftless arrow. It was a flock of wild ducks, and its flight was in +the same direction as that towards which my face was turned. Now, I had +observed in Kent how all these creatures come further inland when there +is rough weather breaking, so I made no doubt that their course +indicated the path which would lead me away from the sea. I struggled +on, therefore, taking every precaution to walk in a straight line, above +all being very careful to make a stride of equal length with either leg, +until at last, after half an hour or so, my perseverance was rewarded by +the welcome sight of a little yellow light, as from a cottage window, +glimmering through the darkness. Ah, how it shone through my eyes and +down into my heart, glowing and twinkling there, that little golden +speck, which meant food, and rest, and life itself to the wanderer! +I blundered towards it through the mud and the slush as fast as my weary +legs would bear me. I was too cold and miserable to refuse any shelter, +and I had no doubt that for the sake of one of my gold pieces the +fisherman or peasant who lived in this strange situation would shut his +eyes to whatever might be suspicious in my presence or appearance. + +As I approached it became more and more wonderful to me that any one +should live there at all, for the bog grew worse rather than better, and +in the occasional gleams of moonshine I could make out that the water +lay in glimmering pools all round the low dark cottage from which the +light was breaking. I could see now that it shone through a small +square window. As I approached the gleam was suddenly obscured, and +there in a yellow frame appeared the round black outline of a man's head +peering out into the darkness. A second time it appeared before I +reached the cottage, and there was something in the stealthy manner in +which it peeped and whisked away, and peeped once more, which filled me +with surprise, and with a certain vague apprehension. + +So cautious were the movements of this sentinel, and so singular the +position of his watch-house, that I determined, in spite of my misery, +to see something more of him before I trusted myself to the shelter of +his roof. And, indeed, the amount of shelter which I might hope for was +not very great, for as I drew softly nearer I could see that the light +from within was beating through at several points, and that the whole +cottage was in the most crazy state of disrepair. For a moment I +paused, thinking that even the salt-marsh might perhaps be a safer +resting-place for the night than the headquarters of some desperate +smuggler, for such I conjectured that this lonely dwelling must be. +The scud, however, had covered the moon once more, and the darkness was +so pitchy black that I felt that I might reconnoitre a little more +closely without fear of discovery. Walking on tiptoe I approached the +little window and looked in. + +What I saw reassured me vastly. A small wood fire was crackling in one +of those old-fashioned country grates, and beside it was seated a +strikingly handsome young man, who was reading earnestly out of a fat +little book. He had an oval, olive-tinted face, with long black hair, +ungathered in a queue, and there was something of the poet or of the +artist in his whole appearance. The sight of that refined face, and of +the warm yellow firelight which beat upon it, was a very cheering one to +a cold and famished traveller. I stood for an instant gazing at him, +and noticing the way in which his full and somewhat loose-fitting lower +lip quivered continually, as if he were repeating to himself that which +he was reading. I was still looking at him when he put his book down +upon the table and approached the window. Catching a glimpse of my +figure in the darkness he called out something which I could not hear, +and waved his hand in a gesture of welcome. An instant later the door +flew open, and there was his thin tall figure standing upon the +threshold, with his skirts flapping in the wind. + +'My dear friends,' he cried, peering out into the gloom with his hand +over his eyes to screen them from the salt-laden wind and driving sand, +'I had given you up. I thought that you were never coming. I've been +waiting for two hours.' + +For answer I stepped out in front of him, so that the light fell upon my +face. + +'I am afraid, sir--' said I. + +But I had no time to finish my sentence. He struck at me with both +hands like an angry cat, and, springing back into the room, he slammed +the door with a crash in my face. + +The swiftness of his movements and the malignity of his gesture were in +such singular contrast with his appearance that I was struck speechless +with surprise. But as I stood there with the door in front of me I was +a witness to something which filled me with even greater astonishment. + +I have already said that the cottage was in the last stage of disrepair. +Amidst the many seams and cracks through which the light was breaking +there was one along the whole of the hinge side of the door, which gave +me from where I was standing a view of the further end of the room, at +which the fire was burning. As I gazed then I saw this man reappear in +front of the fire, fumbling furiously with both his hands in his bosom, +and then with a spring he disappeared up the chimney, so that I could +only see his shoes and half of his black calves as he stood upon the +brickwork at the side of the grate. In an instant he was down again and +back at the door. + +'Who are you?' he cried, in a voice which seemed to me to be thrilling +with some strong emotion. + +'I am a traveller, and have lost my way.' There was a pause as if he +were thinking what course he should pursue. + +'You will find little here to tempt you to stay,' said he at last. + +'I am weary and spent, sir; and surely you will not refuse me shelter. +I have been wandering for hours in the salt-marsh.' + +'Did you meet anyone there?' he asked eagerly. + +'No.' + +'Stand back a little from the door. This is a wild place, and the times +are troublous. A man must take some precautions.' + +I took a few steps back, and he then opened the door sufficiently to +allow his head to come through. He said nothing, but he looked at me +for a long time in a very searching manner. + +'What is your name?' + +'Louis Laval,' said I, thinking that it might sound less dangerous in +this plebeian form. + +'Whither are you going?' + +'I wish to reach some shelter.' + +'You are from England?' + +'I am from the coast.' + +He shook his head slowly to show me how little my replies had satisfied +him. + +'You cannot come in here,' said he. + +'But surely--' + +'No, no, it is impossible.' + +'Show me then how to find my way out of the marsh.' + +'It is easy enough. If you go a few hundred paces in that direction you +will perceive the lights of a village. You are already almost free of +the marsh.' + +He stepped a pace or two from the door in order to point the way for me, +and then turned upon his heel. I had already taken a stride or two away +from him and his inhospitable hut, when he suddenly called after me. + +'Come, Monsieur Laval,' said he, with quite a different ring in his +voice; 'I really cannot permit you to leave me upon so tempestuous a +night. A warm by my fire and a glass of brandy will hearten you upon +your way.' + +You may think that I did not feel disposed to contradict him, though I +could make nothing of this sudden and welcome change in his manner. + +'I am much obliged to you, sir,' said I. + +And I followed him into the hut. + + + +CHAPTER III + + +THE RUINED COTTAGE + +It was delightful to see the glow and twinkle of the fire and to escape +from the wet wind and the numbing cold, but my curiosity had already +risen so high about this lonely man and his singular dwelling that my +thoughts ran rather upon that than upon my personal comfort. There was +his remarkable appearance, the fact that he should be awaiting company +within that miserable ruin in the heart of the morass at so sinister an +hour, and finally the inexplicable incident of the chimney, all of which +excited my imagination. It was beyond my comprehension why he should at +one moment charge me sternly to continue my journey, and then, in almost +the same breath, invite me most cordially to seek the shelter of his +hut. On all these points I was keenly on the alert for an explanation. +Yet I endeavoured to conceal my feelings, and to assume the air of a man +who finds everything quite natural about him, and who is much too +absorbed in his own personal wants to have a thought to spare upon +anything outside himself. + +A glance at the inside of the cottage, as I entered, confirmed me in the +conjecture which the appearance of the outside had already given rise +to, that it was not used for human residence, and that this man was only +here for a rendezvous. Prolonged moisture had peeled the plaster in +flakes from the walls, and had covered the stones with blotches and +rosettes of lichen. The whole place was rotten and scaling like a +leper. The single large room was unfurnished save for a crazy table, +three wooden boxes, which might be used as seats, and a great pile of +decayed fishing-net in the corner. The splinters of a fourth box, with +a hand-axe, which leaned against the wall, showed how the wood for the +fire had been gathered. But it was to the table that my gaze was +chiefly drawn, for there, beside the lamp and the book, lay an open +basket, from which projected the knuckle-end of a ham, the corner of a +loaf of bread, and the black neck of a bottle. + +If my host had been suspicious and cold at our first meeting he was now +atoning for his inhospitality by an overdone cordiality even harder for +me to explain. With many lamentations over my mud-stained and sodden +condition, he drew a box close to the blaze and cut me off a corner of +the bread and ham. I could not help observing, however, that though his +loose under-lipped mouth was wreathed with smiles, his beautiful dark +eyes were continually running over me and my attire, asking and +re-asking what my business might be. + +'As for myself,' said he, with an air of false candour, 'you will very +well understand that in these days a worthy merchant must do the best he +can to get his wares, and if the Emperor, God save him, sees fit in his +wisdom to put an end to open trade, one must come to such places as +these to get into touch with those who bring across the coffee and the +tobacco. I promise you that in the Tuileries itself there is no +difficulty about getting either one or the other, and the Emperor drinks +his ten cups a day of the real Mocha without asking questions, though he +must know that it is not grown within the confines of France. The +vegetable kingdom still remains one of the few which Napoleon has not +yet conquered, and, if it were not for traders, who are at some risk and +inconvenience, it is hard to say what we should do for our supplies. +I suppose, sir, that you are not yourself either in the seafaring or in +the trading line?' + +I contented myself by answering that I was not, by which reticence I +could see that I only excited his curiosity the more. As to his account +of himself, I read a lie in those tell-tale eyes all the time that he +was talking. As I looked at him now in the full light of the lamp and +the fire, I could see that he was even more good-looking than I had at +first thought, but with a type of beauty which has never been to my +taste. His features were so refined as to be almost effeminate, and so +regular that they would have been perfect if it had not been for that +ill-fitting, slabbing mouth. It was a clever, and yet it was a weak +face, full of a sort of fickle enthusiasm and feeble impulsiveness. +I felt that the more I knew him the less reason I should probably find +either to like him or to fear him, and in my first conclusion I was +right, although I had occasion to change my views upon the second. + +'You will forgive me, Monsieur Laval, if I was a little cold at first,' +said he. 'Since the Emperor has been upon the coast the place swarms +with police agents, so that a trader must look to his own interests. +You will allow that my fears of you were not unnatural, since neither +your dress nor your appearance were such as one would expect to meet +with in such a place and at such a time.' + +It was on my lips to return the remark, but I refrained. + +'I can assure you,' said I, 'that I am merely a traveller who have lost +my way. Now that I am refreshed and rested I will not encroach further +upon your hospitality, except to ask you to point out the way to the +nearest village.' + +'Tut; you had best stay where you are, for the night grows wilder every +instant.' As he spoke there came a whoop and scream of wind in the +chimney, as if the old place were coming down about our ears. He walked +across to the window and looked very earnestly out of it, just as I had +seen him do upon my first approach. 'The fact is, Monsieur Laval,' said +he, looking round at me with his false-air of good fellowship, 'you may +be of some good service to me if you will wait here for half an hour or +so.' + +'How so?' I asked, wavering between my distrust and my curiosity. + +'Well, to be frank with you'--and never did a man look less frank as he +spoke--'I am waiting here for some of those people with whom I do +business; but in some way they have not come yet, and I am inclined to +take a walk round the marsh on the chance of finding them, if they have +lost their way. On the other hand, it would be exceedingly awkward for +me if they were to come here in my absence and imagine that I am gone. +I should take it as a favour, then, if you would remain here for half an +hour or so, that you may tell them how matters stand if I should chance +to miss them.' + +The request seemed reasonable enough, and yet there was that same +oblique glance which told me that it was false. Still, I could not see +what harm could come to me by complying with his request, and certainly +I could not have devised any arrangement which would give me such an +opportunity of satisfying my curiosity. What was in that wide stone +chimney, and why had he clambered up there upon the sight of me? +My adventure would be inconclusive indeed if I did not settle that point +before I went on with my journey. + +'Well,' said he, snatching up his black broad-brimmed hat and running +very briskly to the door, 'I am sure that you will not refuse me my +request, and I must delay no longer or I shall never get my business +finished.' He closed the door hurriedly behind him, and I heard the +splashing of his foot-steps until they were lost in the howling of the +gale. + +And so the mysterious cottage was mine to ransack if I could pluck its +secrets from it. I lifted the book which had been left upon the table. +It was Rousseau's 'Social Contract'--excellent literature, but hardly +what one would expect a trader to carry with him whilst awaiting an +appointment with smugglers. On the fly-leaf was written 'Lucien +Lesage,' and beneath it, in a woman's hand, 'Lucien, from Sibylle.' +Lesage, then, was the name of my good-looking but sinister acquaintance. +It only remained for me now to discover what it was which he had +concealed up the chimney. I listened intently, and as there was no +sound from without save the cry of the storm, I stepped on to the edge +of the grate as I had seen him do, and sprang up by the side of the +fire. + +It was a very broad, old-fashioned cottage chimney, so that standing on +one side I was not inconvenienced either by the heat or by the smoke, +and the bright glare from below showed me in an instant that for which I +sought. There was a recess at the back, caused by the fall or removal +of one of the stones, and in this was lying a small bundle. There could +not be the least doubt that it was this which the fellow had striven so +frantically to conceal upon the first alarm of the approach of a +stranger. I took it down and held it to the light. It was a small +square of yellow glazed cloth tied round with white tape. Upon my +opening it a number of letters appeared, and a single large paper folded +up. The addresses upon the letters took my breath away. The first that +I glanced at was to Citizen Talleyrand. The others were in the +Republican style addressed to Citizen Fouche, to Citizen Soult, to +Citizen MacDonald, to Citizen Berthier, and so on through the whole list +of famous names in war and in diplomacy who were the pillars of the new +Empire. What in the world could this pretended merchant of coffee have +to write to all these great notables about? The other paper would +explain, no doubt. I laid the letters upon the shelf and I unfolded the +paper which had been enclosed with them. It did not take more than the +opening sentence to convince me that the salt-marsh outside might prove +to be a very much safer place than this accursed cottage. + +These were the words which met my eyes:-- + +'Fellow-citizens of France. The deed of to-day has proved that, even in +the midst of his troops, a tyrant is unable to escape the vengeance of +an outraged people. The committee of three, acting temporarily for the +Republic, has awarded to Buonaparte the same fate which has already +befallen Louis Capet. In avenging the outrage of the 18th Brumaire--' + +So far I had got when my heart sprang suddenly into my mouth and the +paper fluttered down from my fingers. A grip of iron had closed +suddenly round each of my ankles, and there in the light of the fire I +saw two hands which, even in that terrified glance, I perceived to be +covered with black hair and of an enormous size. + +'So, my friend,' cried a thundering voice, 'this time, at least, we have +been too many for you.' + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +MEN OF THE NIGHT + +I had little time given me to realise the extraordinary and humiliating +position in which I found myself, for I was lifted up by my ankles, as +if I were a fowl pulled off a perch, and jerked roughly down into the +room, my back striking upon the stone floor with a thud which shook the +breath from my body. + +'Don't kill him yet, Toussac,' said a soft voice. 'Let us make sure who +he is first.' + +I felt the pressure of a thumb upon my chin and of fingers upon my +throat, and my head was slowly forced round until the strain became +unbearable. + +'Quarter of an inch does it and no mark,' said the thunderous voice. +'You can trust my old turn.' + +'Don't, Toussac; don't!' said the same gentle voice which had spoken +first. 'I saw you do it once before, and the horrible snick that it +made haunted me for a long time. To think that the sacred flame of life +can be so readily snuffed out by that great material finger and thumb! +Mind can indeed conquer matter, but the fighting must not be at close +quarters.' + +My neck was so twisted that I could not see any of these people who were +discussing my fate. I could only lie and listen. + +'The fact remains, my dear Charles, that the fellow has our +all-important secret, and that it is our lives or his. + +'I recognised in the voice which was now speaking that of the man of the +cottage. + +'We owe it to ourselves to put it out of his power to harm us. Let him +sit up, Toussac, for there is no possibility of his escaping.' + +Some irresistible force at the back of my neck dragged me instantly into +a sitting position, and so for the first time I was able to look round +me in a dazed fashion, and to see these men into whose hands I had +fallen. That they were murderers in the past and had murderous plans +for the future I already gathered from what I had heard and seen. +I understood also that in the heart of that lonely marsh I was +absolutely in their power. None the less, I remembered the name that I +bore, and I concealed as far as I could the sickening terror which lay +at my heart. + +There were three of them in the room, my former acquaintance and two new +comers. Lesage stood by the table, with his fat brown book in his hand, +looking at me with a composed face, but with that humorous questioning +twinkle in his eyes which a master chess-player might assume when he had +left his opponent without a move. On the top of the box beside him sat +a very ascetic-faced, yellow, hollow-eyed man of fifty, with prim lips +and a shrunken skin, which hung loosely over the long jerking tendons +under his prominent chin. He was dressed in snuff-coloured clothes, and +his legs under his knee-breeches were of a ludicrous thinness. He shook +his head at me with an air of sad wisdom, and I could read little +comfort in his inhuman grey eyes. But it was the man called Toussac who +alarmed me most. He was a colossus; bulky rather than tall, but +misshapen from his excess of muscle. His huge legs were crooked like +those of a great ape; and, indeed, there was something animal about his +whole appearance, something for he was bearded up to his eyes, and it +was a paw rather than a hand which still clutched me by the collar. As +to his expression, he was too thatched with hair to show one, but his +large black eyes looked with a sinister questioning from me to the +others. If they were the judge and jury, it was clear who was to be +executioner. + +'Whence did he come? What is his business? How came he to know the +hiding-place?' asked the thin man. + +'When he first came I mistook him for you in the darkness,' Lesage +answered. 'You will acknowledge that it was not a night on which one +would expect to meet many people in the salt-marsh. On discovering my +mistake I shut the door and concealed the papers in the chimney. I had +forgotten that he might see me do this through that crack by the hinges, +but when I went out again, to show him his way and so get rid of him, my +eye caught the gap, and I at once realised that he had seen my action, +and that it must have aroused his curiosity to such an extent that it +would be quite certain that he would think and speak of it. I called +him back into the hut, therefore, in order that I might have time to +consider what I had best do with him.' + +'Sapristi! a couple of cuts of that wood-axe, and a bed in the softest +corner of the marsh, would have settled the business at once,' said the +fellow by my side. + +'Quite true, my good Toussac; but it is not usual to lead off with your +ace of trumps. A little delicacy--a little finesse--' + +'Let us hear what you did then?' + +'It was my first object to learn whether this man Laval--' + +'What did you say his name was?' cried the thin man. + +'His name, according to his account, is Laval. My first object then was +to find out whether he had in truth seen me conceal the papers or not. +It was an important question for us, and, as things have turned out, +more important still for him. I made my little plan, therefore. +I waited until I saw you approach, and I then left him alone in the hut. +I watched through the window and saw him fly to the hiding-place. +We then entered, and I asked you, Toussac, to be good enough to lift him +down--and there he lies.' + +The young fellow looked proudly round for the applause of his comrades, +and the thin man clapped his hands softly together, looking very hard at +me while he did so. + +'My dear Lesage,' said he, 'you have certainly excelled yourself. +When our new republic looks for its minister of police we shall know +where to find him. I confess that when, after guiding Toussac to this +shelter, I followed you in and perceived a gentleman's legs projecting +from the fireplace, even my wits, which are usually none of the slowest, +hardly grasped the situation. Toussac, however, grasped the legs. +He is always practical, the good Toussac.' + +'Enough words!' growled the hairy creature beside me. 'It is because we +have talked instead of acting that this Buonaparte has a crown upon his +head or a head upon his shoulders. Let us have done with the fellow and +come to business.' + +The refined features of Lesage made me look towards him as to a possible +protector, but his large dark eyes were as cold and hard as jet as he +looked back at me. + +'What Toussac says is right,' said he. 'We imperil our own safety if he +goes with our secret.' + +'The devil take our own safety!' cried Toussac. 'What has that to do +with the matter? We imperil the success of our plans--that is of more +importance.' + +'The two things go together,' replied Lesage. 'There is no doubt that +Rule 13 of our confederation defines exactly what should be done in +such a case. Any responsibility must rest with the passers of Rule 13.' + +My heart had turned cold when this man with his poet's face supported +the savage at my side. But my hopes were raised again when the thin +man, who had said little hitherto, though he had continued to stare at +me very intently, began now to show some signs of alarm at the +bloodthirsty proposals of his comrades. + +'My dear Lucien,' said he, in a soothing voice, laying his hand upon the +young man's arm, 'we philosophers and reasoners must have a respect for +human life. The tabernacle is not to be lightly violated. We have +frequently agreed that if it were not for the excesses of Marat--' + +'I have every respect for your opinion, Charles,' the other interrupted. +'You will allow that I have always been a willing and obedient disciple. +But I again say that our personal safety is involved, and that, as far +as I see, there is no middle course. No one could be more averse from +cruelty than I am, but you were present with me some months ago when +Toussac silenced the man from Bow Street, and certainly it was done with +such dexterity that the process was probably more painful to the +spectators than to the victim. He could not have been aware of the +horrible sound which announced his own dissolution. If you and I had +constancy enough to endure this--and if I remember right it was chiefly +at your instigation that the deed was done--then surely on this more +vital occasion--' + +'No, no, Toussac, stop!' cried the thin man, his voice rising from its +soft tones to a perfect scream as the giant's hairy hand gripped me by +the chin once more. 'I appeal to you, Lucien, upon practical as well as +upon moral grounds, not to let this deed be done. Consider that if +things should go against us this will cut us off from all hopes of +mercy. Consider also--' + +This argument seemed for a moment to stagger the younger man, whose +olive complexion had turned a shade greyer. + +'There will be no hope for us in any case, Charles,' said he. 'We have +no choice but to obey Rule 13.' + +'Some latitude is allowed to us. We are ourselves upon the inner +committee.' + +'But it takes a quorum to change a rule, and we have no powers to do +it.' His pendulous lip was quivering, but there was no softening in his +eyes. Slowly under the pressure of those cruel fingers my chin began to +sweep round to my shoulder, and I commended my soul to the Virgin and to +Saint Ignatius, who has always been the especial patron of my family. +But this man Charles, who had already befriended me, darted forwards and +began to tear at Toussac's hands with a vehemence which was very +different from his former philosophic calm. + +'You _shall_ not kill him!' he cried angrily. + +'Who are you, to set your wills up against mine? Let him go, Toussac! +Take your thumb from his chin! I won't have it done, I tell you!' +Then, as he saw by the inflexible faces of his companions that +blustering would not help him, he turned suddenly to tones of entreaty. +'See, now! I'll make you a promise!' said he. 'Listen to me, Lucien! +Let me examine him! If he is a police spy he shall die! You may have +him then, Toussac. But if he is only a harmless traveller, who has +blundered in here by an evil chance, and who has been led by a foolish +curiosity to inquire into our business, then you will leave him to me.' + +You will observe that from the beginning of this affair I had never once +opened my mouth, nor said a word in my defence, which made me mightily +pleased with myself afterwards, though my silence came rather from pride +than from courage. To lose life and self-respect together was more than +I could face. But now, at this appeal from my advocate, I turned my +eyes from the monster who held me to the other who condemned me. +The brutality of the one alarmed me less than the self-interested +attitude of the other, for a man is never so dangerous as when he is +afraid, and of all judges the judge who has cause to fear you is the +most inflexible. + +My life depended upon the answer which was to come to the appeal of my +champion. Lesage tapped his fingers upon his teeth, and smiled +indulgently at the earnestness of his companion. + +'Rule 13! Rule 13!' he kept repeating, in that exasperating voice of +his. + +'I will take all responsibility.' + +'I'll tell you what, mister,' said Toussac, in his savage voice. +'There's another rule besides Rule 13, and that's the one that says that +if any man shelters an offender he shall be treated as if he was himself +guilty of the offence.' + +This attack did not shake the serenity of my champion in the least. + +'You are an excellent man of action, Toussac,' said he calmly; 'but when +it comes to choosing the right course, you must leave it to wiser heads +than your own.' + +His air of tranquil superiority seemed to daunt the fierce creature who +held me. He shrugged his huge shoulders in silent dissent. + +'As to you, Lucien,' my friend continued, 'I am surprised, considering +the position to which you aspire in my family, that you should for an +instant stand in the way of any wish which I may express. If you have +grasped the true principles of liberty, and if you are privileged to be +one of the small band who have never despaired of the republic, to whom +is it that you owe it?' + +'Yes, yes, Charles; I acknowledge what you say,' the young man answered, +with much agitation. 'I am sure that I should be the last to oppose any +wish which you might express, but in this case I fear lest your +tenderness of heart may be leading you astray. By all means ask him any +questions that you like; but it seems to me that there can be only one +end to the matter.' + +So I thought also; for, with the full secret of these desperate men in +my possession, what hope was there that they would ever suffer me to +leave the hut alive? And yet, so sweet is human life, and so dear a +respite, be it ever so short a one, that when that murderous hand was +taken from my chin I heard a sudden chiming of little bells, and the +lamp blazed up into a strange fantastic blur. It was but for a moment, +and then my mind was clear again, and I was looking up at the strange +gaunt face of my examiner. + +'Whence have you come?' he asked. + +'From England.' + +'But you are French?' + +'Yes.' + +'When did you arrive?' + +'To-night.' + +'How?' + +'In a lugger from Dover.' + +'The fellow is speaking the truth,' growled Toussac. 'Yes, I'll say +that for him, that he is speaking the truth. We saw the lugger, and +someone was landed from it just after the boat that brought me over +pushed off.' + +I remembered that boat, which had been the first thing which I had seen +upon the coast of France. How little I had thought what it would mean +to me! + +And now my advocate began asking questions--vague, useless questions--in +a slow, hesitating fashion which set Toussac grumbling. This +cross-examination appeared to me to be a useless farce; and yet there +was a certain eagerness and intensity in my questioner's manner which +gave me the assurance that he had some end in view. Was it merely that +he wished to gain time? Time for what? And then, suddenly, with that +quick perception which comes upon those whose nerves are strained by an +extremity of danger, I became convinced that he really was awaiting +something--that he was tense with expectation. I read it upon his drawn +face, upon his sidelong head with his ear scooped into his hand, above +all in his twitching, restless eyes. He expected an interruption, and +he was talking, talking, talking, in order to gain time for it. I was +as sure of it as if he had whispered his secret in my ear, and down in +my numb, cold heart a warm little spring of hope began to bubble and +run. + +But Toussac had chafed at all this word-fencing, and now with an oath he +broke in upon our dialogue. + +'I have had enough of this!' he cried. 'It is not for child's play of +this sort that I risked my head in coming over here. Have we nothing +better to talk about than this fellow? Do you suppose I came from +London to listen to your fine phrases? Have done with it, I say, and +get to business.' + +'Very good,' said my champion. 'There's an excellent little cupboard +here which makes as fine a prison as one could wish for. Let us put him +in here, and pass on to business. We can deal with him when we have +finished.' + +'And have him overhear all that we say,' said Lesage. + +'I don't know what the devil has come over you,' cried Toussac, turning +suspicious eyes upon my protector. 'I never knew you squeamish before, +and certainly you were not backward in the affair of the man from Bow +Street. This fellow has our secret, and he must either die, or we shall +see him at our trial. What is the sense of arranging a plot, and then +at the last moment turning a man loose who will ruin us all? Let us +snap his neck and have done with it.' + +The great hairy hands were stretched towards me again, but Lesage had +sprung suddenly to his feet. His face had turned very white, and he +stood listening with his forefinger up and his head slanted. It was a +long, thin, delicate hand, and it was quivering like a leaf in the wind. + +'I heard something,' he whispered. + +'And I,' said the older man. + +'What was it?' + +'Silence. Listen!' + +For a minute or more we all stayed with straining ears while the wind +still whimpered in the chimney or rattled the crazy window. + +'It was nothing,' said Lesage at last, with a nervous laugh. +'The storm makes curious sounds sometimes.' + +'I heard nothing,' said Toussac. + +'Hush!' cried the other. 'There it is again!' + +A clear rising cry floated high above the wailing of the storm; a wild, +musical cry, beginning on a low note, and thrilling swiftly up to a +keen, sharp-edged howl. + +'A hound!' + +'They are following us!' + +Lesage dashed to the fireplace, and I saw him thrust his papers into the +blaze and grind them down with his heel. + +Toussac seized the wood-axe which leaned against the wall. The thin man +dragged the pile of decayed netting from the corner, and opened a small +wooden screen, which shut off a low recess. + +'In here,' he whispered, 'quick!' + +And then, as I scrambled into my refuge, I heard him say to the others +that I would be safe there, and that they could lay their hands upon me +when they wished. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE LAW + +The cupboard--for it was little more--into which I had been hurried was +low and narrow, and I felt in the darkness that it was heaped with +peculiar round wickerwork baskets, the nature of which I could by no +means imagine, although I discovered afterwards that they were lobster +traps. The only light which entered was through the cracks of the old +broken door, but these were so wide and numerous that I could see the +whole of the room which I had just quitted. Sick and faint, with the +shadow of death still clouding my wits, I was none the less fascinated +by the scene which lay before me. + +My thin friend, with the same prim composure upon his emaciated face, +had seated himself again upon the box. With his hands clasped round one +of his knees he was rocking slowly backwards and forwards; and I +noticed, in the lamplight, that his jaw muscles were contracting +rhythmically, like the gills of a fish. Beside him stood Lesage, his +white face glistening with moisture and his loose lip quivering with +fear. Every now and then he would make a vigorous attempt to compose +his features, but after each rally a fresh wave of terror would sweep +everything before it, and set him shaking once more. As to Toussac, he +stood before the fire, a magnificent figure, with the axe held down by +his leg, and his head thrown back in defiance, so that his great black +beard bristled straight out in front of him. He said not a word, but +every fibre of his body was braced for a struggle. Then, as the howl of +the hound rose louder and clearer from the marsh outside, he ran forward +and threw open the door. + +'No, no, keep the dog out!' cried Lesage in an agony of apprehension. + +'You fool, our only chance is to kill it.' + +'But it is in leash.' + +'If it is in leash nothing can save us. But if, as I think, it is +running free, then we may escape yet.' + +Lesage cowered up against the table, with his agonised eyes fixed upon +the blue-black square of the door. The man who had befriended me still +swayed his body about with a singular half-smile upon his face. His +skinny hand was twitching at the frill of his shirt, and I conjectured +that he held some weapon concealed there. Toussac stood between them +and the open door, and, much as I feared and loathed him, I could not +take my eyes from his gallant figure. As to myself, I was so much +occupied by the singular drama before me, and by the impending fate of +those three men of the cottage, that all thought of my own fortunes had +passed completely out of my mind. On this mean stage a terrible +all-absorbing drama was being played, and I, crouching in a squalid +recess, was to be the sole spectator of it. I could but hold my breath +and wait and watch. + +And suddenly I became conscious that they could all three see something +which was invisible to me. I read it from their tense faces and their +staring eyes. Toussac swung his axe over his shoulder and poised +himself for a blow. Lesage cowered away and put one hand between his +eyes and the open door. The other ceased swinging his spindle legs and +sat like a little brown image upon the edge of his box. There was a +moist pattering of feet, a yellow streak shot through the doorway, and +Toussac lashed at it as I have seen an English cricketer strike at a +ball. His aim was true, for he buried the head of the hatchet in the +creature's throat, but the force of his blow shattered his weapon, and +the weight of the hound carried him backwards on to the floor. Over +they rolled and over, the hairy man and the hairy dog, growling and +worrying in a bestial combat. He was fumbling at the animal's throat, +and I could not see what he was doing, until it gave a sudden sharp yelp +of pain, and there was a rending sound like the tearing of canvas. +The man staggered up with his hands dripping, and the tawny mass with +the blotch of crimson lay motionless upon the floor. + +'Now!' cried Toussac in a voice of thunder, 'now!' and he rushed from +the hut. + +Lesage had shrunk away into the corner in a frenzy of fear whilst +Toussac had been killing the hound, but now he raised his agonised face, +which was as wet as if he had dipped it into a basin. + +'Yes, yes,' he cried; 'we must fly, Charles. The hound has left the +police behind, and we may still escape.' + +But the other, with the same imperturbable face, motionless save for the +rhythm of his jaw muscles, walked quietly over and closed the door upon +the inside. + +'I think, friend Lucien,' said he in his quiet voice, 'that you had best +stay where you are.' + +Lesage looked at him with amazement gradually replacing terror upon his +pallid features. + +'But you do not understand, Charles,' he cried. + +'Oh, yes, I think I do,' said the other, smiling. + +'They may be here in a few minutes. The hound has slipped its leash, +you see, and has left them behind in the marsh; but they are sure to +come here, for there is no other cottage but this.' + +'They are sure to come here.' + +'Well, then, let us fly. In the darkness we may yet escape.' + +'No; we shall stay where we are.' + +'Madman, you may sacrifice your own life, but not mine. Stay if you +wish, but for my part I am going.' + +He ran towards the door with a foolish, helpless flapping of his hands, +but the other sprang in front of him with so determined a gesture of +authority that the younger man staggered back from it as from a blow. + +'You fool!' said his companion. 'You poor miserable dupe!' + +Lesage's mouth opened, and he stood staring with his knees bent and his +spread-fingered hands up, the most hideous picture of fear that I have +ever seen. + +'You, Charles, you!' he stammered, hawking up each word. + +'Yes, me,' said the other, smiling grimly. + +'A police agent all the time! You who were the very soul of our +society! You who were in our inmost council! You who led us on! +Oh, Charles, you have not the heart! I think I hear them coming, +Charles. Let me pass; I beg and implore you to let me pass.' + +The granite face shook slowly from side to side. + +'But why me? Why not Toussac?' + +'If the dog had crippled Toussac, why then I might have had you both. +But friend Toussac is rather vigorous for a thin little fellow like me. +No, no, my good Lucien, you are destined to be the trophy of my bow and +my spear, and you must reconcile yourself to the fact.' + +Lesage slapped his forehead as if to assure himself that he was not +dreaming. + +'A police agent!' he repeated, 'Charles a police agent!' + +'I thought it would surprise you.' + +'But you were the most republican of us all. We were none of us +advanced enough for you. How often have we gathered round you, Charles, +to listen to your philosophy! And there is Sibylle, too! Don't tell me +that Sibylle was a police spy also. But you are joking, Charles. +Say that you are joking!' + +The man relaxed his grim features, and his eyes puckered with amusement. + +'Your astonishment is very flattering,' said he. 'I confess that I +thought that I played my part rather cleverly. It is not my fault that +these bunglers unleashed their hound, but at least I shall have the +credit of having made a single-handed capture of one very desperate and +dangerous conspirator.' He smiled drily at this description of his +prisoner. 'The Emperor knows how to reward his friends,' he added, +'and also how to punish his enemies.' + +All this time he had held his hand in his bosom, and now he drew it out +so far as to show the brass gleam of a pistol butt. + +'It is no use,' said he, in answer to some look in the other's eye. +'You stay in the hut, alive or dead.' + +Lesage put his hands to his face and began to cry with loud, helpless +sobbings. + +'Why, you have been worse than any of us, Charles,' he moaned. 'It was +you who told Toussac to kill the man from Bow Street, and it was you +also who set fire to the house in the Rue Basse de la Rampart. And now +you turn on us!' + +'I did that because I wished to be the one to throw light upon it all--and +at the proper moment.' + +'That is very fine, Charles, but what will be thought about that when I +make it all public in my own defence? How can you explain all that to +your Emperor? There is still time to prevent my telling all that I know +about you.' + +'Well, really, I think that you are right, my friend,' said the other, +drawing out his pistol and cocking it. 'Perhaps I _did_ go a little +beyond my instructions in one or two points, and, as you very properly +remark, there is still time to set it right. It is a matter of detail +whether I give you up living or give you up dead, and I think that, on +the whole, it had better be dead.' + +It had been horrible to see Toussac tear the throat out of the hound, +but it had not made my flesh creep as it crept now. Pity was mingled +with my disgust for this unfortunate young man, who had been fitted by +Nature for the life of a retired student or of a dreaming poet, but who +had been dragged by stronger wills than his own into a part which no +child could be more incapable of playing. I forgave him the trick by +which he had caught me and the selfish fears to which he had been +willing to sacrifice me. He had flung himself down upon the ground, and +floundered about in a convulsion of terror, whilst his terrible little +companion, with his cynical smile, stood over him with his pistol in his +hand. He played with the helpless panting coward as a cat might with a +mouse; but I read in his inexorable eyes that it was no jest, and his +finger seemed to be already tightening upon his trigger. Full of horror +at so cold-blooded a murder, I pushed open my crazy cupboard, and had +rushed out to plead for the victim, when there came a buzz of voices and +a clanking of steel from without. With a stentorian shout of 'In the +name of the Emperor!' a single violent wrench tore the door of the hut +from its hinges. + +It was still blowing hard, and through the open doorway I could see a +thick cluster of mounted men, with plumes slanted and mantles flapping, +the rain shining upon their shoulders. At the side the light from the +hut struck upon the heads of two beautiful horses, and upon the heavy +red-toupeed busbies of the hussars who stood at their heads. In the +doorway stood another hussar--a man of high rank, as could be seen from +the richness of his dress and the distinction of his bearing. He was +booted to the knees, with a uniform of light blue and silver, which his +tall, slim, light-cavalry figure suited to a marvel. I could not but +admire the way in which he carried himself, for he never deigned to draw +the sword which shone at his side, but he stood in the doorway glancing +round the blood-bespattered hut, and staring at its occupants with a +very cool and alert expression. He had a handsome face, pale and +clear-cut, with a bristling moustache, which cut across the brass +chin-chain of his busby. + +'Well,' said he, 'well?' + +The older man had put his pistol back into the breast of his brown coat. + +'This is Lucien Lesage,' said he. + +The hussar looked with disgust at the prostrate figure upon the floor. + +'A pretty conspirator!' said he. 'Get up, you grovelling hound! Here, +Gerard, take charge of him and bring him into camp.' + +A younger officer with two troopers at his heels came clanking in to the +hut, and the wretched creature, half swooning, was dragged out into the +darkness. + +'Where is the other--the man called Toussac?' + +'He killed the hound and escaped. Lesage would have got away also had I +not prevented him. If you had kept the dog in leash we should have had +them both, but as it is, Colonel Lasalle, I think that you may +congratulate me.' He held out his hand as he spoke, but the other +turned abruptly on his heel. + +'You hear that, General Savary?' said he, looking out of the door. +'Toussac has escaped.' + +A tall, dark young man appeared within the circle of light cast by the +lamp. The agitation of his handsome swarthy face showed the effect +which the news had upon him. + +'Where is he then?' + +'It is a quarter of an hour since he got away.' + +'But he is the only dangerous man of them all. The Emperor will be +furious. In which direction did he fly?' + +'It must have been inland.' + +'But who is this?' asked General Savary, pointing at me. 'I understood +from your information that there were only two besides yourself, +Monsieur--.' + +'I had rather no names were mentioned,' said the other abruptly. + +'I can well understand that,' General Savary answered with a sneer. + +'I would have told you that the cottage was the rendezvous, but it was +not decided upon until the last moment. I gave you the means of +tracking Toussac, but you let the hound slip. I certainly think that +you will have to answer to the Emperor for the way in which you have +managed the business.' + +'That, sir, is our affair,' said General Savary sternly. 'In the +meantime you have not told us who this person is.' + +It seemed useless for me to conceal my identity, since I had a letter in +my pocket which would reveal it. + +'My name is Louis de Laval,' said I proudly. + +I may confess that I think we had exaggerated our own importance over in +England. We had thought that all France was wondering whether we should +return, whereas in the quick march of events France had really almost +forgotten our existence. This young General Savary was not in the least +impressed by my aristocratic name, but he jotted it down in his +notebook. + +'Monsieur de Laval has nothing whatever to do with the matter,' said the +spy. 'He has blundered into it entirely by chance, and I will answer +for his safe keeping in case he should be wanted.' + +'He will certainly be wanted,' said General Savary. 'In the meantime I +need every trooper that I have for the chase, so, if you make yourself +personally responsible, and bring him to the camp when needed, I see no +objection to his remaining in your keeping. I shall send to you if I +require him.' + +'He will be at the Emperor's orders.' + +'Are there any papers in the cottage?' + +'They have been burned.' + +'That is unfortunate.' + +'But I have duplicates.' + +'Excellent! Come, Lasalle, every minute counts, and there is nothing to +be done here. Let the men scatter, and we may still ride him down.' + +The two tall soldiers clanked out of the cottage without taking any +further notice of my companion, and I heard the sharp stern order and +the jingling of metal as the troopers sprang back into their saddles +once more. An instant later they were off, and I listened to the dull +beat of their hoofs dying rapidly into a confused murmur. My little +snuff-coloured champion went to the door of the hut and peered after +them through the darkness. Then he came back and looked me up and down, +with his usual dry sardonic smile. + +'Well, young man,' said he, 'we have played some pretty _tableaux +vivants_ for your amusement, and you can thank me for that nice seat in +the front row of the parterre.' + +'I am under a very deep obligation to you, sir,' I answered, struggling +between my gratitude and my aversion. 'I hardly know how to thank +you.' + +He looked at me with a singular expression in his ironical eyes. + +'You will have the opportunity for thanking me later,' said he. +'In the meantime, as you say that you are a stranger upon our coast, and +as I am responsible for your safe keeping, you cannot do better than +follow me, and I will take you to a place where you may sleep in +safety.' + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +THE SECRET PASSAGE + +The fire had already smouldered down, and my companion blew out the +lamp, so that we had not taken ten paces before we had lost sight of the +ill-omened cottage, in which I had received so singular a welcome upon +my home-coming. The wind had softened down, but a fine rain, cold and +clammy, came drifting up from the sea. Had I been left to myself I +should have found myself as much at a loss as I had been when I first +landed; but my companion walked with a brisk and assured step, so that +it was evident that he guided himself by landmarks which were invisible +to me. For my part, wet and miserable, with my forlorn bundle under my +arm, and my nerves all jangled by my terrible experiences, I trudged in +silence by his side, turning over in my mind all that had occurred to +me. Young as I was, I had heard much political discussion amongst my +elders in England, and the state of affairs in France was perfectly +familiar to me. I was aware that the recent elevation of Buonaparte to +the throne had enraged the small but formidable section of Jacobins and +extreme Republicans, who saw that all their efforts to abolish a kingdom +had only ended in transforming it into an empire. It was, indeed, a +pitiable result of their frenzied strivings that a crown with eight +_fleurs-de-lis_ should be changed into a higher crown surmounted by a +cross and ball. On the other hand, the followers of the Bourbons, in +whose company I had spent my youth, were equally disappointed at the +manner in which the mass of the French people hailed this final step in +the return from chaos to order. Contradictory as were their motives, +the more violent spirits of both parties were united in their hatred to +Napoleon, and in their fierce determination to get rid of him by any +means. Hence a series of conspiracies, most of them with their base in +England; and hence also a large use of spies and informers upon the part +of Fouche and of Savary, upon whom the responsibility of the safety of +the Emperor lay. A strange chance had landed me upon the French coast +at the very same time as a murderous conspirator, and had afterwards +enabled me to see the weapons with which the police contrived to thwart +and outwit him and his associates. When I looked back upon my series of +adventures, my wanderings in the salt-marsh, my entrance into the +cottage, my discovery of the papers, my capture by the conspirators, the +long period of suspense with Toussac's dreadful thumb upon my chin, and +finally the moving scenes which I had witnessed--the killing of the +hound, the capture of Lesage, and the arrival of the soldiers--I could +not wonder that my nerves were overwrought, and that I surprised myself +in little convulsive gestures, like those of a frightened child. + +The chief thought which now filled my mind was what my relations were +with this dangerous man who walked by my side. His conduct and bearing +had filled me with abhorrence. I had seen the depth of cunning with +which he had duped and betrayed his companions, and I had read in his +lean smiling face the cold deliberate cruelty of his nature, as he +stood, pistol in hand, over the whimpering coward whom he had outwitted. +Yet I could not deny that when, through my own foolish curiosity, I had +placed myself in a most hopeless position, it was he who had braved the +wrath of the formidable Toussac in order to extricate me. It was +evident also that he might have made his achievement more striking by +delivering up two prisoners instead of one to the troopers. It is true +that I was not a conspirator, but I might have found it difficult to +prove it. So inconsistent did such conduct seem in this little yellow +flint-stone of a man that, after walking a mile or two in silence, I +asked him suddenly what the meaning of it might be. + +I heard a dry chuckle in the darkness, as if he were amused by the +abruptness and directness of my question. + +'You are a most amusing person, Monsieur--Monsieur--let me see, what did +you say your name was?' + +'De Laval.' + +'Ah, quite so, Monsieur de Laval. You have the impetuosity and the +ingenuousness of youth. You want to know what is up a chimney, you jump +up the chimney. You want to know the reason of a thing, and you blurt +out a question. I have been in the habit of living among people who +keep their thoughts to themselves, and I find you very refreshing.' + +'Whatever the motives of your conduct, there is no doubt that you saved +my life,' said I. 'I am much obliged to you for your intercession.' +It is the most difficult thing in the world to express gratitude to a +person who fills you with abhorrence, and I fear that my halting speech +was another instance of that ingenuousness of which he accused me. + +'I can do without your thanks,' said he coldly. 'You are perfectly +right when you think that if it had suited my purpose I should have let +you perish, and I am perfectly right when I think that if it were not +that you are under an obligation you would fail to see my hand if I +stretched it out to you just as that overgrown puppy Lasalle did. It is +very honourable, he thinks, to serve the Emperor upon the field of +battle, and to risk life in his behalf, but when it comes to living +amidst danger as I have done, consorting with desperate men, and knowing +well that the least slip would mean death, why then one is beneath the +notice of a fine clean-handed gentleman. Why,' he continued in a burst +of bitter passion, 'I have dared more, and endured more, with Toussac +and a few of his kidney for comrades, than this Lasalle has done in all +the childish cavalry charges that ever he undertook. As to service, all +his Marshals put together have not rendered the Emperor as pressing a +service as I have done. But I daresay it does not strike you in that +light, Monsieur--Monsieur--' + +'De Laval.' + +'Quite so--it is curious how that name escapes me. I daresay you take +the same view as Colonel Lasalle?' + +'It is not a question upon which I can offer an opinion,' said I. +'I only know that I owe my life to your intercession.' + +I do not know what reply he might have made to this evasion, but at that +moment we heard a couple of pistol shots and a distant shouting from far +away in the darkness. We stopped for a few minutes, but all was silent +once more. + +'They must have caught sight of Toussac,' said my companion. 'I am +afraid that he is too strong and too cunning to be taken by them. I do +not know what impression he left upon you, but I can tell you that you +will go far to meet a more dangerous man.' + +I answered that I would go far to avoid meeting one, unless I had the +means of defending myself, and my companion's dry chuckle showed that he +appreciated my feelings. + +'Yet he is an absolutely honest man, which is no very common thing in +these days,' said he. 'He is one of those who, at the outbreak of the +Revolution, embraced it with the whole strength of his simple nature. +He believed what the writers and the speakers told him, and he was +convinced that, after a little disturbance and a few necessary +executions, France was to become a heaven upon earth, the centre of +peace and comfort and brotherly love. A good many people got those fine +ideas into their heads, but the heads have mostly dropped into the +sawdust-basket by this time. Toussac was true to them, and when instead +of peace he found war, instead of comfort a grinding poverty, and +instead of equality an Empire, it drove him mad. He became the fierce +creature you see, with the one idea of devoting his huge body and +giant's strength to the destruction of those who had interfered with his +ideal. He is fearless, persevering, and implacable. I have no doubt at +all that he will kill me for the part that I have played to-night.' + +It was in the calmest voice that my companion uttered the remark, and it +made me understand that it was no boast when he said there was more +courage needed to carry on his unsavoury trade than to play the part of +a _beau sabreur_ like Lasalle. He paused a little, and then went on as +if speaking to himself. + +'Yes,' said he, 'I missed my chance. I certainly ought to have shot +him when he was struggling with the hound. But if I had only wounded +him he would have torn me into bits like an over-boiled pullet, so +perhaps it is as well as it is.' + +We had left the salt-marsh behind us, and for some time I had felt the +soft springy turf of the downland beneath my feet, and our path had +risen and dipped over the curves of the low coast hills. In spite of +the darkness my companion walked with great assurance, never hesitating +for an instant, and keeping up a stiff pace which was welcome to me in +my sodden and benumbed condition. I had been so young when I left my +native place that it is doubtful whether, even in daylight, I should +have recognised the countryside, but now in the darkness, half stupefied +by my adventures, I could not form the least idea as to where we were or +what we were making for. A certain recklessness had taken possession of +me, and I cared little where I went as long as I could gain the rest and +shelter of which I stood in need. + +I do not know how long we had walked; I only know that I had dozed and +woke and dozed again whilst still automatically keeping pace with my +comrade, when I was at last aroused by his coming to a dead stop. +The rain had ceased, and although the moon was still obscured, the +heavens had cleared somewhat, and I could see for a little distance in +every direction. A huge white basin gaped in front of us, and I made +out that it was a deserted chalk quarry, with brambles and ferns growing +thickly all round the edges. My companion, after a stealthy glance +round to make sure that no one was observing us, picked his way amongst +the scattered clumps of bushes until he reached the wall of chalk. This +he skirted for some distance, squeezing between the cliff and the +brambles until he came at last to a spot where all further progress +appeared to be impossible. + +'Can you see a light behind us?' asked my companion. + +I turned round and looked carefully in every direction, but was unable +to see one. + +'Never mind,' said he. 'You go first, and I will follow.' + +In some way during the instant that my back had been turned he had swung +aside or plucked out the tangle of bush which had barred our way. When +I turned there was a square dark opening in the white glimmering wall in +front of us. + +'It is small at the entrance, but it grows larger further in,' said he. + +I hesitated for an instant. Whither was it that this strange man was +leading me? Did he live in a cave like a wild beast, or was this some +trap into which he was luring me? The moon shone out at the instant, +and in its silver light this black, silent porthole looked inexpressibly +cheerless and menacing. + +'You have gone rather far to turn back, my good friend,' said my +companion. 'You must either trust me altogether or not trust me at +all.' + +'I am at your disposal.' + +'Pass in then, and I shall follow.' + +I crept into the narrow passage, which was so low that I had to crawl +down it upon my hands and knees. Craning my neck round, I could see the +black angular silhouette of my companion as he came after me. He paused +at the entrance, and then, with a rustling of branches and snapping of +twigs, the faint light was suddenly shut off from outside, and we were +left in pitchy darkness. I heard the scraping of his knees as he +crawled up behind me. + +'Go on until you come to a step down,' said he. 'We shall have more +room there, and we can strike a light.' + +The ceiling was so low that by arching my back I could easily strike it, +and my elbows touched the wall upon either side. In those days I was +slim and lithe, however, so that I found no difficulty in making my way +onwards until, at the end of a hundred paces, or it may have been a +hundred and fifty, I felt with my hands that there was a dip in front of +me. Down this I clambered, and was instantly conscious from the purer +air that I was in some larger cavity. I heard the snapping of my +companion's flint, and the red glow of the tinder paper leaped suddenly +into the clear yellow flame of the taper. At first I could only see +that stern, emaciated face, like some grotesque carving in walnut wood, +with the ceaseless fishlike vibration of the muscles of his jaw. The +light beat full upon it, and it stood strangely out with a dim halo +round it in the darkness. Then he raised the taper and swept it slowly +round at arm's length so as to illuminate the place in which we stood. + +I found that we were in a subterranean tunnel, which appeared to extend +into the bowels of the earth. It was so high that I could stand erect +with ease, and the old lichen-blotched stones which lined the walls told +of its great age. At the spot where we stood the ceiling had fallen in +and the original passage been blocked, but a cutting had been made from +this point through the chalk to form the narrow burrow along which we +had come. This cutting appeared to be quite recent, for a mound of +_debris_ and some trenching tools were still lying in the passage. +My companion, taper in hand, started off down the tunnel, and I followed +at his heels, stepping over the great stones which had fallen from the +roof or the walls, and now obstructed the path. + +'Well,' said he, grinning at me over his shoulder, 'have you ever seen +anything like this in England?' + +'Never,' I answered. + +'These are the precautions and devices which men adopted in rough days +long ago. Now that rough days have come again, they are very useful to +those who know of such places.' + +'Whither does it lead, then?' I asked. + +'To this,' said he, stopping before an old wooden door, powerfully +clamped with iron. He fumbled with the metal-work, keeping himself +between me and it, so that I could not see what he was doing. There was +a sharp snick, and the door revolved slowly upon its hinges. Within +there was a steep flight of time-worn steps leading upwards. He +motioned me on, and closed the door behind us. At the head of the stair +there was a second wooden gate, which he opened in a similar manner. + +I had been dazed before ever I came into the chalk pit, but now, at this +succession of incidents, I began to rub my eyes and ask myself whether +this was young Louis de Laval, late of Ashford, in Kent, or whether it +was some dream of the adventures of a hero of Pigault Lebrun. These +massive moss-grown arches and mighty iron-clamped doors were, indeed, +like the dim shadowy background of a vision; but the guttering taper, my +sodden bundle, and all the sordid details of my disarranged toilet +assured me only too clearly of their reality. Above all, the swift, +brisk, business-like manner of my companion, and his occasional abrupt +remarks, brought my fancies back to the ground once more. He held the +door open for me now, and closed it again when I had passed through. + +We found ourselves in a long vaulted corridor, with a stone-flagged +floor, and a dim oil lamp burning at the further end. Two iron-barred +windows showed that we had come above the earth's surface once more. +Down this corridor we passed, and then through several passages and up a +short winding stair. At the head of it was an open door, which led into +a small but comfortable bedroom. + +'I presume that this will satisfy your wants for to-night,' said he. + +I asked for nothing better than to throw myself down, damp clothes and +all, upon that snowy coverlet; but for the instant my curiosity overcame +my fatigue. + +'I am much indebted to you, sir,' said I. 'Perhaps you will add to your +favours by letting me know where I am.' + +'You are in my house, and that must suffice you for to-night. In the +morning we shall go further into the matter.' He rang a small bell, and +a gaunt shock-headed country man-servant came running at the call. + +'Your mistress has retired, I suppose?' + +'Yes, sir, a good two hours ago.' + +'Very good. I shall call you myself in the morning.' He closed my +door, and the echo of his steps seemed hardly to have died from my ears +before I had sunk into that deep and dreamless sleep which only youth +and fatigue can give. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE OWNER OF GROSBOIS + +My host was as good as his word, for, when a noise in my room awoke me +in the morning, it was to find him standing by the side of my bed, so +composed in his features and so drab in his attire, that it was hard to +associate him with the stirring scenes of yesterday and with the +repulsive part which he had played in them. Now in the fresh morning +sunlight he presented rather the appearance of a pedantic schoolmaster, +an impression which was increased by the masterful, and yet benevolent, +smile with which he regarded me. In spite of his smile, I was more +conscious than ever that my whole soul shrank from him, and that I +should not be at my ease until I had broken this companionship which had +been so involuntarily formed. He carried a heap of clothes over one +arm, which he threw upon a chair at the bottom of my bed. + +'I gather from the little that you told me last night,' said he, 'that +your wardrobe is at present somewhat scanty. I fear that your inches +are greater than those of anyone in my household, but I have brought a +few things here amongst which you may find something to fit you. +Here, too, are the razors, the soap, and the powder-box. I will return +in half an hour, when your toilet will doubtless be completed.' + +I found that my own clothes, with a little brushing, were as good as +ever, but I availed myself of his offer to the extent of a ruffled shirt +and a black satin cravat. I had finished dressing and was looking out +of the window of my room, which opened on to a blank wall, when my host +returned. He looked me all over with a keenly scrutinising eye, and +appeared to be satisfied with what he saw. + +'That will do! That will do very well indeed!' said he, nodding a +critical head. 'In these times a slight indication of travel or hard +work upon a costume is more fashionable than the foppishness of the +Incroyable. I have heard ladies remark that it was in better taste. +Now, sir, if you will kindly follow me.' + +His solicitude about my dress filled me with surprise, but this was soon +forgotten in the shock which was awaiting me. For as we passed down the +passage and into a large hall which seemed strangely familiar to me, +there was a full-length portrait of my father standing right in front of +me. I stood staring with a gasp of astonishment, and turned to see the +cold grey eyes of my companion fixed upon me with a humorous glitter. + +'You seem surprised, Monsieur de Laval,' said he. + +'For God's sake,' said I, 'do not trifle with me any further! Who are +you, and what is this place to which you have taken me?' + +For answer he broke into one of his dry chuckles, and, laying his skinny +brown hand upon my wrist, he led me into a large apartment. In the +centre was a table, tastefully laid, and beyond it in a low chair a +young lady was seated, with a book in her hand. She rose as we entered, +and I saw that she was tall and slender, with a dark face, pronounced +features, and black eyes of extraordinary brilliancy. Even in that one +glance it struck me that the expression with which she regarded me was +by no means a friendly one. + +'Sibylle,' said my host, and his words took the breath from my lips, +'this is your cousin from England, Louis de Laval. This, my dear +nephew, is my only daughter, Sibylle Bernac.' + +'Then you--' + +'I am your mother's brother, Charles Bernac.' + +'You are my Uncle Bernac!' I stammered at him like an idiot. 'But why +did you not tell me so?' I cried. + +'I was not sorry to have a chance of quietly observing what his English +education had done for my nephew. It might also have been harder for me +to stand your friend if my comrades had any reason to think that I was +personally interested in you. But you will permit me now to welcome you +heartily to France, and to express my regret if your reception has been +a rough one. I am sure that Sibylle will help me to atone for it.' +He smiled archly at his daughter, who continued to regard me with a +stony face. + +I looked round me, and gradually the spacious room, with the weapons +upon the wall, and the deer's heads, came dimly back to my memory. +That view through the oriel window, too, with the clump of oaks in the +sloping park, and the sea in the distance beyond, I had certainly seen +it before. It was true then, and I was in our own castle of Grosbois, +and this dreadful man in the snuff-coloured coat, this sinister plotter +with the death's-head face, was the man whom I had heard my poor father +curse so often, the man who had ousted him from his own property and +installed himself in his place. And yet I could not forget that it was +he also who, at some risk to himself, had saved me the night before, and +my soul was again torn between my gratitude and my repulsion. + +We had seated ourselves at the table, and as we ate, this newly-found +uncle of mine continued to explain all those points which I had failed +to understand. + +'I suspected that it was you the instant that I set eyes upon you,' said +he. 'I am old enough to remember your father when he was a young +gallant, and you are his very double--though I may say, without +flattery, that where there is a difference it is in your favour. +And yet he had the name of being one of the handsomest men betwixt Rouen +and the sea. You must bear in mind that I was expecting you, and that +there are not so many young aristocrats of your age wandering about +along the coast. I was surprised when you did not recognise where you +were last night. Had you never heard of the secret passage of +Grosbois?' + +It came vaguely back to me that in my childhood I had heard of this +underground tunnel, but that the roof had fallen in and rendered it +useless. + +'Precisely,' said my uncle. 'When the castle passed into my hands, one +of the very first things which I did was to cut a new opening at the end +of it, for I foresaw that in these troublesome times it might be of use +to me; indeed, had it been in repair it might have made the escape of +your mother and father a very much easier affair.' + +His words recalled all that I had heard and all that I could remember of +those dreadful days when we, the Lords of the country side, had been +chased across it as if we had been wolves, with the howling mob still +clustering at the pier-head to shake their fists and hurl their stones +at us. I remembered, too, that it was this very man who was speaking to +me who had thrown oil upon the flames in those days, and whose fortunes +had been founded upon our ruin. As I looked across at him I found that +his keen grey eyes were fixed upon me, and I could see that he had read +the thoughts in my mind. + +'We must let bygones be bygones,' said he. 'Those are quarrels of the +last generation, and Sibylle and you represent a new one.' + +My cousin had not said one word or taken any notice of my presence, but +at this joining of our names she glanced at me with the same hostile +expression which I had already remarked. + +'Come, Sibylle,' said her father, 'you can assure your cousin Louis +that, so far as you are concerned, any family misunderstanding is at an +end.' + +'It is very well for us to talk in that way, father,' she answered. +'It is not your picture that hangs in the hall, or your coat-of-arms +that I see upon the wall. We hold the castle and the land, but it is +for the heir of the de Lavals to tell _us_ if he is satisfied with +this.' Her dark scornful eyes were fixed upon me as she waited for my +reply, but her father hastened to intervene. + +'This is not a very hospitable tone in which to greet your cousin,' said +he harshly. 'It has so chanced that Louis' heritage has fallen to us, +but it is not for us to remind him of the fact.' + +'He needs no reminding,' said she. + +'You do me an injustice,' I cried, for the evident and malignant scorn +of this girl galled me to the quick. 'It is true that I cannot forget +that this castle and these grounds belonged to my ancestors--I should be +a clod indeed if I _could_ forget it--but if you think that I harbour +any bitterness, you are mistaken. For my own part, I ask nothing better +than to open up a career for myself with my own sword.' + +'And never was there a time when it could be more easily and more +brilliantly done,' cried my uncle. 'There are great things about to +happen in the world, and if you are at the Emperor's court you will be +in the middle of them. I understand that you are content to serve him?' + +'I wish to serve my country.' + +'By serving the Emperor you do so, for without him the country becomes +chaos.' + +'From all we hear it is not a very easy service,' said my cousin. +'I should have thought that you would have been very much more +comfortable in England--and then you would have been so much safer +also.' + +Everything which the girl said seemed to be meant as an insult to me, +and yet I could not imagine how I had ever offended her. Never had I +met a woman for whom I conceived so hearty and rapid a dislike. I could +see that her remarks were as offensive to her father as they were to me, +for he looked at her with eyes which were as angry as her own. + +'Your cousin is a brave man, and that is more than can be said for +someone else that I could mention,' said he. + +'For whom?' she asked. + +'Never mind!' he snapped, and, jumping up with the air of a man who is +afraid that his rage may master him, and that he may say more than he +wished, he ran from the room. + +She seemed startled by this retort of his, and rose as if she would +follow him. Then she tossed her head and laughed incredulously. + +'I suppose that you have never met your uncle before?' said she, after a +few minutes of embarrassed silence. + +'Never,' answered I. + +'Well, what do you think of him now you _have_ met him?' + +Such a question from a daughter about her father filled me with a +certain vague horror. I felt that he must be even a worse man than I +had taken him for if he had so completely forfeited the loyalty of his +own nearest and dearest. + +'Your silence is a sufficient answer,' said she, as I hesitated for a +reply. 'I do not know how you came to meet him last night, or what +passed between you, for we do not share each other's confidences. +I think, however, that you have read him aright. Now I have something +to ask you. You had a letter from him inviting you to leave England and +to come here, had you not?' + +'Yes, I had.' + +'Did you observe nothing on the outside?' + +I thought of those two sinister words which had puzzled me so much. + +'What! it was you who warned me not to come?' + +'Yes, it was I. I had no other means of doing it.' + +'But why did you do it?' + +'Because I did not wish you to come here.' + +'Did you think that I would harm you?' + +She sat silent for a few seconds like one who is afraid of saying too +much. When her answer came it was a very unexpected one: + +'I was afraid that you would be harmed.' + +'You think that I am in danger here?' + +'I am sure of it.' + +'You advise me to leave?' + +'Without losing an instant.' + +'From whom is the danger then?' + +Again she hesitated, and then, with a reckless motion like one who +throws prudence to the winds, she turned upon me. + +'It is from my father,' said she. + +'But why should he harm me?' + +'That is for your sagacity to discover.' + +'But I assure you, mademoiselle, that in this matter you misjudge him,' +said I. 'As it happens, he interfered to save my life last night.' + +'To save your life! From whom?' + +'From two conspirators whose plans I had chanced to discover.' + +'Conspirators!' She looked at me in surprise. + +'They would have killed me if he had not intervened.' + +'It is not his interest that you should be harmed yet awhile. He had +reasons for wishing you to come to Castle Grosbois. But I have been +very frank with you, and I wish you to be equally so with me. Does it +happen--does it happen that during your youth in England you have ever--you +have ever had an affair of the heart?' + +Everything which this cousin of mine said appeared to me to be stranger +than the last, and this question, coming at the end of so serious a +conversation, was the strangest of all. But frankness begets frankness, +and I did not hesitate. + +'I have left the very best and truest girl in the world behind me in +England,' said I. 'Eugenie is her name, Eugenie de Choiseul, the niece +of the old Duke.' + +My reply seemed to give my cousin great satisfaction. Her large dark +eyes shone with pleasure. + +'You are very attached?' she asked. + +'I shall never be happy until I see her.' + +'And you would not give her up?' + +'God forbid!' + +'Not for the Castle of Grosbois?' + +'Not even for that.' + +My cousin held out her hand to me with a charmingly frank impulsiveness. + +'You will forgive me for my rudeness,' said she. 'I see that we are to +be allies and not enemies.' + +And our hands were still clasped when her father re-entered the room. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +COUSIN SIBYLLE + +I could see in my uncle's grim face as he looked at us the keenest +satisfaction contending with surprise at this sign of our sudden +reconciliation. All trace of his recent anger seemed to have left him +as he addressed his daughter, but in spite of his altered tone I noticed +that her eyes looked defiance and distrust. + +'I have some papers of importance to look over,' said he. 'For an hour +or so I shall be engaged. I can guess that Louis would like to see the +old place once again, and I am sure that he could not have a better +guide than you, Sibylle, if you will take him over it.' + +She raised no objection, and for my part I was overjoyed at the +proposal, as it gave me an opportunity of learning more of this singular +cousin of mine, who had told me so much and yet seemed to know so much +more. What was the meaning of this obscure warning which she had given +me against her father, and why was she so frankly anxious to know about +my love affairs? These were the two questions which pressed for an +answer. So out we went together into the sweet coast-land air, the +sweeter for the gale of the night before, and we walked through the old +yew-lined paths, and out into the park, and so round the castle, looking +up at the gables, the grey pinnacles, the oak-mullioned windows, the +ancient wing with its crenulated walls and its meurtriere windows, the +modern with its pleasant verandah and veil of honeysuckle. And as she +showed me each fresh little detail, with a particularity which made me +understand how dear the place had become to her, she would still keep +offering her apologies for the fact that she should be the hostess and I +the visitor. + +'It is not against you but against ourselves that I was bitter,' said +she, 'for are we not the cuckoos who have taken a strange nest and +driven out those who built it? It makes me blush to think that my +father should invite you to your own house.' + +'Perhaps we had been rooted here too long,' I answered. 'Perhaps it is +for our own good that we are driven out to carve our own fortunes, as I +intend to do.' + +'You say that you are going to the Emperor?' + +'Yes.' + +'You know that he is in camp near here?' + +'So I have heard.' + +'But your family is still proscribed?' + +'I have done him no harm. I will go boldly to him and ask him to admit +me into his service.' + +'Well,' said she, 'there are some who call him a usurper, and wish him +all evil; but for my own part I have never heard of anything that he has +said and done which was not great and noble. But I had expected that +you would be quite an Englishman, Cousin Louis, and come over here with +your pockets full of Pitt's guineas and your heart of treason.' + +'I have met nothing but hospitality from the English,' I answered; 'but +my heart has always been French.' + +'But your father fought against us at Quiberon.' + +'Let each generation settle its own quarrels,' said I. 'I am quite of +your father's opinion about that.' + +'Do not judge my father by his words, but by his deeds,' said she, with +a warning finger upraised; 'and, above all, Cousin Louis, unless you +wish to have my life upon your conscience, never let him suspect that I +have said a word to set you on your guard.' + +'Your life!' I gasped. + +'Oh, yes, he would not stick at that!' she cried. 'He killed my mother. +I do not say that he slaughtered her, but I mean that his cold brutality +broke her gentle heart. Now perhaps you begin to understand why I can +talk of him in this fashion.' + +As she spoke I could see the secret broodings of years, the bitter +resentments crushed down in her silent soul, rising suddenly to flush +her dark cheeks and to gleam in her splendid eyes. I realised at that +moment that in that tall slim figure there dwelt an unconquerable +spirit. + +'You must think that I speak very freely to you, since I have only known +you a few hours, Cousin Louis,' said she. + +'To whom should you speak freely if not to your own relative?' + +'It is true; and yet I never expected that I should be on such terms +with you. I looked forward to your coming with dread and sorrow. +No doubt I showed something of my feelings when my father brought you +in.' + +'Indeed you did,' I answered. 'I feared that my presence was unwelcome +to you.' + +'Most unwelcome, both for your own sake and for mine,' said she. +'For your sake because I suspected, as I have told you, that my father's +intentions might be unfriendly. For mine--' + +'Why for yours?' I asked in surprise, for she had stopped in +embarrassment. + +'You have told me that your heart is another's. I may tell you that my +hand is also promised, and that my love has gone with it.' + +'May all happiness attend it!' said I. 'But why should this make my +coming unwelcome?' + +'That thick English air has dimmed your wits, cousin,' said she, shaking +her stately head at me. 'But I can speak freely now that I know that +this plan would be as hateful to you as to me. You must know, then, +that if my father could have married us he would have united all claims +to the succession of Grosbois. Then, come what might--Bourbon or +Buonaparte--nothing could shake his position.' + +I thought of the solicitude which he had shown over my toilet in the +morning, his anxiety that I should make a favourable impression, his +displeasure when she had been cold to me, and the smile upon his face +when he had seen us hand in hand. + +'I believe you are right!' I cried. + +'Right! Of course I am right! Look at him watching us now.' + +We were walking on the edge of the dried moat, and as I looked up there, +sure enough, was the little yellow face toned towards us in the angle of +one of the windows. Seeing that I was watching him, he rose and waved +his hand merrily. + +'Now you know why he saved your life--since you say that he saved it,' +said she. 'It would suit his plans best that you should marry his +daughter, and so he wished you to live. But when once he understands +that that is impossible, why then, my poor Cousin Louis, his only way of +guarding against the return of the de Lavals must lie in ensuring that +there are none to return.' + +It was those words of hers, coupled with that furtive yellow face still +lurking at the window, which made me realise the imminence of my danger. +No one in France had any reason to take an interest in me. If I were to +pass away there was no one who could make inquiry--I was absolutely in +his power. My memory told me what a ruthless and dangerous man it was +with whom I had to deal. + +'But,' said I, 'he must have known that your affections were already +engaged.' + +'He did,' she answered; 'it was that which made me most uneasy of all. +I was afraid for you and afraid for myself, but, most of all, I was +afraid for Lucien. No man can stand in the way of his plans.' + +'Lucien! 'The name was like a lightning flash upon a dark night. I had +heard of the vagaries of a woman's love, but was it possible that this +spirited woman loved that poor creature whom I had seen grovelling last +night in a frenzy of fear? But now I remembered also where I had seen +the name Sibylle. It was upon the fly-leaf of his book. 'Lucien, from +Sibylle,' was the inscription. I recalled also that my uncle had said +something to him about his aspirations. + +'Lucien is hot-headed, and easily carried away,' said she. 'My father +has seen a great deal of him lately. They sit for hours in his room, +and Lucien will say nothing of what passes between them. I fear that +there is something going forward which may lead to evil. Lucien is a +student rather than a man of the world, but he has strong opinions about +politics.' + +I was at my wit's ends what to do, whether to be silent, or to tell her +of the terrible position in which her lover was placed; but, even as I +hesitated, she, with the quick intuition of a woman, read the doubts +which were in my mind. + +'You know something of him,' she cried. 'I understood that he had gone +to Paris. For God's sake tell me what you know about him!' + +'His name is Lesage?' + +'Yes, yes. Lucien Lesage.' + +'I have--I have seen him,' I stammered. + +'You have seen him! And you only arrived in France last night. +Where did you see him? What has happened to him?' She gripped me by the +wrist in her anxiety. + +It was cruel to tell her, and yet it seemed more cruel still to keep +silent. I looked round in my bewilderment, and there was my uncle +himself coming along over the close-cropped green lawn. By his side, +with a merry clashing of steel and jingling of spurs, there walked a +handsome young hussar--the same to whom the charge of the prisoner had +been committed upon the night before. Sibylle never hesitated for an +instant, but, with a set face and blazing eyes, she swept towards them. + +'Father,' said she, 'what have you done with Lucien?' + +I saw his impassive face wince for a moment before the passionate hatred +and contempt which he read in her eyes. 'We will discuss this at some +future time,' said he. + +'I will know here and now,' she cried. 'What have you done with +Lucien?' + +'Gentlemen,' said he, turning to the young hussar and me,' I am sorry +that we should intrude our little domestic differences upon your +attention. You will, I am sure, make allowances, lieutenant, when I +tell you that your prisoner of last night was a very dear friend of my +daughter's. Such family considerations do not prevent me from doing my +duty to the Emperor, but they make that duty more painful than it would +otherwise be.' + +'You have my sympathy, mademoiselle,' said the young hussar. + +It was to him that my cousin had now turned. + +'Do I understand that you took him prisoner?' she asked. + +'It was unfortunately my duty.' + +'From you I will get the truth. Whither did you take him?' + +'To the Emperor's camp.' + +'And why?' + +'Ah, mademoiselle, it is not for me to go into politics. My duties are +but to wield a sword, and sit a horse, and obey my orders. Both these +gentlemen will be my witnesses that I received my instructions from +Colonel Lasalle.' + +'But on what charge was he arrested?' + +'Tut, tut, child, we have had enough of this!' said my uncle harshly. +'If you insist upon knowing I will tell you once and for all, that +Monsieur Lucien Lesage has been seized for being concerned in a plot +against the life of the Emperor, and that it was my privilege to +denounce the would-be assassin.' + +'To denounce him!' cried the girl. 'I know that it was you who set him +on, who encouraged him, who held him to it whenever he tried to draw +back. Oh, you villain! you villain! What have I ever done, what sin of +my ancestors am I expiating, that I should be compelled to call such a +man Father?' + +My uncle shrugged his shoulders as if to say that it was useless to +argue with a woman's tantrums. The hussar and I made as if we would +stroll away, for it was embarrassing to stand listening to such words, +but in her fury she called to us to stop and be witnesses against him. +Never have I seen such a recklessness of passion as blazed in her dry +wide-opened eyes. + +'You have deceived others, but you have never deceived me,' she cried. +'I know you as your own conscience knows you. You may murder me, as you +murdered my mother before me, but you can never frighten me into being +your accomplice. You proclaimed yourself a Republican that you might +creep into a house and estate which do not belong to you. And now you +try to make a friend of Buonaparte by betraying your old associates, who +still trust in you. And you have sent Lucien to his death! But I know +your plans, and my Cousin Louis knows them also, and I can assure you +that there is just as much chance of his agreeing to them as there is of +my doing so. I'd rather lie in my grave than be the wife of any man but +Lucien.' + +'If you had seen the pitiful poltroon that he proved himself you would +not say so,' said my uncle coolly. 'You are not yourself at present, +but when you return to your right mind you will be ashamed of having +made this public exposure of your weakness. And now, lieutenant, you +have something to say.' + +'My message was to you, Monsieur de Laval,' said the young hussar, +turning his back contemptuously upon my uncle. 'The Emperor has sent me +to bring you to him at once at the camp at Boulogne.' + +My heart leapt at the thought of escaping from my uncle. + +'I ask nothing better,' I cried. + +'A horse and an escort are waiting at the gates.' + +'I am ready to start at this instant.' + +'Nay, there can be no such very great hurry,' said my uncle. 'Surely +you will wait for luncheon, Lieutenant Gerard.' + +'The Emperor's commissions, sir, are not carried out in such a manner,' +said the young hussar sternly. 'I have already wasted too much time. +We must be upon our way in five minutes.' + +My uncle placed his hand upon my arm and led me slowly towards the +gateway, through which my cousin Sibylle had already passed. + +'There is one matter that I wish to speak to you about before you go. +Since my time is so short you will forgive me if I introduce it without +preamble. You have seen your cousin Sibylle, and though her behaviour +this morning is such as to prejudice you against her, yet I can assure +you that she is a very amiable girl. She spoke just now as if she had +mentioned the plan which I had conceived to you. I confess to you that +I cannot imagine anything more convenient than that we should unite in +order to settle once for all every question as to which branch of the +family shall hold the estates.' + +'Unfortunately,' said I, 'there are objections.' + +'And pray what are they?' + +'The fact that my cousin's hand, as I have just learned, is promised to +another.' + +'That need not hinder us,' said he, with a sour smile; 'I will undertake +that he never claims the promise.' + +'I fear that I have the English idea of marriage, that it should go by +love and not by convenience. But in any case your scheme is out of the +question, for my own affections are pledged to a young lady in England.' + +He looked wickedly at me out of the corners of his grey eyes. + +'Think well what you are doing, Louis,' said he, in a sibilant whisper +which was as menacing as a serpent's hiss. 'You are deranging my plans, +and that is not done with impunity.' + +'It is not a matter in which I have any choice.' + +He gripped me by the sleeve, and waved his hand round as Satan may have +done when he showed the kingdoms and principalities. 'Look at the +park,' he cried, 'the fields, the woods. Look at the old castle in +which your fathers have lived for eight hundred years. You have but to +say the word and it is all yours once more.' + +There flashed up into my memory the little red-brick house at Ashford, +and Eugenie's sweet pale face looking over the laurel bushes which grew +by the window. + +'It is impossible!' said I. + +There must have been something in my manner which made him comprehend +that it really was so, for his face darkened with anger, and his +persuasion changed in an instant to menace. + +'If I had known this they might have done what they wished with you last +night,' said he, 'I would never have put out a finger to save you.' + +'I am glad to hear you say so,' I answered, 'for it makes it easier for +me to say that I wish to go my own way, and to have nothing more to do +with you. What you have just said frees me from the bond of gratitude +which held me back.' + +'I have no doubt that you would like to have nothing more to do with +me,' he cried. 'You will wish it more heartily still before you finish. +Very well, sir, go your own way and I will go mine, and we shall see who +comes out the best in the end.' + +A group of hussars were standing by their horses' heads in the gateway. +In a few minutes I had packed my scanty possessions, and I was hastening +with them down the corridor when a chill struck suddenly through my +heart at the thought of my cousin Sibylle. How could I leave her alone +with this grim companion in the old castle? Had she not herself told me +that her very life might be at stake? I had stopped in my perplexity, +and suddenly there was a patter of feet, and there she was running +towards me. + +'Good-bye, Cousin Louis,' she cried, with outstretched hands. + +'I was thinking of you,' said I; 'your father and I have had an +explanation and a quarrel.' + +'Thank God!' she cried. 'Your only chance was to get away from him. +But beware, for he will do you an injury if he can!' + +'He may do his worst; but how can I leave you here in his power?' + +'Have no fears about me. He has more reason to avoid me than I him. +But they are calling for you, Cousin Louis. Good-bye, and God be with +you!' + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE + +My uncle was still standing at the castle gateway, the very picture of a +usurper, with our own old coat-of-arms of the bend argent and the three +blue martlets engraved upon the stones at either side of him. He gave +me no sign of greeting as I mounted the large grey horse which was +awaiting me, but he looked thoughtfully at me from under his down-drawn +brows, and his jaw muscles still throbbed with that stealthy rhythmical +movement. I read a cold and settled malice in his set yellow face and +his stern eyes. For my own part I sprang readily enough into the +saddle, for the man's presence had, from the first, been loathsome to +me, and I was right glad to be able to turn my back upon him. And so, +with a stern quick order from the lieutenant and a jingle and clatter +from the troopers, we were off upon our journey. As I glanced back at +the black keep of Grosbois, and at the sinister figure who stood looking +after us from beside the gateway, I saw from over his head a white +handkerchief gleam for an instant in a last greeting from one of the +gloomy meurtriere windows, and again a chill ran through me as I thought +of the fearless girl and of the hands in which we were leaving her. + +But sorrow clears from the mind of youth like the tarnish of breath upon +glass, and who could carry a heavy heart upon so lightfooted a horse and +through so sweet an air? The white glimmering road wound over the downs +with the sea far upon the left, and between lay that great salt-marsh +which had been the scene of our adventures. I could even see, as I +fancied, a dull black spot in the distance to mark the position of that +terrible cottage. Far away the little clusters of houses showed the +positions of Etaples, Ambleterre, and the other fishing villages, whilst +I could see that the point which had seemed last night to glow like a +half-forged red-hot sword-blade was now white as a snow-field with the +camp of a great army. Far, far away, a little dim cloud upon the water +stood for the land where I had spent my days--the pleasant, homely land +which will always rank next to my own in my affections. + +And now I turned my attention from the downs and the sea to the hussars +who rode beside me, forming, as I could perceive, a guard rather than an +escort. Save for the patrol last night, they were the first of the +famous soldiers of Napoleon whom I had ever seen, and it was with +admiration and curiosity that I looked upon men who had won a world-wide +reputation for their discipline and their gallantry. Their appearance +was by no means gorgeous, and their dress and equipment was much more +modest than that of the East Kent Yeomanry, which rode every Saturday +through Ashford; but the stained tunics, the worn leathers, and the +rough hardy horses gave them a very workmanlike appearance. They were +small, light, brown-faced fellows, heavily whiskered and moustached, +many of them wearing ear-rings in their ears. It surprised me that even +the youngest and most boyish-looking of them should be so bristling with +hair, until, upon a second look, I perceived that his whiskers were +formed of lumps of black wax stuck on to the sides of his face. The +tall young lieutenant noticed the astonishment with which I gazed at his +boyish trooper. + +'Yes, yes,' said he, 'they are artificial, sure enough; but what can you +expect from a lad of seventeen? On the other hand, we cannot spoil the +appearance of the regiment upon parade by having a girl's cheeks in the +ranks.' + +'It melts terribly in this warm weather, lieutenant,' said the hussar, +joining in the conversation with the freedom which was one of the +characteristics of Napoleon's troops. + +'Well, well, Caspar, in a year or two you will dispense with them.' + +'Who knows? Perhaps he will have dispensed with his head also by that +time,' said a corporal in front, and they all laughed together in a +manner which in England would have meant a court-martial. This seemed +to me to be one of the survivals of the Revolution, that officer and +private were left, upon a very familiar footing, which was increased, no +doubt, by the freedom with which the Emperor would chat with his old +soldiers, and the liberties which he would allow them to take with him. +It was no uncommon thing for a shower of chaff to come from the ranks +directed at their own commanding officers, and I am sorry to say, also, +that it was no very unusual thing for a shower of bullets to come also. +Unpopular officers were continually assassinated by their own men; at +the battle of Montebello it is well known that every officer, with the +exception of one lieutenant belonging to the 24th demi-brigade, was shot +down from behind. But this was a relic of the bad times, and, as the +Emperor gained more complete control, a better feeling was established. +The history of our army at that time proved, at any rate, that the +highest efficiency could be maintained without the flogging which was +still used in the Prussian and the English service, and it was shown, +for the first time, that great bodies of men could be induced to act +from a sense of duty and a love of country, without hope of reward or +fear of punishment. When a French general could suffer his division to +straggle as they would over the face of the country, with the certainty +that they would concentrate upon the day of battle, he proved that he +had soldiers who were worthy of his trust. + +One thing had struck me as curious about these hussars--that they +pronounced French with the utmost difficulty. I remarked it to the +lieutenant as he rode by my side, and I asked him from what foreign +country his men were recruited, since I could perceive that they were +not Frenchmen. + +'My faith, you must not let them hear you say so,' said he, 'for they +would answer you as like as not by a thrust from their sabres. We are +the premier regiment of the French cavalry, the First Hussars of +Bercheny, and, though it is true that our men are all recruited in +Alsace, and few of them can speak anything but German, they are as good +Frenchmen as Kleber or Kellermann, who came from the same parts. +Our men are all picked, and our officers,' he added, pulling at his +light moustache, 'are the finest in the service.' + +The swaggering vanity of the fellow amused me, for he cocked his busby, +swung the blue dolman which hung from his shoulder, sat his horse, and +clattered his scabbard in a manner which told of his boyish delight and +pride in himself and his regiment. As I looked at his lithe figure and +his fearless bearing, I could quite imagine that he did himself no more +than justice, while his frank smile and his merry blue eyes assured me +that he would prove a good comrade. He had himself been taking +observations of me, for he suddenly placed his hand upon my knee as we +rode side by side. + +'I trust that the Emperor is not displeased with you,' said he, with a +very grave face. + +'I cannot think that he can be so,' I answered, 'for I have come from +England to put my services at his disposal.' + +'When the report was presented last night, and he heard of your presence +in that den of thieves, he was very anxious that you should be brought +to him. Perhaps it is that he wishes you to be guide to us in England. +No doubt you know your way all over the island.' + +The hussar's idea of an island seemed to be limited to the little +patches which lie off the Norman or Breton coast. I tried to explain to +him that this was a great country, not much smaller than France. + +'Well, well,' said he, 'we shall know all about it presently, for we are +going to conquer it. They say in the camp that we shall probably enter +London either next Wednesday evening or else on the Thursday morning. +We are to have a week for plundering the town, and then one army corps +is to take possession of Scotland and another of Ireland.' + +His serene confidence made me smile. 'But how do you know you can do +all this?' I asked. + +'Oh!' said he, 'the Emperor has arranged it.' + +'But they have an army, and they are well prepared. They are brave men +and they will fight.' + +'There would be no use their doing that, for the Emperor is going over +himself,' said he; and in the simple answer I understood for the first +time the absolute trust and confidence which these soldiers had in their +leader. Their feeling for him was fanaticism, and its strength was +religion, and never did Mahomet nerve the arms of his believers and +strengthen them against pain and death more absolutely than this little +grey-coated idol did to those who worshipped him. If he had chosen--and +he was more than once upon the point of it--to assert that he was +indeed above humanity he would have found millions to grant his claim. +You who have heard of him as a stout gentleman in a straw hat, as he was +in his later days, may find it hard to understand it, but if you had +seen his mangled soldiers still with their dying breath crying out to +him, and turning their livid faces towards him as he passed, you would +have realised the hold which he had over the minds of men. + +'You have been over there?' asked the lieutenant presently, jerking his +thumb towards the distant cloud upon the water. + +'Yes, I have spent my life there.' + +'But why did you stay there when there was such good fighting to be had +in the French service?' + +'My father was driven out of the country as an aristocrat. It was only +after his death that I could offer my sword to the Emperor.' + +'You have missed a great deal, but I have no doubt that we shall still +have plenty of fine wars. And you think that the English will offer us +battle?' + +'I have no doubt of it.' + +'We feared that when they understood that it was the Emperor in person +who had come they would throw down their arms. I have heard that +there are some fine women over there.' + +'The women are beautiful.' + +He said nothing, but for some time he squared his shoulders and puffed +out his chest, curling up the ends of his little yellow moustache. + +'But they will escape in boats,' he muttered at last; and I could see +that he had still that picture of a little island in his imagination. +'If they could but see us they might remain. It has been said of the +Hussars of Bercheny that they can set a whole population running, the +women towards us, the men away. We are, as you have no doubt observed, +a very fine body of men, and the officers are the pick of the service, +though the seniors are hardly up to the same standard as the rest of +us.' + +With all his self-confidence, this officer did not seem to me to be more +than my own age, so I asked him whether he had seen any service. His +moustache bristled with indignation at my question, and he looked me up +and down with a severe eye. + +'I have had the good fortune to be present at nine battles, sir, and at +more than forty skirmishes,' said he. 'I have also fought a +considerable number of duels, and I can assure you that I am always +ready to meet anyone--even a civilian--who may wish to put me to the +proof.' + +I assured him that he was very fortunate to be so young and yet to have +seen so much, upon which his ill-temper vanished as quickly as it came, +and he explained that he had served in the Hohenlinden campaign under +Moreau, as well as in Napoleon's passage of the Alps, and the campaign +of Marengo. + +'When you have been with the army for a little time the name of Etienne +Gerard will not be so unfamiliar to you,' said he. 'I believe that I +may claim to be the hero of one or two little stories which the soldiers +love to tell about their camp fires. You will hear of my duel with the +six fencing masters, and you will be told how, single-handed, I charged +the Austrian Hussars of Graz and brought their silver kettledrum back +upon the crupper of my mare. I can assure you that it was not by +accident that I was present last night, but it was because Colonel +Lasalle was very anxious to be sure of any prisoners whom he might make. +As it turned out, however, I only had the one poor chicken-hearted +creature, whom I handed over to the provost-marshal.' + +'And the other--Toussac?' + +'Ah, he seems to have been a man of another breed. I could have asked +nothing better than to have had him at my sword-point. But he has +escaped. They caught sight of him and fired a pistol or two, but he +knew the bog too well, and they could not follow him.' + +'And what will be done to your prisoner?' I asked. + +Lieutenant Gerard shrugged his shoulders. + +'I am very sorry for Mademoiselle your cousin,' said he, 'but a fine +girl should not love such a man when there are so many gallant soldiers +upon the country side. I hear that the Emperor is weary of these +endless plottings, and that an example will be made of him.' + +Whilst the young hussar and I had been talking we had been cantering +down the broad white road, until we were now quite close to the camp, +which we could see lying in its arrangement of regiments and brigades +beneath us. Our approach lay over the high ground, so that we could see +down into this canvas city, with its interminable lines of picketed +horses, its parks of artillery, and its swarms of soldiers. In the +centre was a clear space, with one very large tent and a cluster of low +wooden houses in the middle of it, with the tricolour banner waving +above them. + +'That is the Emperor's quarters, and the smaller tent there is the +headquarters of General Ney, who commands this corps. You understand +that this is only one of several armies dotted along from Dunkirk in the +north to this, which is the most southerly. The Emperor goes from one +to the other, inspecting each in its turn, but this is the main body, +and contains most of the picked troops, so that it is we who see most of +him, especially now that the Empress and the Court have come to Pont de +Briques. He is in there at the present moment,' he added in a hushed +voice, pointing to the great white tent in the centre. + +The road into the camp ran through a considerable plain, which was +covered by bodies of cavalry and infantry engaged upon their drill. +We had heard so much in England about Napoleon's troops, and their feats +had appeared so extraordinary, that my imagination had prepared me for +men of very striking appearance. As a matter of fact, the ordinary +infantry of the line, in their blue coats and white breeches and +gaiters, were quite little fellows, and even their high brass-covered +hats and red plumes could not make them very imposing. + +In spite of their size, however, they were tough and wiry, and after +their eighteen months in camp they were trained to the highest pitch of +perfection. The ranks were full of veterans, and all the under-officers +had seen much service, while the generals in command have never been +equalled in ability, so that it was no mean foe which lay with its +menacing eyes fixed upon the distant cliffs of England. If Pitt had not +been able to place the first navy in the world between the two shores +the history of Europe might be very different to-day. + +Lieutenant Gerard, seeing the interest with which I gazed at the +manoeuvring troops, was good enough to satisfy my curiosity about such +of them as approached the road along which we were journeying. + +'Those fellows on the black horses with the great blue rugs upon their +croups are the Cuirassiers,' said he. 'They are so heavy that they +cannot raise more than a trot, so when they charge we manage that there +shall be a brigade of chasseurs or hussars behind them to follow up the +advantage.' + +'Who is the civilian who is inspecting them?' I asked. + +'That is not a civilian, but it is General St. Cyr, who is one of those +whom they called the Spartans of the Rhine. They were of opinion that +simplicity of life and of dress were part of a good soldier, and so they +would wear no uniform beyond a simple blue riding coat, such as you see. +St. Cyr is an excellent officer, but he is not popular, for he seldom +speaks to anyone, and he sometimes shuts himself up for days on end in +his tent, where he plays upon his violin. I think myself that a soldier +is none the worse because he enjoys a glass of good wine, or has a smart +jacket and a few Brandenburgs across his chest. For my part I do both, +and yet those who know me would tell you that it has not harmed my +soldiering. You see this infantry upon the left?' + +'The men with the yellow facings?' + +'Precisely. Those are Oudinot's famous grenadiers. And the other +grenadiers, with the red shoulder-knots and the fur hats strapped above +their knapsacks, are the Imperial Guard, the successors of the old +Consular Guard who won Marengo for us. Eighteen hundred of them got the +cross of honour after the battle. There is the 57th of the line, which +has been named "The Terrible," and there is the 7th Light Infantry, who +come from the Pyrenees, and who are well known to be the best marchers +and the greatest rascals in the army. The light cavalry in green are +the Horse Chasseurs of the Guard, sometimes called the Guides, who are +said to be the Emperor's favourite troops, although he makes a great +mistake if he prefers them to the Hussars of Bercheny. The other +cavalry with the green pelisses are also chasseurs, but I cannot tell +from here what regiment they are. Their colonel handles them admirably. +They are moving to a flank in open column of half-squadrons and then +wheeling into line to charge. We could not do it better ourselves. And +now, Monsieur de Laval, here we are at the gates of the Camp of +Boulogne, and it is my duty to take you straight to the Emperor's +quarters.' + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE ANTE-ROOM + +The camp of Boulogne contained at that time one hundred and fifty +thousand infantry, with fifty thousand cavalry, so that its population +was second only to Paris among the cities of France. It was divided +into four sections, the right camp, the left camp, the camp of Wimereux, +and the camp of Ambleteuse, the whole being about a mile in depth, and +extending along the seashore for a length of about seven miles. On the +land side it was open, but on the sea side it was fringed by powerful +batteries containing mortars and cannon of a size never seen before. +These batteries were placed along the edges of the high cliffs, and +their lofty position increased their range, and enabled them to drop +their missiles upon the decks of the English ships. + +It was a pretty sight to ride through the camp, for the men had been +there for more than a year, and had done all that was possible to +decorate and ornament their tents. Most of them had little gardens in +front or around them, and the sun-burned fellows might be seen as we +passed kneeling in their shirt-sleeves with their spuds and their +watering-cans in the midst of their flower-beds. Others sat in the +sunshine at the openings of the tents tying up their queues, +pipe-claying their belts, and polishing their arms, hardly bestowing a +glance upon us as we passed, for patrols of cavalry were coming and +going in every direction. The endless lines were formed into streets, +with their names printed up upon boards. Thus we had passed through the +Rue d'Arcola, the Rue de Kleber, the Rue d'Egypte, and the Rue +d'Artillerie Volante, before we found ourselves in the great central +square in which the headquarters of the army were situated. + +The Emperor at this time used to sleep at a village called Pont de +Briques, some four miles inland, but his days were spent at the camp, +and his continual councils of war were held there. Here also were his +ministers, and the generals of the army corps which were scattered up +and down the coast came thither to make their reports and to receive +their orders. For these consultations a plain wooden house had been +constructed containing one very large room and three small ones. The +pavilion which we had observed from the Downs served as an ante-chamber +to the house, in which those who sought audience with the Emperor might +assemble. It was at the door of this, where a strong guard of +grenadiers announced Napoleon's presence, that my guardian sprang down +from his horse and signed to me to follow his example. An officer of +the guard took our names and returned to us accompanied by General +Duroc, a thin, hard, dry man of forty, with a formal manner and a +suspicious eye. + +'Is this Monsieur Louis de Laval?' he asked, with a stiff smile. + +I bowed. + +'The Emperor is very anxious to see you. You are no longer needed, +Lieutenant.' + +'I am personally responsible for bringing him safely, General.' + +'Very good. You may come in, if you prefer it!' And he passed us into +the huge tent, which was unfurnished, save for a row of wooden benches +round the sides. A number of men in naval and military uniforms were +seated upon these, and numerous groups were standing about chatting in +subdued tones. At the far end was a door which led into the Imperial +council chamber. Now and then I saw some man in official dress walk up +to this door, scratch gently upon it with his nail, and then, as it +instantly opened, slip discreetly through, closing it softly behind him. +Over the whole assembly there hung an air of the Court rather than of +the camp, an atmosphere of awe and of reverence which was the more +impressive when it affected these bluff soldiers and sailors. +The Emperor had seemed to me to be formidable in the distance, but I +found him even more overwhelming now that he was close at hand. + +'You need have no fears, Monsieur de Laval,' said my companion. +'You are going to have a good reception.' + +'How do you know that?' + +'From General Duroc's manner. In these cursed Courts, if the Emperor +smiles upon you everyone smiles, down to that flunkey in the red velvet +coat yonder. But if the Emperor frowns, why, you have only to look at +the face of the man who washes the Imperial plates, and you will see the +frown reflected upon it. And the worst of it is that, if you are a +plain-witted man, you may never find out what earned you either the +frown or the smile. That is why I had rather wear the shoulder-straps +of a lieutenant, and be at the side of my squadron, with a good horse +between my knees and my sabre clanking against my stirrup-iron, than +have Monsieur Talleyrand's grand hotel in the Rue Saint Florentin, and +his hundred thousand livres of income.' + +I was still wondering whether the hussar could be right, and if the +smile with which Duroc had greeted me could mean that the Emperor's +intentions towards me were friendly, when a very tall and handsome young +man, in a brilliant uniform, came towards me. In spite of the change in +his dress, I recognised him at once as the General Savary who had +commanded the expedition of the night before. + +'Well, Monsieur de Laval,' said he, shaking hands with me very +pleasantly, 'you have heard, no doubt, that this fellow Toussac has +escaped us. He was really the only one whom we were anxious to seize, +for the other is evidently a mere dupe and dreamer. But we shall have +him yet, and between ourselves we shall keep a very strict guard upon +the Emperor's person until we do, for Master Toussac is not a man to be +despised.' + +I seemed to feel his great rough thumb upon my chin as I answered that I +thought he was a very dangerous man indeed. + +'The Emperor will see you presently,' said Savary. 'He is very busy +this morning, but he bade me say that you should have an audience.' +He smiled and passed on. + +'Assuredly you are getting on,' whispered Gerard. 'There are a good +many men here who would risk something to have Savary address them as he +addressed you. The Emperor is certainly going to do something for you. +But attention, friend, for here is Monsieur de Talleyrand himself coming +towards us.' + +A singular-looking person was shuffling in our direction. He was a man +about fifty years of age, largely made about the shoulders and chest, +but stooping a good deal, and limping heavily in one leg. He walked +slowly, leaning upon a silver-headed stick, and his sober suit of black, +with silk stockings of the same hue, looked strangely staid among the +brilliant uniforms which surrounded him. But in spite of his plain +dress there was an expression of great authority upon his shrewd face, +and every one drew back with bows and salutes as he moved across the tent. + +'Monsieur Louis de Laval?' said he, as he stopped in front of me, and +his cold grey eyes played over me from head to heel. + +I bowed, and with some coldness, for I shared the dislike which my +father used to profess for this unfrocked priest and perjured +politician; but his manner was so polished and engaging that it was hard +to hold out against it. + +'I knew your cousin de Rohan very well indeed,' said he. 'We were two +rascals together when the world was not quite so serious as it is at +present. I believe that you are related to the Cardinal de Montmorency +de Laval, who is also an old friend of mine. I understand that you are +about to offer your services to the Emperor?' + +'I have come from England for that purpose, sir.' + +'And met with some little adventure immediately upon your arrival, as I +understand. I have heard the story of the worthy police agent, the two +Jacobins, and the lonely hut. Well, you have seen the danger to which +the Emperor is exposed, and it may make you the more zealous in his +service. Where is your uncle, Monsieur Bernac?' + +'He is at the Castle of Grosbois.' + +'Do you know him well?' + +'I had not seen him until yesterday.' + +'He is a very useful servant of the Emperor, but--but--' he inclined his +head downward to my ear, 'some more congenial service will be found for +you, Monsieur de Laval,' and so, with a bow, he whisked round, and +tapped his way across the tent again. + +'Why, my friend, you are certainly destined for something great,' said +the hussar lieutenant. 'Monsieur de Talleyrand does not waste his +smiles and his bows, I promise you. He knows which way the wind blows +before he flies his kite, and I foresee that I shall be asking for your +interest to get me my captaincy in this English campaign. Ah, the +council of war is at an end.' + +As he spoke the inner door at the end of the great tent opened, and a +small knot of men came through dressed in the dark blue coats, with +trimmings of gold oak-leaves, which marked the marshals of the Empire. +They were, all but one, men who had hardly reached their middle age, and +who, in any other army, might have been considered fortunate if they had +gained the command of a regiment; but the continuous wars and the open +system by which rules of seniority yielded to merit had opened up a +rapid career to a successful soldier. Each carried his curved cocked +hat under his arm, and now, leaning upon their sword-hilts, they fell +into a little circle and chatted eagerly among themselves. + +'You are a man of family, are you not?' asked my hussar. + +'I am of the same blood as the de Rohans and the Montmorencies.' + +'So I had understood. Well, then, you will understand that there have +been some changes in this country when I tell you that those men, who, +under the Emperor, are the greatest in the country have been the one a +waiter, the next a wine smuggler, the next a cooper of barrels, and the +next a house painter. Those are the trades which gave us Murat, +Massena, Ney, and Lannes.' + +Aristocrat as I was, no names had ever thrilled me as those did, and I +eagerly asked him to point me out each of these famous soldiers. + +'Oh, there are many famous soldiers in the room,' said he. 'Besides,' +he added, twisting his moustache, 'there may be junior officers here who +have it in them to rise higher than any of them. But there is Ney to +the right.' + +I saw a man with close-cropped red hair and a large square-jowled face, +such as I have seen upon an English prize-fighter. + +'We call him Peter the Red, and sometimes the Red Lion, in the army,' +said my companion. 'He is said to be the bravest man in the army, +though I cannot admit that he is braver than some other people whom I +could mention. Still he is undoubtedly a very good leader.' + +'And the general next him?' I asked. 'Why does he carry his head all +upon one side?' + +'That is General Lannes, and he carries his head upon his left shoulder +because he was shot through the neck at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre. +He is a Gascon, like myself, and I fear that he gives some ground to +those who accuse my countrymen of being a little talkative and +quarrelsome. But monsieur smiles?' + +'You are mistaken.' + +'I thought that perhaps something which I had said might have amused +monsieur. I thought that possibly he meant that Gascons really were +quarrelsome, instead of being, as I contend, the mildest race in +France--an opinion which I am always ready to uphold in any way which +may be suggested. But, as I say, Lannes is a very valiant man, though, +occasionally, perhaps, a trifle hot-headed. The next man is Auguereau.' + +I looked with interest upon the hero of Castiglione, who had taken +command upon the one occasion when Napoleon's heart and spirit had +failed him. He was a man, I should judge, who would shine rather in war +than in peace, for, with his long goat's face and his brandy nose, he +looked, in spite of his golden oak-leaves, just such a long-legged, +vulgar, swaggering, foul-mouthed old soldier as every barrack-room can +show. He was an older man than the others, and his sudden promotion had +come too late for him to change. He was always the Corporal of the +Prussian Guard under the hat of the French Marshal. + +'Yes, yes; he is a rough fellow,' said Gerard, in answer to my remark. +'He is one of those whom the Emperor had to warn that he wished them to +be soldiers only with the army. He and Rapp and Lefebvre, with their +big boots and their clanking sabres, were too much for the Empress's +drawing-room at the Tuileries. There is Vandamme also, the dark man +with the heavy face. Heaven help the English village that he finds his +quarters in! It was he who got into trouble because he broke the jaw of +a Westphalian priest who could not find him a second bottle of Tokay.' + +'And that is Murat, I suppose?' + +'Yes; that is Murat with the black whiskers and the red, thick lips, and +the brown of Egypt upon his face. He is the man for me! My word, when +you have seen him raving in front of a brigade of light cavalry, with +his plumes tossing and his sabre flashing, you would not wish to see +anything finer. I have known a square of grenadiers break and scatter +at the very sight of him. In Egypt the Emperor kept away from him, for +the Arabs would not look at the little General when this fine horseman +and swordsman was before them. In my opinion Lasalle is the better +light cavalry officer, but there is no one whom the men will follow as +they do Murat.' + +'And who is the stern-looking man, leaning on the Oriental sword?' + +'Oh, that is Soult! He is the most obstinate man in the world. He +argues with the Emperor. The handsome man beside him is Junot, and +Bernadotte is leaning against the tent-pole.' + +I looked with interest at the extraordinary face of this adventurer, +who, after starting with a musket and a knapsack in the ranks, was not +contented with the baton of a marshal, but passed on afterwards to grasp +the sceptre of a king. And it might be said of him that, unlike his +fellows, he gained his throne in spite of Napoleon rather than by his +aid. Any man who looked at his singular pronounced features, the +swarthiness of which proclaimed his half Spanish origin, must have read +in his flashing black eyes and in that huge aggressive nose that he was +reserved for a strange destiny. Of all the fierce and masterful men who +surrounded the Emperor there was none with greater gifts, and none, +also, whose ambitions he more distrusted, than those of Jules +Bernadotte. + +And yet, fierce and masterful as these men were, having, as Auguereau +boasted, fear neither of God nor of the devil, there was something which +thrilled or cowed them in the pale smile or black frown of the little +man who ruled them. For, as I watched them, there suddenly came over +the assembly a start and hush such as you see in a boys' school when the +master enters unexpectedly, and there near the open doors of his +headquarters stood the master himself. Even without that sudden +silence, and the scramble to their feet of those upon the benches, I +felt that I should have known instantly that he was present. There was +a pale luminosity about his ivory face which drew the eye towards it, +and though his dress might be the plainest of a hundred, his appearance +would be the first which one would notice. There he was, with his +little plump, heavy-shouldered figure, his green coat with the red +collar and cuffs, his white, well-formed legs, his sword with the gilt +hilt and the tortoise-shell scabbard. His head was uncovered, showing +his thin hair of a ruddy chestnut colour. Under one arm was the flat +cocked hat with the twopenny tricolour rosette, which was already +reproduced in his pictures. In his right hand he held a little riding +switch with a metal head. He walked slowly forward, his face immutable, +his eyes fixed steadily before him, measured, inexorable, the very +personification of Destiny. + +'Admiral Bruix!' + +I do not know if that voice thrilled through every one as it did through +me. Never had I heard anything more harsh, more menacing, more +sinister. From under his puckered brows his light-blue eyes glanced +swiftly round with a sweep like a sabre. + +'I am here, Sire!' A dark, grizzled, middle-aged man, in a naval +uniform, had advanced from the throng. Napoleon took three quick little +steps towards him in so menacing a fashion, that I saw the +weather-stained cheeks of the sailor turn a shade paler, and he gave a +helpless glance round him, as if for assistance. + +'How comes it, Admiral Bruix,' cried the Emperor, in the same terrible +rasping voice, 'that you did not obey my commands last night?' + +'I could see that a westerly gale was coming up, Sire. I knew that--,' +he could hardly speak for his agitation, 'I knew that if the ships went +out with this lee shore--' + +'What right have you to judge, sir?' cried the Emperor, in a cold fury +of indignation. 'Do you conceive that your judgment is to be placed +against mine?' + +'In matters of navigation, Sire.' + +'In no matters whatsoever.' + +'But the tempest, Sire! Did it not prove me to be in the right?' + +'What! You still dare to bandy words with me?' + +'When I have justice on my side.' + +There was a hush amidst all the great audience; such a heavy silence as +comes only when many are waiting, and all with bated breath. +The Emperor's face was terrible. His cheeks were of a greenish, livid +tint, and there was a singular rotary movement of the muscles of his +forehead. It was the countenance of an epileptic. He raised the whip +to his shoulder, and took a step towards the admiral. + +'You insolent rascal!' he hissed. It was the Italian word _coglione_ +which he used, and I observed that as his feelings overcame him his +French became more and more that of a foreigner. + +For a moment he seemed to be about to slash the sailor across the face +with his whip. The latter took a step back, and clapped his hand to his +sword. + +'Have a care, Sire,' said he. + +For a few instants the tension was terrible. Then Napoleon brought the +whip down with a sharp crack against his own thigh. + +'Vice-Admiral Magon,' he cried, 'you will in future receive all orders +connected with the fleet. Admiral Bruix, you will leave Boulogne in +twenty-four hours and withdraw to Holland. Where is Lieutenant Gerard, +of the Hussars of Bercheny?' + +My companion's gauntlet sprang to his busby. + +'I ordered you to bring Monsieur Louis de Laval from the castle of +Grosbois.' + +'He is here, Sire.' + +'Good! You may retire.' + +The lieutenant saluted, whisked round upon his heel, and clattered away, +whilst the Emperor's blue eyes were turned upon me. I had often heard +the phrase of eyes looking through you, but that piercing gaze did +really give one the feeling that it penetrated to one's inmost thoughts. +But the sternness had all melted out of it, and I read a great +gentleness and kindness in their expression. + +'You have come to serve me, Monsieur de Laval?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'You have been some time in making up your mind.' + +'I was not my own master, Sire.' + +'Your father was an aristocrat?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'And a supporter of the Bourbons?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'You will find that in France now there are no aristocrats and no +Jacobins; but that we are all Frenchmen working for the glory of our +country. Have you seen Louis de Bourbon?' + +'I have seen him once, Sire.' + +'An insignificant-looking man, is he not?' + +'No, Sire, I thought him a fine-looking man.' + +For a moment I saw a hard gleam of resentment in those changing blue +eyes. Then he put out his hand and pinched one of my ears. + +'Monsieur de Laval was not born to be a courtier,' said he. +'Well, well, Louis de Bourbon will find that he cannot gain a throne by +writing proclamations in London and signing them Louis. For my part, I +found the crown of France lying upon the ground, and I lifted it upon my +sword-point.' + +'You have lifted France with your sword also, Sire,' said Talleyrand, +who stood at his elbow. + +Napoleon looked at his famous minister, and I seemed to read suspicion +in his eyes. Then he turned to his secretary. + +'I leave Monsieur de Laval in your hands, de Meneval,' said he. +'I desire to see him in the council chamber after the inspection of the +artillery.' + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE SECRETARY + +Emperor, generals, and officials all streamed away to the review, +leaving me with a gentle-looking, large-eyed man in a black suit with +very white cambric ruffles, who introduced himself to me as Monsieur de +Meneval, private secretary to His Majesty. + +'We must get some food, Monsieur de Laval,' said he. 'It is always +well, if you have anything to do with the Emperor, to get your food +whenever you have the chance. It may be many hours before he takes a +meal, and if you are in his presence you have to fast also. I assure +you that I have nearly fainted from hunger and from thirst.' + +'But how does the Emperor manage himself?' I asked. This Monsieur de +Meneval had such a kindly human appearance that I already felt much at +my ease with him. + +'Oh, he, he is a man of iron, Monsieur de Laval. We must not set our +watches by his. I have known him work for eighteen hours on end and +take nothing but a cup or two of coffee. He wears everybody out around +him. Even the soldiers cannot keep up with him. I assure you that I +look upon it as the very highest honour to have charge of his papers, +but there are times when it is very trying all the same. Sometimes it +is eleven o'clock at night, Monsieur de Laval, and I am writing to his +dictation with my head aching for want of sleep. It is dreadful work, +for he dictates as quickly as he can talk, and he never repeats +anything. "Now, Meneval," says he suddenly, "we shall stop here and +have a good night's rest." And then, just as I am congratulating +myself, he adds, "and we shall continue with the dictation at three +to-morrow morning." That is what he means by a good night's rest.' + +'But has he no hours for his meals, Monsieur de Meneval?' I asked, as I +accompanied the unhappy secretary out of the tent. + +'Oh, yes, he has hours, but he will not observe them. You see that it +is already long after dinner time, but he has gone to this review. +After the review something else will probably take up his attention, and +then something else, until suddenly in the evening it will occur to him +that he has had no dinner. "My dinner, Constant, this instant!" he will +cry, and poor Constant has to see that it is there.' + +'But it must be unfit to eat by that time,' said I. + +The secretary laughed in the discreet way of a man who has always been +obliged to control his emotions. + +'This is the Imperial kitchen,' said he, indicating a large tent just +outside the headquarters. 'Here is Borel, the second cook, at the door. +How many pullets to-day, Borel?' + +'Ah, Monsieur de Meneval, it is heartrending,' cried the cook. 'Behold +them!' and, drawing back the flap of the entrance, he showed us seven +dishes, each of them containing a cold fowl. 'The eighth is now on the +fire and done to a turn, but I hear that His Majesty has started for the +review, so we must put on a ninth.' + +'That is how it is managed,' said my companion, as we turned from the +tent. 'I have known twenty-three fowls got ready for him before he +asked for his meal. That day he called for his dinner at eleven at +night. He cares little what he eats or drinks, but he will not be kept +waiting. Half a bottle of Chambertin, a red mullet, or a pullet a la +Marengo satisfy every need, but it is unwise to put pastry or cream upon +the table, because he is as likely as not to eat it before the fowl. +Ah, that is a curious sight, is it not?' + +I had halted with an exclamation of astonishment. A groom was cantering +a very beautiful Arab horse down one of the lanes between the tents. +As it passed, a grenadier who was standing with a small pig under his +arm hurled it down under the feet of the horse. The pig squealed +vigorously and scuttled away, but the horse cantered on without changing +its step. + +'What does that mean?' I asked. + +'That is Jardin, the head groom, breaking in a charger for the Emperor's +use. They are first trained by having a cannon fired in their ears, +then they are struck suddenly by heavy objects, and finally they have +the test of the pig being thrown under their feet. The Emperor has not +a very firm seat, and he very often loses himself in a reverie when be +is riding, so it might not be very safe if the horse were not well +trained. Do you see that young man asleep at the door of a tent?' + +'Yes, I see him.' + +'You would not think that he is at the present moment serving the +Emperor?' + +'It seems a very easy service.' + +'I wish all our services were as easy, Monsieur de Laval. That is +Joseph Linden, whose foot is the exact size of the Emperor's. He wears +his new boots and shoes for three days before they are given to his +master. You can see by the gold buckles that he has a pair on at the +present moment. Ah, Monsieur de Caulaincourt, will you not join us at +dinner in my tent?' + +A tall, handsome man, very elegantly dressed, came across and greeted +us. 'It is rare to find you at rest, Monsieur de Meneval. I have no +very light task myself as head of the household, but I think I have more +leisure than you. Have we time for dinner before the Emperor returns?' + +'Yes, yes; here is the tent, and everything ready. We can see when the +Emperor returns, and be in the room before he can reach it. This is +camp fare, Monsieur de Laval, but no doubt you will excuse it.' + +For my own part I had an excellent appetite for the cutlets and the +salad, but what I relished above all was to hear the talk of my +companions, for I was full of curiosity as to everything which concerned +this singular man, whose genius had elevated him so rapidly to the +highest position in the world. The head of his household discussed him +with an extraordinary frankness. + +'What do they say of him in England, Monsieur de Laval?' he asked. + +'Nothing very good.' + +'So I have gathered from their papers. They drive the Emperor frantic, +and yet he will insist upon reading them. I am willing to lay a wager +that the very first thing which he does when he enters London will be to +send cavalry detachments to the various newspaper offices, and to +endeavour to seize the editors.' + +'And the next?' + +'The next,' said he, laughing, 'will be to issue a long proclamation to +prove that we have conquered England entirely for the good of the +English, and very much against our own inclinations. And then, perhaps, +the Emperor will allow the English to understand that, if they +absolutely demand a Protestant for a ruler, it is possible that there +are a few little points in which he differs from Holy Church.' + +'Too bad! Too bad!' cried de Meneval, looking amused and yet rather +frightened at his companion's audacity. 'No doubt for state reasons the +Emperor had to tamper a little with Mahomedanism, and I daresay he would +attend this Church of St. Paul's as readily as he did the Mosque at +Cairo; but it would not do for a ruler to be a bigot. After all, the +Emperor has to think for all.' + +'He thinks too much,' said Caulaincourt, gravely. 'He thinks so much +that other people in France are getting out of the way of thinking at +all. You know what I mean, de Meneval, for you have seen it as much as +I have.' + +'Yes, yes,' answered the secretary. 'He certainly does not encourage +originality among those who surround him. I have heard him say many a +time that he desired nothing but mediocrity, which was a poor +compliment, it must be confessed, to us who have the honour of serving +him.' + +'A clever man at his Court shows his cleverness best by pretending to be +dull,' said Caulaincourt, with some bitterness. + +'And yet there are many famous characters there,' I remarked. + +'If so, it is only by concealing their characters that they remain +there. His ministers are clerks, his generals are superior +aides-de-camp. They are all agents. You have this wonderful man in the +middle, and all around you have so many mirrors which reflect different +sides of him. In one you see him as a financier, and you call it +Lebrun. In another you have him as a _gendarme_, and you name it Savary +or Fouche. In yet another he figures as a diplomatist, and is called +Talleyrand. You see different figures, but it is really the same man. +There is a Monsieur de Caulaincourt, for example, who arranges the +household; but he cannot dismiss a servant without permission. It is +still always the Emperor. And he plays upon us. We must confess, de +Meneval, that he plays upon us. In nothing else do I see so clearly his +wonderful cleverness. He will not let us be too friendly lest we +combine. He has set his Marshals against each other until there are +hardly two of them on speaking terms. Look how Davoust hates +Bernadotte, or Lannes and Bessieres, or Ney and Massena. It is all they +can do to keep their sabres in they sheaths when they meet. And then he +knows our weak points. Savary's thirst for money, Cambaceres's vanity, +Duroc's bluntness, Berthier's foolishness, Maret's insipidity, +Talleyrand's mania for speculation, they are all so many tools in his +hand. I do not know what my own greatest weakness may be, but I am sure +that he does, and that he uses his knowledge.' + +'But how he must work!' I exclaimed. + +'Ah, you may say so,' said de Meneval. 'What energy! Eighteen hours +out of twenty-four for weeks on end. He has presided over the +Legislative Council until they were fainting at their desks. As to me, +he will be the death of me, just as he wore out de Bourrienne; but I +will die at my post without a murmur, for if he is hard upon us he is +hard upon himself also.' + +'He was the man for France,' said de Caulaincourt. 'He is the very +genius of system and of order, and of discipline. When one remembers +the chaos in which our poor country found itself after the Revolution, +when no one would be governed and everyone wanted to govern someone +else, you will understand that only Napoleon could have saved us. +We were all longing for something fixed to secure ourselves to, and then +we came upon this iron pillar of a man. And what a man he was in those +days, Monsieur de Laval! You see him now when he has got all that he +can want. He is good-humoured and easy. But at that time he had got +nothing, but coveted everything. His glance frightened women. +He walked the streets like a wolf. People looked after him as he +passed. His face was quite different--it was craggy, hollow-cheeked, +with an oblique menacing gaze, and the jaws of a pike. Oh, yes, this +little Lieutenant Buonaparte from the Military School of Brienne was a +singular figure. "There is a man," said I, when I saw him, "who will +sit upon a throne or kneel upon a scaffold." And now look at him!' + +'And that is ten years ago,' I exclaimed. + +'Only ten years, and they have brought him from a barrack-room to the +Tuileries. But he was born for it. You could not keep him down. +De Bourrienne told me that when he was a little fellow at Brienne he had +the grand Imperial manner, and would praise or blame, glare or smile, +exactly as he does now. Have you seen his mother, Monsieur de Laval? +She is a tragedy queen, tall, stern, reserved, silent. There is the +spring from which he flowed.' + +I could see in the gentle, spaniel-eyes of the secretary that he was +disturbed by the frankness of de Caulaincourt's remarks. + +'You can tell that we do not live under a very terrible tyranny, +Monsieur de Laval,' said he, 'or we should hardly venture to discuss our +ruler so frankly. The fact is that we have said nothing which he would +not have listened to with pleasure and perhaps with approval. He has +his little frailties, or he would not be human, but take his qualities +as a ruler and I would ask you if there has ever been a man who has +justified the choice of a nation so completely. He works harder than +any of his subjects. He is a general beloved by his soldiers. He is a +master beloved by his servants. He never has a holiday, and he is +always ready for his work. There is not under the roof of the Tuileries +a more abstemious eater or drinker. He educated his brothers at his own +expense when he was a very poor man, and he has caused even his most +distant relatives to share in his prosperity. In a word, he is +economical, hard-working, and temperate. We read in the London papers +about this Prince of Wales, Monsieur de Laval, and I do not think that +he comes very well out of the comparison.' + +I thought of the long record of Brighton scandals, London scandals, +Newmarket scandals, and I had to leave George undefended. + +'As I understand it,' said I, 'it is not the Emperor's private life, but +his public ambition, that the English attack.' + +'The fact is,' said de Caulaincourt, 'that the Emperor knows, and we all +know, that there is not room enough in the world for both France and +England. One or other must be supreme. If England were once crushed we +could then lay the foundations of a permanent peace. Italy is ours. +Austria we can crush again as we have crushed her before. Germany is +divided. Russia can expand to the south and east. America we can take +at our leisure, finding our pretext in Louisiana or in Canada. There is +a world empire waiting for us, and there is the only thing that stops +us.' He pointed out through the opening of the tent at the broad blue +Channel. + +Far away, like snow-white gulls in the distance, were the sails of the +blockading fleet. I thought again of what I had seen the night before--the +lights of the ships upon the sea and the glow of the camp upon the +shore. The powers of the land and of the ocean were face to face whilst +a waiting world stood round to see what would come of it. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +THE MAN OF ACTION + +De Meneval's tent had been pitched in such a way that he could overlook +the Royal headquarters, but whether it was that we were too absorbed in +the interest of our conversation, or that the Emperor had used the other +entrance in returning from the review, we were suddenly startled by the +appearance of a captain dressed in the green jacket of the Chasseurs of +the Guard, who had come to say that Napoleon was waiting for his +secretary. Poor de Meneval's face turned as white as his beautiful +ruffles as he sprang to his feet, hardly able to speak for agitation. + +'I should have been there!' he gasped. 'Oh, what a misfortune! +Monsieur de Caulaincourt, you must excuse me! Where is my hat and my +sword? Come, Monsieur de Laval, not an instant is to be lost!' + +I could judge from the terror of de Meneval, as well as from the scene +which I had witnessed with Admiral Bruix, what the influence was which +the Emperor exercised over those who were around him. They were never +at their ease, always upon the brink of a catastrophe, encouraged one +day only to be rudely rebuffed the next, bullied in public and slighted +in private, and yet, in spite of it all, the singular fact remains that +they loved him and served him as no monarch has been loved and served. + +'Perhaps I had best stay here,' said I, when we had come to the +ante-chamber, which was still crowded with people. + +'No, no, I am responsible for you. You must come with me. Oh, I trust +he is not offended with me! How could he have got in without my seeing +him?' + +My frightened companion scratched at the door, which was opened +instantly by Roustem the Mameluke, who guarded it within. The room into +which we passed was of considerable size, but was furnished with extreme +simplicity. It was papered of a silver-grey colour, with a sky-blue +ceiling, in the centre of which was the Imperial eagle in gold, holding +a thunderbolt. In spite of the warm weather, a large fire was burning +at one side, and the air was heavy with heat and the aromatic smell of +aloes. In the middle of the room was a large oval table covered with +green cloth and littered with a number of letters and papers. A raised +writing-desk was at one side of the table, and behind it in a green +morocco chair with curved arms there sat the Emperor. A number of +officials were standing round the walls, but he took no notice of them. +In his hand he had a small penknife, with which he whittled the wooden +knob at the end of his chair. He glanced up as we entered, and shook +his head coldly at de Meneval. + +'I have had to wait for you, Monsieur de Meneval,' said he. 'I cannot +remember that I ever waited for my late secretary de Bourrienne. +That is enough! No excuses! Take this report which I have written in +your absence, and make a copy of it.' + +Poor de Meneval took the paper with a shaking hand, and carried it to +the little side table which was reserved for his use. Napoleon rose +and paced slowly up and down the room with his hands behind his back, +and his big round head stooping a little forwards. It was certainly as +well that he had a secretary, for I observed that in writing this single +document he had spattered the whole place with ink, and it was obvious +that he had twice used his white kerseymere knee-breeches as a +pen-wiper. As for me, I stood quietly beside Roustem at the door, and +he took not the slightest notice of my presence. + +'Well,' he cried presently, 'is it ready, de Meneval? We have something +more to do.' + +The secretary half turned in his chair, and his face was more agitated +than ever. + +'If it please you, Sire--' he stammered. + +'Well, well, what is the matter now?' + +'If it please you, Sire, I find some little difficulty in reading what +you have written.' + +'Tut, tut, sir. You see what the report is about.' + +'Yes, Sire, it is about forage for the cavalry horses.' + +Napoleon smiled, and the action made his face look quite boyish. + +'You remind me of Cambaceres, de Meneval. When I wrote him an account +of the battle of Marengo, he thought that my letter was a rough plan of +the engagement. It is incredible how much difficulty you appear to have +in reading what I write. This document has nothing to do with cavalry +horses, but it contains the instructions to Admiral Villeneuve as to the +concentration of his fleet so as to obtain command of the Channel. +Give it to me and I will read it to you.' + +He snatched the paper up in the quick impulsive way which was +characteristic of him. But after a long fierce stare he crumpled it up +and hurled it under the table. + +'I will dictate it to you,' said he; and, pacing up and down the long +room, he poured forth a torrent of words, which poor de Meneval, his +face shining with his exertions, strove hard to put upon paper. As he +grew excited by his own ideas, Napoleon's voice became shriller, his +step faster, and he seized his right cuff in the fingers of the same +hand, and twisted his right arm in the singular epileptic gesture which +was peculiar to him. But his thoughts and plans were so admirably clear +that even I, who knew nothing of the matter, could readily follow them, +while above all I was impressed by the marvellous grasp of fact which +enabled him to speak with confidence, not only of the line-of-battle +ships, but of the frigates, sloops, and brigs at Ferrol, Rochefort, +Cadiz, Carthagena, and Brest, with the exact strength of each in men and +in guns; while the names and force of the English vessels were equally +at his fingers' ends. Such familiarity would have been remarkable in a +naval officer, but when I thought that this question of the ships was +only one out of fifty with which this man had to deal, I began to +realise the immense grasp of that capacious mind. He did not appear to +be paying the least attention to me, but it seems that he was really +watching me closely, for he turned upon me when he had finished his +dictation. + +'You appear to be surprised, Monsieur de Laval, that I should be able to +transact my naval business without having my minister of marine at my +elbow; but it is one of my rules to know and to do things for myself. +Perhaps if these good Bourbons had had the same habit they would not now +be living amidst the fogs of England.' + +'One must have your Majesty's memory in order to do it,' I observed. + +'It is the result of system,' said he. 'It is as if I had drawers in my +brain, so that when I opened one I could close the others. It is seldom +that I fail to find what I want there. I have a poor memory for names +or dates, but an excellent one for facts or faces. There is a good deal +to bear in mind, Monsieur de Laval. For example, I have, as you have +seen, my one little drawer full of the ships upon the sea. I have +another which contains all the harbours and forts of France. As an +example, I may tell you that when my minister of war was reading me a +report of all the coast defences, I was able to point out to him that he +had omitted two guns in a battery near Ostend. In yet another of my +brain-drawers I have the regiments of France. Is that drawer in order, +Marshal Berthier?' + +A clean-shaven man, who had stood biting his nails in the window, bowed +at the Emperor's question. + +'I am sometimes tempted to believe, Sire, that you know the name of +every man in the ranks,' said he. + +'I think that I know most of my old Egyptian grumblers,' said he. +'And then, Monsieur de Laval, there is another drawer for canals, +bridges, roads, manufactures, and every detail of internal +administration. The law, finance, Italy, the Colonies, Holland, all +these things demand drawers of their own. In these days, Monsieur de +Laval, France asks something more of its ruler than that he should carry +eight yards of ermine with dignity, or ride after a stag in the forest +of Fontainebleau.' + +I thought of the helpless, gentle, pompous Louis whom my father had once +taken me to visit, and I understood that France, after her convulsions +and her sufferings, did indeed require another and a stronger head. + +'Do you not think so, Monsieur de Laval?' asked the Emperor. He had +halted for a moment by the fire, and was grinding his dainty +gold-buckled shoe into one of the burning logs. + +'You have come to a very wise decision,' said he when I had answered his +question. 'But you have always been of this way of thinking, have you +not? Is it not true that you once defended me when some young +Englishman was drinking toasts to my downfall at an inn in this village +in which you lived?' + +I remembered the incident, although I could not imagine how it had +reached his ears. + +'Why should you have done this?' + +'I did it on impulse, Sire.' + +'On impulse!' he cried, in a tone of contempt. 'I do not know what +people mean when they say that they do things upon impulse. +In Charenton things are doubtless done upon impulse, but not amongst +sane people. Why should you risk your life over there in defending me +when at the time you had nothing to hope for from me?' + +'It was because I felt that you stood for France, Sire.' + +During this conversation he had still walked up and down the room, +twisting his right arm about, and occasionally looking at one or other +of us with his eyeglass, for his sight was so weak that he always needed +a single glass indoors and binoculars outside. Sometimes he stopped and +helped himself to great pinches of snuff from a tortoise-shell box, but +I observed that none of it ever reached his nose, for he dropped it all +from between his fingers on to his waistcoat and the floor. My answer +seemed to please him, for he suddenly seized my ear and pulled it with +considerable violence. + +'You are quite right, my friend,' said he. 'I stand for France just as +Frederic the Second stood for Prussia. I will make her the great Power +of the world, so that every monarch in Europe will find it necessary to +keep a palace in Paris, and they will all come to hold the train at the +coronation of my descendants--' a spasm of pain passed suddenly over his +face. 'My God! for whom am I building? Who will be my descendants?' +I heard him mutter, and he passed his hand over his forehead. + +'Do they seem frightened in England about my approaching invasion?' he +asked suddenly. 'Have you heard them express fears lest I get across +the Channel?' + +I was forced in truth to say that the only fears which I had ever heard +expressed were lest he should not get across. + +'The soldiers are very jealous that the sailors should always have the +honour,' said I. + +'But they have a very small army.' + +'Nearly every man is a volunteer, Sire.' + +'Pooh, conscripts!' he cried, and made a motion with his hands as if to +sweep them from before him. I will land with a hundred thousand men in +Kent or in Sussex. I will fight a great battle which I will win with a +loss of ten thousand men. On the third day I shall be in London. +I will seize the statesmen, the bankers, the merchants, the newspaper +men. I will impose an indemnity of a hundred millions of their pounds. +I will favour the poor at the expense of the rich, and so I shall have a +party. I will detach Scotland and Ireland by giving them constitutions +which will put them in a superior condition to England. Thus I will sow +dissensions everywhere. Then as a price for leaving the island I will +claim their fleet and their colonies. In this way I shall secure the +command of the world to France for at least a century to come.' + +In this short sketch I could perceive the quality which I have since +heard remarked in Napoleon, that his mind could both conceive a large +scheme, and at the same time evolve those practical details which would +seem to bring it within the bounds of possibility. One instant it would +be a wild dream of overrunning the East. The next it was a schedule of +the ships, the ports, the stores, the troops, which would be needed to +turn dream into fact. He gripped the heart of a question with the same +decision which made him strike straight for an enemy's capital. +The soul of a poet, and the mind of a man of business of the first +order, that is the combination which may make a man dangerous to the +world. + +I think that it may have been his purpose--for he never did anything +without a purpose--to give me an object-lesson of his own capacity for +governing, with the idea, perhaps, that I might in turn influence others +of the Emigres by what I told them. At any rate he left me there to +stand and to watch the curious succession of points upon which he had to +give an opinion during a few hours. Nothing seemed to be either too +large or too small for that extraordinary mind. At one instant it was +the arrangements for the winter cantonments of two hundred thousand men, +at the next he was discussing with de Caulaincourt the curtailing of the +expenses of the household, and the possibility of suppressing some of +the carriages. + +'It is my desire to be economical at home so as to make a good show +abroad,' said he. 'For myself, when I had the honour to be a +sub-lieutenant I found that I could live very well upon 1,200 francs a +year, and it would be no hardship to me to go back to it. This +extravagance of the palace must be stopped. For example, I see upon +your accounts that 155 cups of coffee are drunk a day, which with sugar +at 4 francs and coffee at 5 francs a pound come to 20 sous a cup. +It would be better to make an allowance for coffee. The stable bills +are also too high. At the present price of fodder seven or eight francs +a week should be enough for each horse in a stable of two hundred. +I will not have any waste at the Tuileries.' + +Thus within a few minutes he would pass from a question of milliards to +a question of sous, and from the management of a empire to that of a +stable. From time to time I could observe that he threw a little +oblique glance at me as if to ask what I thought of it all, and at the +time I wondered very much why my approval should be of any consequence +to him. But now, when I look back and see that my following his +fortunes brought over so many others of the young nobility, I understand +that he saw very much further than I did. + +'Well, Monsieur de Laval,' said he suddenly, 'you have seen something of +my methods. Are you prepared to enter my service?' + +'Assuredly, Sire,' I answered. + +'I can be a very hard master when I like,' said he smiling. 'You were +there when I spoke to Admiral Bruix. We have all our duty to do, and +discipline is as necessary in the highest as in the lowest ranks. +But anger with me never rises above here,' and he drew his hand across +his throat. 'I never permit it to cloud my brain. Dr. Corvisart here +would tell you that I have the slowest pulse of all his patients.' + +'And that you are the fastest eater, Sire,' said a large-faced, +benevolent-looking person who had been whispering to Marshal Berthier. + +'Ohe, you rascal, you rake that up against me, do you? The Doctor will +not forgive me because I tell him when I am unwell that I had rather die +of the disease than of the remedies. If I eat too fast it is the fault +of the State, which does not allow me more than a few minutes for my +meals. Which reminds me that it must be rather after my dinner hour, +Constant?' + +'It is four hours after it, Sire.' + +'Serve it up then at once.' + +'Yes, Sire. Monsieur Isabey is outside, Sire, with his dolls.' + +'Ah, we shall see them at once. Show him in.' + +A man entered who had evidently just arrived from a long journey. Under +his arm he carried a large flat wickerwork basket. + +'It is two days since I sent for you, Monsieur Isabey.' + +'The courier arrived yesterday, Sire. I have been travelling from Paris +ever since.' + +'Have you the models there?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'Then you may lay them out on that table.' + +I could not at first imagine what it meant when I saw, upon Isabey +opening his basket, that it was crammed with little puppets about a foot +high, all of them dressed in the most gorgeous silk and velvet costumes, +with trimmings of ermine and hangings of gold lace. But presently, as +the designer took them out one by one and placed them on the table, I +understood that the Emperor, with his extraordinary passion for detail +and for directly controlling everything in his Court, had had these +dolls dressed in order to judge the effect of the gorgeous costumes +which had been ordered for his grand functionaries upon State occasions. + +'What is this?' he asked, holding up a little lady in hunting costume of +amaranth and gold with a toque and plume of white feathers. + +'That is for the Empress's hunt, Sire.' + +'You should have the waist rather lower,' said Napoleon, who had very +definite opinions about ladies' dresses. 'These cursed fashions seem to +be the only thing in my dominions which I cannot regulate. My tailor, +Duchesne, takes three inches from my coat-tails, and all the armies and +fleets of France cannot prevent him. Who is this?' + +He had picked up a very gorgeous figure in a green coat. + +'That is the grand master of the hunt, Sire.' + +'Then it is you, Berthier. How do you like your new costume? And this +in red?' + +'That is the Arch-Chancellor.' + +'And the violet?' + +'That is the Grand Chamberlain.' + +The Emperor was as much amused as a child with a new toy. He formed +little groups of the figures upon the table, so that he might have an +idea of how the dignitaries would look when they chatted together. +Then he threw them all back into the basket. + +'Very good,' said he. 'You and David have done your work very well, +Isabey. You will submit these designs to the Court outfitters and have +an estimate for the expense. You may tell Lenormand that if she +ventures to send in such an account as the last which she sent to the +Empress she shall see the inside of Vincennes. You would not think it +right, Monsieur de Laval, to spend twenty-five thousand francs upon a +single dress, even though it were for Mademoiselle Eugenie de Choiseul.' + +Was there anything which this wizard of a man did not know? What could +my love affairs be to him amidst the clash of armies and the struggles +of nations? When I looked at him, half in amazement and half in fear, +that pleasant boyish smile lit up his pale face, and his plump little +hand rested for an instant upon my shoulder. His eyes were of a bright +blue when he was amused, though they would turn dark when he was +thoughtful, and steel-grey in moments of excitement. + +'You were surprised when I told you a little while ago about your +encounter with the Englishman in the village inn. You are still more +surprised now when I tell you about a certain young lady. You must +certainly have thought that I was very badly served by my agents in +England if I did not know such important details as these.' + +'I cannot conceive, Sire, why such trifles should be reported to you, or +why you should for one instant remember them.' + +'You are certainly a very modest young man, and I hope you will not lose +that charming quality when you have been for a little time at my Court. +So you think that your own private affairs are of no importance to me?' + +'I do not know why they should be, Sire.' + +'What is the name of your great-uncle?' + +'He is the Cardinal de Laval de Montmorency.' + +'Precisely. And where is he?' + +'He is in Germany.' + +'Quite so--in Germany, and not at Notre Dame, where I should have placed +him. Who is your first cousin?' + +'The Duke de Rohan.' + +'And where is he?' + +'In London.' + +'Yes, in London, and not at the Tuileries, where he might have had what +he liked for the asking. I wonder if I were to fall whether I should +have followers as faithful as those of the Bourbons. Would the men that +I have made go into exile and refuse all offers until I should return? +Come here, Berthier!' he took his favourite by the ear with the +caressing gesture which was peculiar to him. 'Could I count upon you, +you rascal--eh?' + +'I do not understand you, Sire.' Our conversation had been carried on +in a voice which had made it inaudible to the other people in the room, +but now they were all listening to what Berthier had to say. + +'If I were driven out, would you go into exile also?' + +'No, Sire.' + +'Diable! At least you are frank.' + +'I could not go into exile, Sire.' + +'And why?' + +'Because I should be dead, Sire.' + +Napoleon began to laugh. + +'And there are some who say that our Berthier is dull-witted,' said he. +'Well, I think I am pretty sure of you, Berthier, for although I am fond +of you for reasons of my own I do not think that you would be of much +value to anyone else. Now I could not say that of you, Monsieur +Talleyrand. You would change very quickly to a new master as you have +changed from an old one. You have a genius, you know, for adapting +yourself.' + +There was nothing which the Emperor loved more than to suddenly produce +little scenes of this sort which made everybody very uncomfortable, for +no one could tell what awkward or compromising question he was going to +put to them next. At present, however, they all forgot their own fears +of what might come in their interest at the reply which the famous +diplomatist might make to a suggestion which everybody knew to be so +true. He stood, leaning upon his black ebony stick, with his bulky +shoulders stooping forward, and an amused smile upon his face, as if the +most innocent of compliments had been addressed to him. One of his few +titles to respect is that he always met Napoleon upon equal terms, and +never condescended to fawn upon him or to flatter him. + +'You think I should desert you, Sire, if your enemies offered me more +than you have given me?' + +'I am perfectly sure that you would.' + +'Well, really I cannot answer for myself, Sire, until the offer has been +made. But it will have to be a very large one. You see, apart from my +very nice hotel in the Rue St. Florentin, and the two hundred thousand +or so which you are pleased to allow me, there is my position as the +first minister in Europe. Really, Sire, unless they put me on the +throne I cannot see how I can better my position.' + +'No, I think I have you pretty safe,' said Napoleon, looking hard at him +with thoughtful eyes. 'By the way, Talleyrand, you must either marry +Madame Grand or get rid of her, for I cannot have a scandal about the +Court.' + +I was astounded to hear so delicate and personal a matter discussed in +this public way, but this also was characteristic of the rule of this +extraordinary man, who proclaimed that he looked upon delicacy and good +taste as two of the fetters with which mediocrity attempted to cripple +genius. There was no question of private life, from the choosing of a +wife to the discarding of a mistress, that this young conqueror of +thirty-six did not claim the right of discussing and of finally +settling. Talleyrand broke once more into his benevolent but +inscrutable smile. + +'I suppose that it is from early association, Sire,' said he, 'but my +instincts are to avoid marriage.' + +Napoleon began to laugh. + +'I forget sometimes that it is really the Bishop of Autun to whom I am +speaking,' said he. 'I think that perhaps I have interest enough with +the Pope to ask him, in return for any little attention which we gave +him at the Coronation, to show you some leniency in this matter. She is +a clever woman, this Madame Grand. I have observed that she listens +with attention.' + +Talleyrand shrugged his rounded shoulders. 'Intellect in a woman is not +always an advantage, Sire. A clever woman compromises her husband. +A stupid woman only compromises herself.' + +'The cleverest woman,' said Napoleon, 'is the woman who is clever enough +to conceal her cleverness. The women in France have always been a +danger, for they are cleverer than the men. They cannot understand that +it is their hearts and not their heads that we want. When they have had +influence upon a monarch, they have invariably ruined his career. Look +at Henry the Fourth and Louis the Fourteenth. They are all ideologists, +dreamers, sentimentalists, full of emotion and energy, but without logic +or foresight. Look at that accursed Madame de Stael! Look at the +Salons of the Quartier St. Germain! Their eternal clack, clack, clack +give me more trouble than the fleet of England. Why cannot they look +after their babies and their needlework? I suppose you think that these +are very dreadful opinions, Monsieur de Laval?' + +It was not an easy question to answer, so I was silent. + +'You have not at your age become a practical man,' said the Emperor. +'You will understand then. I dare say that I thought as you do at the +time when the stupid Parisians were saying what a misalliance the widow +of the famous General de Beauharnais was making by marrying the unknown +Buonaparte. It was a beautiful dream! There are nine inns in a single +day's journey between Milan and Mantua, and I wrote a letter to my wife +from each of them. Nine letters in a day--but one becomes +disillusioned, monsieur. One learns to accept things as they are.' + +I could not but think what a beautiful young man he must have been +before he had learned to accept things as they are. The glamour, the +romance--what a bald dead thing is life without it! His own face had +clouded over as if that old life had perhaps had a charm which the +Emperor's crown had never given. It may be that those nine letters +written in one day at wayside inns had brought him more true joy than +all the treaties by which he had torn provinces from his neighbours. +But the sentiment passed from his face, and he came back in his sudden +concise fashion to my own affairs. + +'Eugenie de Choiseul is the niece of the Duc de Choiseul, is she not?' +he asked. + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'You are affianced!' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +He shook his head impatiently. + +'If you wish to advance yourself in my Court, Monsieur de Laval,' said +he,' you must commit such matters to my care. Is it likely that I can +look with indifference upon a marriage between emigres--an alliance +between my enemies?' + +'But she shares my opinions, Sire.' + +'Ta, ta, ta, at her age one has no opinions. She has the emigre blood +in her veins, and it will come out. Your marriage shall be my care, +Monsieur de Laval. And I wish you to come to the Pont de Briques that +you may be presented to the Empress. What is it, Constant?' + +'There is a lady outside who desires to see your Majesty. Shall I tell +her to come later?' + +'A lady!' cried the Emperor smiling. 'We do not see many faces in the +camp which have not a moustache upon them. Who is she? What does she +want?' + +'Her name, Sire, is Mademoiselle Sibylle Bernac.' + +'What!' cried Napoleon. 'It must be the daughter of old Bernac of +Grosbois. By the way, Monsieur de Laval, he is your uncle upon your +mother's side, is he not?' + +I may have flushed with shame as I acknowledged it, for the Emperor read +my feelings. + +'Well, well, he has not a very savoury trade, it is true, and yet I can +assure you that it is one which is very necessary to me. By the way, +this uncle of yours, as I understand, holds the estates which should +have descended to you, does he not?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +His blue eyes flashed suspicion at me. + +'I trust that you are not joining my service merely in the hope of +having them restored to you.' + +'No, Sire. It is my ambition to make a career for myself.' + +'It is a prouder thing,' said the Emperor, 'to found a family than +merely to perpetuate one. I could not restore your estates, Monsieur de +Laval, for things have come to such a pitch in France that if one once +begins restorations the affair is endless. It would shake all public +confidence. I have no more devoted adherents than the men who hold land +which does not belong to them. As long as they serve me, as your uncle +serves me, the land must remain with them. But what can this young lady +require of me? Show her in, Constant!' + +An instant later my cousin Sibylle was conducted into the room. +Her face was pale and set, but her large dark eyes were filled with +resolution, and she carried herself like a princess. + +'Well, mademoiselle, why do you come here? What is it that you want?' +asked the Emperor in the brusque manner which he adopted to women, even +if he were wooing them. + +Sibylle glanced round, and as our eyes met for an instant I felt that my +presence had renewed her courage. She looked bravely at the Emperor as +she answered him. + +'I come, Sire, to implore a favour of you.' + +'Your father's daughter has certainly claims upon me, mademoiselle. +What is it that you wish?' + +'I do not ask it in my father's name, but in my own. I implore you, +Sire, to spare the life of Monsieur Lucien Lesage, who was arrested +yesterday upon a charge of treason. He is a student, Sire--a mere +dreamer who has lived away from the world and has been made a tool by +designing men.' + +'A dreamer!' cried the Emperor harshly. 'They are the most dangerous of +all.' He took a bundle of notes from his table and glanced them over. +'I presume that he is fortunate enough to be your lover, mademoiselle?' + +Sibylle's pale face flushed, and she looked down before the Emperor's +keen sardonic glance. + +'I have his examination here. He does not come well out of it. I +confess that from what I see of the young man's character I should not +say that he is worthy of your love.' + +'I implore you to spare him, Sire.' + +'What you ask is impossible, mademoiselle. I have been conspired +against from two sides--by the Bourbons and by the Jacobins. Hitherto I +have been too long-suffering, and they have been encouraged by my +patience. Since Cadoudal and the Due d'Enghien died the Bourbons have +been quiet. Now I must teach the same lesson to these others.' + +I was astonished and am still astonished at the passion with which my +brave and pure cousin loved this cowardly and low-minded man, though it +is but in accordance with that strange law which draws the extremes of +nature together. As she heard the Emperor's stern reply the last sign +of colour faded from her pale face, and her eyes were dimmed with +despairing tears, which gleamed upon her white cheeks like dew upon the +petals of a lily. + +'For God's sake, Sire! For the love of your mother spare him!' she +cried, falling upon her knees at the Emperor's feet. 'I will answer for +him that he never offends you again.' + +'Tut, tut!' cried Napoleon angrily, turning upon his heel and walking +impatiently up and down the room. 'I cannot grant you what you ask, +mademoiselle. When I say so once it is finished. I cannot have my +decisions in high matters of State affected by the intrusion of women. +The Jacobins have been dangerous of late, and an example must be made or +we shall have the Faubourg St. Antoine upon our hands once more.' + +The Emperors set face and firm manner showed it was hopeless, and yet my +cousin persevered as no one but a woman who pleads for her lover would +have dared to do. + +'He is harmless, Sire.' + +'His death will frighten others.' + +'Spare him and I will answer for his loyalty.' + +'What you ask is impossible.' + +Constant and I raised her from the ground. + +'That is right, Monsieur de Laval,' said the Emperor. 'This interview +can lead to nothing. Remove your cousin from the room!' + +But she had again turned to him with a face which showed that even now +all hope had not been abandoned. + +'Sire,' she cried. 'You say that an example must be made. There is +Toussac--!' + +'Ah, if I could lay my hands upon Toussac!' + +'He is the dangerous man. It was he and my father who led Lucien on. +If an example must be made it should be an example of the guilty rather +than of the innocent.' + +'They are both guilty. And, besides, we have our hands upon the one but +not upon the other.' + +'But if I could find him?' + +Napoleon thought for a moment. + +'If you do,' said he, 'Lesage will be forgiven!' + +'But I cannot do it in a day.' + +'How long do you ask?' + +'A week at the least.' + +'Then he has a respite of a week. If you can find Toussac in the time, +Lesage will be pardoned. If not he will die upon the eighth day. It is +enough. Monsieur de Laval, remove your cousin, for I have matters of +more importance to attend to. I shall expect you one evening at the +Pont de Briques, when you are ready to be presented to the Empress.' + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE MAN OF DREAMS + +When I had escorted my cousin Sibylle from the presence of the Emperor, +I was surprised to find the same young hussar officer waiting outside +who had commanded the guard which had brought me to the camp. + +'Well, mademoiselle, what luck?' he asked excitedly, clanking towards +us. + +For answer Sibylle shook her head. + +'Ah, I feared as much, for the Emperor is a terrible man. It was brave, +indeed, of you to attempt it. I had rather charge an unshaken square +upon a spent horse than ask him for anything. But my heart is heavy, +mademoiselle, that you should have been unsuccessful.' His boyish blue +eyes filled with tears and his fair moustache drooped in such a +deplorable fashion, that I could have laughed had the matter been less +serious. + +'Lieutenant Gerard chanced to meet me, and escorted me through the +camp,' said my cousin. 'He has been kind enough to give me sympathy in +my trouble.' + +'And so do I, Sibylle,' I cried; 'you carried yourself like an angel, +and it is a lucky man who is blessed with your love. I trust that he +may be worthy of it.' + +She turned cold and proud in an instant when anyone threw a doubt upon +this wretched lover of hers. + +'I know him as neither the Emperor nor you can do,' said she. 'He has +the heart and soul of a poet, and he is too high-minded to suspect the +intrigues to which he has fallen a victim. But as to Toussac, I should +have no pity upon him, for I know him to be a murderer five times over, +and I know also that there will be no peace in France until he has been +taken. Cousin Louis, will you help me to do it?' + +The lieutenant had been tugging at his moustache and looking me up and +down with a jealous eye. + +'Surely, mademoiselle, you will permit me to help you?' he cried in a +piteous voice. + +'I may need you both,' said she. 'I will come to you if I do. Now I +will ask you to ride with me to the edge of the camp and there to leave +me.' + +She had a quick imperative way which came charmingly from those sweet +womanly lips. The grey horse upon which I had come to the camp was +waiting beside that of the hussar, so we were soon in the saddle. +When we were clear of the huts my cousin turned to us. + +'I had rather go alone now,' said she. 'It is understood, then, that I +can rely upon you.' + +'Entirely,' said I. + +'To the death,' cried Gerard. + +'It is everything to me to have two brave men at my back,' said she, and +so, with a smile, gave her horse its head and cantered off over the +downland in the direction of Grosbois. + +For my part I remained in thought for some time, wondering what plan she +could have in her head by which she hoped to get upon the track of +Toussac. A woman's wit, spurred by the danger of her lover, might +perhaps succeed where Fouche and Savary had failed. When at last I +turned my horse I found my young hussar still staring after the distant +rider. + +'My faith! There is the woman for you, Etienne!' he kept repeating. +'What an eye! What a smile! What a rider! And she is not afraid of +the Emperor. Oh, Etienne, here is the woman who is worthy of you!' + +These were the little sentences which he kept muttering to himself until +she vanished over the hill, when he became conscious at last of my +presence. + +'You are mademoiselle's cousin?' he asked. 'You are joined with me in +doing something for her. I do not yet know what it is, but I am +perfectly ready to do it.' + +'It is to capture Toussac.' + +'Excellent!' + +'In order to save the life of her lover.' + +There was a struggle in the face of the young hussar, but his more +generous nature won. + +'Sapristi! I will do even that if it will make her the happier!' he +cried, and he shook the hand which I extended towards him. 'The Hussars +of Bercheny are quartered over yonder, where you see the lines of +picketed horses. If you will send for Lieutenant Etienne Gerard you +will find a sure blade always at your disposal. Let me hear from you +then, and the sooner the better!' He shook his bridle and was off, with +youth and gallantry in every line of him, from his red toupet and +flowing dolman to the spur which twinkled on his heel. + +But for four long days no word came from my cousin as to her quest, nor +did I hear from this grim uncle of mine at the Castle of Grosbois. +For myself I had gone into the town of Boulogne and had hired such a +room as my thin purse could afford over the shop of a baker named Vidal, +next to the Church of St. Augustin, in the Rue des Vents. Only last +year I went back there under that strange impulse which leads the old to +tread once more with dragging feet the same spots which have sounded to +the crisp tread of their youth. The room is still there, the very +pictures and the plaster head of Jean Bart which used to stand upon the +side table. As I stood with my back to the narrow window, I had around +me every smallest detail upon which my young eyes had looked; nor was I +conscious that my own heart and feelings had undergone much change. And +yet there, in the little round glass which faced me, was the long drawn, +weary face of an aged man, and out of the window, when I turned, were +the bare and lonely downs which had been peopled by that mighty host of +a hundred and fifty thousand men. To think that the Grand Army should +have vanished away like a shredding cloud upon a windy day, and yet that +every sordid detail of a bourgeois lodging should remain unchanged! +Truly, if man is not humble it is not for want of having his lesson +taught to him by Nature. + +My first care after I had chosen my room was to send to Grosbois for +that poor little bundle which I had carried ashore with me that squally +night from the English lugger. My next was to use the credit which my +favourable reception by the Emperor and his assurance of employment had +given me in order to obtain such a wardrobe as would enable me to appear +without discredit among the richly dressed courtiers and soldiers who +surrounded him. It was well known that it was his whim that he should +himself be the only plainly-dressed man in the company, and that in the +most luxurious times of the Bourbons there was never a period when fine +linen and a brave coat were more necessary for a man who would keep in +favour. A new court and a young empire cannot afford to take anything +for granted. + +It was upon the morning of the fifth day that I received a message from +Duroc, who was the head of the household, that I was to attend the +Emperor at the headquarters in the camp, and that a seat in one of the +Imperial carriages would be at my disposal that I might proceed with the +Court to Pont de Briques, there to be present at the reception of the +Empress. When I arrived I was shown at once through the large entrance +tent, and admitted by Constant into the room beyond, where the Emperor +stood with his back to the fire, kicking his heels against the grate. +Talleyrand and Berthier were in attendance, and de Meneval, the +secretary, sat at the writing-table. + +'Ah, Monsieur de Laval,' said the Emperor with a friendly nod. +'Have you heard anything yet of your charming cousin?' + +'Nothing, Sire,' I answered. + +'I fear that her efforts will be in vain. I wish her every success, for +we have no reason at all to fear this miserable poet, while the other is +formidable. All the same, an example of some sort must be made.' + +The darkness was drawing in, and Constant had appeared with a taper to +light the candles, but the Emperor ordered him out. + +'I like the twilight,' said he. 'No doubt, Monsieur de Laval, after +your long residence in England you find yourself also most at home in a +dim light. I think that the brains of these people must be as dense as +their fogs, to judge by the nonsense which they write in their accursed +papers.' With one of those convulsive gestures which accompanied his +sudden outbursts of passion he seized a sheaf of late London papers from +the table, and ground them into the fire with his heel. 'An editor!' he +cried in the guttural rasping voice which I had heard when I first met +him. 'What is he? A dirty man with a pen in a back office. And he +will talk like one of the great Powers of Europe. I have had enough of +this freedom of the Press. There are some who would like to see it +established in Paris. You are among them, Talleyrand. For my part I +see no need for any paper at all except the _Moniteur_ by which the +Government may make known its decisions to the people.' + +'I am of opinion, Sire,' said the minister, 'that it is better to have +open foes than secret ones, and that it is less dangerous to shed ink +than blood. What matter if your enemies have leave to rave in a few +Paris papers, as long as you are at the head of five hundred thousand +armed men?' + +'Ta, ta, ta!' cried the Emperor impatiently. 'You speak as if I had +received my crown from my father the late king. But even if I had, it +would be intolerable, this government by newspaper. The Bourbons +allowed themselves to be criticised, and where are they now? Had they +used their Swiss Guards as I did the Grenadiers upon the eighteenth +Brumaire what would have become of their precious National Assembly? +There was a time when a bayonet in the stomach of Mirabeau might have +settled the whole matter. Later it took the heads of a king and queen +and the blood of a hundred thousand people.' + +He sat down, and stretched his plump, white-clad legs towards the fire. +Through the blackened shreds of the English papers the red glow beat +upwards upon the beautiful, pallid, sphinx-like face--the face of a +poet, of a philosopher--of anything rather than of a ruthless and +ambitious soldier. I have heard folk remark that no two portraits of +the Emperor are alike, and the fault does not lie with the artists but +with the fact that every varying mood made him a different man. But in +his prime, before his features became heavy, I, who have seen sixty +years of mankind, can say that in repose I have never looked upon a more +beautiful face. + +'You have no dreams and no illusions, Talleyrand,' said he. 'You are +always practical, cold, and cynical. But with me, when I am in the +twilight, as now, or when I hear the sound of the sea, my imagination +begins to work. It is the same when I hear some music--especially music +which repeats itself again and again like some pieces of Passaniello. +They have a strange effect upon me, and I begin to Ossianise. I get +large ideas and great aspirations. It is at such times that my mind +always turns to the East, that swarming ant-heap of the human race, +where alone it is possible to be very great. I renew my dreams of '98. +I think of the possibility of drilling and arming these vast masses of +men, and of precipitating them upon Europe. Had I conquered Syria I +should have done this, and the fate of the world was really decided at +the siege of Acre. With Egypt at my feet I already pictured myself +approaching India, mounted upon an elephant, and holding in my hand a +new version of the Koran which I had myself composed. I have been born +too late. To be accepted as a world's conqueror one must claim to be +divine. Alexander declared himself to be the son of Jupiter, and no one +questioned it. But the world has grown old, and has lost its +enthusiasms. What would happen if I were to make the same claim? +Monsieur de Talleyrand would smile behind his hand, and the Parisians +would write little lampoons upon the walls.' + +He did not appear to be addressing us, but rather to be expressing his +thoughts aloud, while allowing them to run to the most fantastic and +extravagant lengths. This it was which he called Ossianising, because +it recalled to him the wild vague dreams of the Gaelic Ossian, whose +poems had always had a fascination for him. De Meneval has told me that +for an hour at a time he has sometimes talked in this strain of the most +intimate thoughts and aspirations of his heart, while his courtiers have +stood round in silence waiting for the instant when he would return once +more to his practical and incisive self. + +'The great ruler,' said he, 'must have the power of religion behind him +as well as the power of the sword. It is more important to command the +souls than the bodies of men. The Sultan, for example, is the head of +the faith as well as of the army. So were some of the Roman Emperors. +My position must be incomplete until this is accomplished. At the +present instant there are thirty departments in France where the Pope is +more powerful than I am. It is only by universal dominion that peace +can be assured in the world. When there is only one authority in +Europe, seated at Paris, and when all the kings are so many lieutenants +who hold their crowns from the central power of France, it is then that +the reign of peace will be established. Many powers of equal strength +must always lead to struggles until one becomes predominant. Her +central position, her wealth and her history, all mark France out as +being the power which will control and regulate the others. Germany is +divided. Russia is barbarous. England is insular. France only +remains.' + +I began to understand as I listened to him that my friends in England +had not been so far wrong when they had declared that as long as he +lived--this little thirty-six year old artilleryman--there could not +possibly be any peace in the world. He drank some coffee which Constant +had placed upon the small round table at his elbow. Then he leaned back +in his chair once more, still staring moodily at the red glow of the +fire, with his chin sunk upon his chest. + +'In those days,' said he, 'the kings of Europe will walk behind the +Emperor of France in order to hold up his train at his coronation. Each +of them will have to maintain a palace in Paris, and the city will +stretch as far as Versailles. These are the plans which I have made for +Paris if she will show herself to be worthy of them. But I have no love +for them, these Parisians, and they have none for me, for they cannot +forget that I turned my guns upon them once before, and they know that I +am ready to do so again. I have made them admire me and fear me, but I +have never made them like me. Look what I have done for them. Where +are the treasures of Genoa, the pictures and statues of Venice and of +the Vatican? They are in the Louvre. The spoils of my victories have +gone to decorate her. But they must always be changing, always +chattering. They wave their hats at me now, but they would soon be +waving their fists if I did not give them something to talk over and to +wonder at. When other things are quiet, I have the dome of the +Invalides regilded to keep their thoughts from mischief. Louis XIV. +gave them wars. Louis XV. gave them the gallantries and scandals of +his Court. Louis XVI. gave them nothing, so they cut off his head. It +was you who helped to bring him to the scaffold, Talleyrand.' + +'No, Sire, I was always a moderate.' + +'At least, you did not regret his death.' + +'The less so, since it has made room for you, +Sire.' + +'Nothing could have held me down, Talleyrand. I was born to reach +the highest. It has always been the same with me. I remember when +we were arranging the Treaty of Campo Formio--I a young general under +thirty--there was a high vacant throne with the Imperial arms in the +Commissioner's tent. I instantly sprang up the steps, and threw myself +down upon it. I could not endure to think that there was anything above +myself. And all the time I knew in my heart all that was going to +happen to me. Even in the days when my brother Lucien and I lived in +a little room upon a few francs a week, I knew perfectly well that the +day would come when I should stand where I am now. And yet I had no +prospects and no reason for any great hopes. I was not clever at school. +I was only the forty-second out of fifty-eight. At mathematics I had +perhaps some ability, but at nothing else. The truth is that I was +always dreaming when the others were working. There was nothing to +encourage my ambition, for the only thing which I inherited from my +father was a weak stomach. Once, when I was very young, I went up to +Paris with my father and my sister Caroline. We were in the Rue +Richelieu, and we saw the king pass in his carriage. Who would have +thought that the little boy from Corsica, who took his hat off and +stared, was destined to be the next monarch of France? And yet even then +I felt as if that carriage ought to belong to me. What is it, Constant?' + +The discreet valet bent down and whispered something to the Emperor. + +'Ah, of course,' said he. 'It was an appointment. I had forgotten it. +Is she there?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +'In the side room?' + +'Yes, Sire.' + +Talleyrand and Berthier exchanged glances, and the minister began to +move towards the door. + +'No, no, you can remain here,' said the Emperor. 'Light the lamps, +Constant, and have the carriages ready in half-an-hour. Look over this +draft of a letter to the Emperor of Austria, and let me have your +observations upon it, Talleyrand. De Meneval, there is a lengthy report +here as to the new dockyard at Brest. Extract what is essential from +it, and leave it upon my desk at five o'clock to-morrow morning. +Berthier, I will have the whole army into the boats at seven. We will +see if they can embark within three hours. Monsieur de Laval, you will +wait here until we start for Pont de Briques.' So with a crisp order to +each of us, he walked with little swift steps across the room, and I saw +his square green back and white legs framed for an instant in the +doorway. There was the flutter of a pink skirt beyond, and then the +curtains closed behind him. + +Berthier stood biting his nails, while Talleyrand looked at him with a +slight raising of his bushy eyebrows. De Meneval with a rueful face was +turning over the great bundle of papers which had to be copied by +morning. Constant, with a noiseless tread, was lighting the candles +upon the sconces round the room. + +'Which is it?' I heard the minister whisper. + +'The girl from the Imperial Opera,' said Berthier. + +'Is the little Spanish lady out of favour then?' + +'No, I think not. She was here yesterday.' + +'And the other, the Countess?' + +'She has a cottage at Ambleteuse.' + +'But we must have no scandal about the Court,' said Talleyrand, with a +sour smile, recalling the moral sentiments with which the Emperor had +reproved him. 'And now, Monsieur de Laval,' he added, drawing me aside, +'I very much wish to hear from you about the Bourbon party in England. +You must have heard their views. Do they imagine that they have any +chance of success?' + +And so for ten minutes he plied me with questions, which showed me +clearly that the Emperor had read him aright, and that he was +determined, come what might, to be upon the side which won. We were +still talking when Constant entered hurriedly, with a look of anxiety +and perplexity which I could not have imagined upon so smooth and +imperturbable a face. + +'Good Heavens, Monsieur Talleyrand,' he cried, clasping and unclasping +his hands. 'Such a misfortune! Who could have expected it?' + +'What is it, then, Constant?' + +'Oh, Monsieur, I dare not intrude upon the Emperor. And yet--And yet--The +Empress is outside, and she is coming in.' + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +JOSEPHINE + +At this unexpected announcement Talleyrand and Berthier looked at each +other in silence, and for once the trained features of the great +diplomatist, who lived behind a mask, betrayed the fact that he was +still capable of emotion. The spasm which passed over them was caused, +however, rather by mischievous amusement than by consternation, while +Berthier--who had an honest affection for both Napoleon and Josephine--ran +frantically to the door as if to bar the Empress from entering. +Constant rushed towards the curtains which screened the Emperor's room, +and then, losing courage, although he was known to be a stout-hearted +man, he came running back to Talleyrand for advice. It was too late +now, however, for Roustem the Mameluke had opened the door, and two +ladies had entered the room. The first was tall and graceful, with a +smiling face, and an affable though dignified manner. She was dressed +in a black velvet cloak with white lace at the neck and sleeves, and she +wore a black hat with a curling white feather. Her companion was +shorter, with a countenance which would have been plain had it not been +for the alert expression and large dark eyes, which gave it charm and +character. A small black terrier dog had followed them in, but the +first lady turned and handed the thin steel chain with which she led it +to the Mameluke attendant. + +'You had better keep Fortune outside, Roustem,' said she, in a +peculiarly sweet musical voice. 'The Emperor is not very fond of dogs, +and if we intrude upon his quarters we cannot do less than consult his +tastes. Good evening, Monsieur de Talleyrand! Madame de Remusat and I +have driven all along the cliffs, and we have stopped as we passed to +know if the Emperor is coming to Pont de Briques. But perhaps he has +already started. I had expected to find him here.' + +'His Imperial Majesty was here a short time ago,' said Talleyrand, +bowing and rubbing his hands. + +'I hold my _salon_--such a _salon_ as Pont de Briques is capable of--this +evening, and the Emperor promised me that he would set his work +aside for once, and favour us with his presence. I wish we could +persuade him to work less, Monsieur de Talleyrand. He has a frame of +iron, but he cannot continue in this way. These nervous attacks come +more frequently upon him. He will insist upon doing everything, +everything himself. It is noble, but it is to be a martyr. I have no +doubt that at the present moment--but you have not yet told me where he +is, Monsieur de Talleyrand.' + +'We expect him every instant, your Majesty.' + +'In that case we shall sit down and await his return. Ah, Monsieur de +Meneval, how I pity you when I see you among all those papers! I was +desolate when Monsieur de Bourrienne deserted the Emperor, but you have +more than taken his place. Come up to the fire, Madame de Remusat! +Yes, yes, I insist upon it, for I know that you must be cold. Constant, +come and put the rug under Madame de Remusat's feet.' + +It was by little acts of thoughtfulness and kindness like this that the +Empress so endeared herself that she had really no enemies in France, +even among those who were most bitterly opposed to her husband. Whether +as the consort of the first man in Europe, or as the lonely divorced +woman eating her heart out at Malmaison, she was always praised and +beloved by those who knew her. Of all the sacrifices which the Emperor +ever made to his ambition that of his wife was the one which cost him +the greatest struggle and the keenest regret. + +Now as she sat before the fire in the same chair which had so recently +been occupied by the Emperor, I had an opportunity of studying this +person, whose strange fate had raised her from being the daughter of a +lieutenant of artillery to the first position among the women of Europe. +She was six years older than Napoleon, and on this occasion, when I saw +her first, she was in her forty-second year; but at a little distance or +in a discreet light, it was no courtier's flattery to say that she might +very well have passed for thirty. Her tall, elegant figure was girlish +in its supple slimness, and she had an easy and natural grace in every +movement, which she inherited with her tropical West Indian blood. Her +features were delicate, and I have heard that in her youth she was +strikingly beautiful; but, like most Creole women, she had become +_passee_ in early middle age. She had made a brave fight, however--with +art as her ally--against the attacks of time, and her success had been +such that when she sat aloof upon a dais or drove past in a procession, +she might still pass as a lovely woman. In a small room, however, or in +a good light, the crude pinks and whites with which she had concealed +her sallow cheeks became painfully harsh and artificial. Her own +natural beauty, however, still lingered in that last refuge of beauty--the +eyes, which were large, dark, and sympathetic. Her mouth, too, was +small and amiable, and her most frequent expression was a smile, which +seldom broadened into a laugh, as she had her own reasons for preferring +that her teeth should not be seen. As to her bearing, it was so +dignified, that if this little West Indian had come straight from the +loins of Charlemagne, it could not have been improved upon. Her walk, +her glance, the sweep of her dress, the wave of her hand--they had all +the happiest mixture of the sweetness of a woman and the condescension +of a queen. I watched her with admiration as she leaned forward, +picking little pieces of aromatic aloes wood out of the basket and +throwing them on to the fire. + +'Napoleon likes the smell of burning aloes,' said she. 'There was never +anyone who had such a nose as he, for he can detect things which are +quite hidden from me.' + +'The Emperor has an excellent nose for many things,' said Talleyrand. +'The State contractors have found that out to their cost.' + +'Oh, it is dreadful when he comes to examine accounts--dreadful, +Monsieur de Talleyrand! Nothing escapes him. He will make no +allowances. Everything must be exact. But who is this young gentleman, +Monsieur de Talleyrand? I do not think that he has been presented to +me.' + +The minister explained in a few words that I had been received into the +Emperor's personal service, and Josephine congratulated me upon it with +the most kindly sympathy. + +'It eases my mind so to know that he has brave and loyal men round him. +Ever since that dreadful affair of the infernal machine I have always +been uneasy if he is away from me. He is really safest in time of war, +for it is only then that he is away from the assassins who hate him. +And now I understand that a new Jacobin plot has only just been +discovered.' + +'This is the same Monsieur de Laval who was there when the conspirator +was taken,' said Talleyrand. + +The Empress overwhelmed me with questions, hardly waiting for the +answers in her anxiety. + +'But this dreadful man Toussac has not been taken yet,' she cried. +'Have I not heard that a young lady is endeavouring to do what has +baffled the secret police, and that the freedom of her lover is to be +the reward of her success?' + +'She is my cousin, your Imperial Majesty. Mademoiselle Sibylle Bernac +is her name.' + +'You have only been in France a few days, Monsieur de Laval,' said +Josephine, smiling, 'but it seems to me that all the affairs of the +Empire are already revolving round you. You must bring this pretty +cousin of yours--the Emperor said that she is pretty--to Court with you, +and present her to me. Madame de Remusat, you will take a note of the +name.' + +The Empress had stooped again to the basket of aloes wood which stood +beside the fireplace. Suddenly I saw her stare hard at something, and +then, with a little cry of surprise, she stooped and lifted an object +from the carpet. It was the Emperor's soft flat beaver with the little +tricolour cockade. Josephine sprang up, and looked from the hat in her +hand to the imperturbable face of the minister. + +'How is this, Monsieur de Talleyrand,' she cried, and the dark eyes +began to shine with anger and suspicion. 'You said to me that the +Emperor was out, and here is his hat!' + +'Pardon me, your Imperial Majesty, I did not say that he was out.' + +'What did you say then?' + +'I said that he left the room a short time before.' + +'You are endeavouring to conceal something from me,' she cried, with the +quick instinct of a woman. + +'I assure you that I tell you all I know.' + +The Empress's eyes darted from face to face. + +'Marshal Berthier,' she cried, 'I insist upon your telling me this +instant where the Emperor is, and what he is doing.' + +The slow-witted soldier stammered and twisted his cocked hat about. + +'I know no more than Monsieur de Talleyrand does,' said he; 'the Emperor +left us some time ago.' + +'By which door?' + +Poor Berthier was more confused than ever. + +'Really, your Imperial Majesty, I cannot undertake to say by which door +it was that the Emperor quitted the apartment.' + +Josephine's eyes flashed round at me, and my heart shrunk within me as I +thought that she was about to ask me that same dreadful question. But I +had just time to breathe one prayer to the good Saint Ignatius, who has +always been gracious to our family, and the danger passed. + +'Come, Madame de Remusat,' said she. 'If these gentlemen will not tell +us we shall very soon find out for ourselves.' + +She swept with great dignity towards the curtained door, followed at the +distance of a few yards by her waiting lady, whose frightened face and +lagging, unwilling steps showed that she perfectly appreciated the +situation. Indeed, the Emperor's open infidelities, and the public +scenes to which they gave rise, were so notorious, that even in Ashford +they had reached our ears. Napoleon's self-confidence and his contempt +of the world had the effect of making him careless as to what was +thought or said of him, while Josephine, when she was carried away by +jealousy, lost all the dignity and restraint which usually marked her +conduct; so between them they gave some embarrassing moments to those +who were about them. Talleyrand turned away with his fingers over his +lips, while Berthier, in an agony of apprehension, continued to double +up and to twist the cocked hat which he held between his hands. Only +Constant, the faithful valet, ventured to intervene between his mistress +and the fatal door. + +'If your Majesty will resume your seat I shall inform the Emperor that +you are here,' said he, with two deprecating hands outstretched. + +'Ah, then he _is_ there!' she cried furiously. 'I see it all! +I understand it all! But I will expose him--I will reproach him with +his perfidy! Let me pass, Constant! How dare you stand in my way?' + +'Allow me to announce you, your Majesty.' + +'I shall announce myself.' With swift undulations of her beautiful +figure she darted past the protesting valet, parted the curtains, threw +open the door, and vanished into the next room. + +She had seemed a creature full of fire and of spirit as, with a flush +which broke through the paint upon her cheeks, and with eyes which +gleamed with the just anger of an outraged wife, she forced her way into +her husband's presence. But she was a woman of change and impulse, full +of little squirts of courage and corresponding reactions into cowardice. +She had hardly vanished from our sight when there was a harsh roar, like +an angry beast, and next instant Josephine came flying into the room +again, with the Emperor, inarticulate with passion, raving at her heels. +So frightened was she, that she began to run towards the fireplace, upon +which Madame de Remusat, who had no wish to form a rearguard upon such +an occasion, began running also, and the two of them, like a pair of +startled hens, came rustling and fluttering back to the seats which they +had left. There they cowered whilst the Emperor, with a convulsed face +and a torrent of camp-fire oaths, stamped and raged about the room. + +'You, Constant, you!' he shouted; 'is this the way in which you serve +me? Have you no sense then--no discretion? Am I never to have any +privacy? Must I eternally submit to be spied upon by women? +Is everyone else to have liberty, and I only to have none? As to you, +Josephine, this finishes it all. I had hesitations before, but now I +have none. This brings everything to an end between us.' + +We would all, I am sure, have given a good deal to slip from the room--at +least, my own embarrassment far exceeded my interest--but the Emperor +from his lofty standpoint cared as little about our presence as if we +had been so many articles of furniture. In fact, it was one of this +strange man's peculiarities that it was just those delicate and personal +scenes with which privacy is usually associated that he preferred to +have in public, for he knew that his reproaches had an additional sting +when they fell upon other ears besides those of his victim. From his +wife to his groom there was not one of those who were about him who did +not live in dread of being held up to ridicule and infamy before a +smiling crowd, whose amusement was only tempered by the reflection that +each of them might be the next to endure the same exposure. + +As to Josephine, she had taken refuge in a woman's last resource, and +was crying bitterly, with her graceful neck stooping towards her knees +and her two hands over her face. Madame de Remusat was weeping also, +and in every pause of his hoarse scolding--for his voice was very hoarse +and raucous when he was angry--there came the soft hissing and clicking +of their sobs. Sometimes his fierce taunts would bring some reply from +the Empress, some gentle reproof to him for his gallantries, but each +remonstrance only excited him to a fresh rush of vituperation. In one +of his outbursts he threw his snuff-box with a crash upon the floor as a +spoiled child would hurl down its toys. + +'Morality!' he cried, 'morality was not made for me, and I was not made +for morality. I am a man apart, and I accept nobody's conditions. +I tell you always, Josephine, that these are the foolish phrases of +mediocre people who wish to fetter the great. They do not apply to me. +I will never consent to frame my conduct by the puerile arrangements of +society.' + +'Have you no feeling then?' sobbed the Empress. + +'A great man is not made for feeling. It is for him to decide what he +shall do, and then to do it without interference from anyone. It is +your place, Josephine, to submit to all my fancies, and you should think +it quite natural that I should allow myself some latitude.' + +It was a favourite device of the Emperor's, when he was in the wrong +upon one point, to turn the conversation round so as to get upon some +other one on which he was in the right. Having worked off the first +explosion of his passion he now assumed the offensive, for in argument, +as in war, his instinct was always to attack. + +'I have been looking over Lenormand's accounts, Josephine,' said he. +'Are you aware how many dresses you have had last year? You have had a +hundred and forty--no less--and many of them cost as much as twenty-five +thousand livres. I am told that you have six hundred dresses in your +wardrobes, many of which have hardly ever been used. Madame de Remusat +knows that what I say is true. She cannot deny it.' + +'You like me to dress well, Napoleon.' + +'I will not have such monstrous extravagance. I could have two +regiments of cuirassiers, or a fleet of frigates, with the money which +you squander upon foolish silks and furs. It might turn the fortunes of +a campaign. Then again, Josephine, who gave you permission to order +that parure of diamonds and sapphires from Lefebvre? The bill has been +sent to me and I have refused to pay for it. If he applies again, I +shall have him marched to prison between a file of grenadiers, and your +milliner shall accompany him there.' + +The Emperor's fits of anger, although tempestuous, were never very +prolonged. The curious convulsive wriggle of one of his arms, which +always showed when he was excited, gradually died away, and after +looking for some time at the papers of de Meneval--who had written away +like an automaton during all this uproar--he came across to the fire +with a smile upon his lips, and a brow from which the shadow had +departed. + +'You have no excuse for extravagance, Josephine,' said he, laying his +hand upon her shoulder. 'Diamonds and fine dresses are very necessary +to an ugly woman in order to make her attractive, but _you_ cannot need +them for such a purpose. You had no fine dresses when first I saw you +in the Rue Chautereine, and yet there was no woman in the world who ever +attracted me so. Why will you vex me, Josephine, and make me say things +which seem unkind? Drive back, little one, to Pont de Briques, and see +that you do not catch cold.' + +'You will come to the salon, Napoleon?' asked the Empress, whose +bitterest resentment seemed to vanish in an instant at the first kindly +touch from his hand. She still held her handkerchief before her eyes, +but it was chiefly, I think, to conceal the effect which her tears had +had upon her cheeks. + +'Yes, yes, I will come. Our carriages will follow yours. See the +ladies into the berline, Constant. Have you ordered the embarkation of +the troops, Berthier? Come here, Talleyrand, for I wish to describe my +views about the future of Spain and Portugal. Monsieur de Laval, you +may escort the Empress to Pont de Briques, where I shall see you at the +reception.' + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE RECEPTION OF THE EMPRESS + +Pont de Briques is but a small village, and this sudden arrival of the +Court, which was to remain for some weeks, had crammed it with visitors. +It would have been very much simpler to have come to Boulogne, where +there were more suitable buildings and better accommodation, but +Napoleon had named Pont de Briques, so Pont de Briques it had to be. +The word impossible was not permitted amongst those who had to carry out +his wishes. So an army of cooks and footmen settled upon the little +place, and then there arrived the dignitaries of the new Empire, and +then the ladies of the Court, and then their admirers from the camp. +The Empress had a chateau for her accommodation. The rest quartered +themselves in cottages or where they best might, and waited ardently for +the moment which was to take them back to the comforts of Versailles or +Fontainebleau. + +The Empress had graciously offered me a seat in her berline, and all the +way to the village, entirely forgetful apparently of the scene through +which she passed, she chatted away, asking me a thousand personal +questions about myself and my affairs, for a kindly curiosity in the +doings of everyone around her was one of her most marked +characteristics. Especially was she interested in Eugenie, and as the +subject was one upon which I was equally interested in talking it ended +in a rhapsody upon my part, amid little sympathetic ejaculations from +the Empress and titterings from Madame de Remusat. + +'But you must certainly bring her over to the Court!' cried the kindly +woman. 'Such a paragon of beauty and of virtue must not be allowed to +waste herself in this English village. Have you spoken about her to the +Emperor?' + +'I found that he knew all about her, your Majesty.' + +'He knows all about everything. Oh, what a man he is! You heard him +about those diamonds and sapphires. Lefebvre gave me his word that no +one should know of it but ourselves, and that I should pay at my +leisure, and yet you see that the Emperor knew. But what did he say, +Monsieur de Laval?' + +'He said that my marriage should be his affair.' + +Josephine shook her head and groaned. + +'But this is serious, Monsieur de Laval. He is capable of singling out +any one of the ladies of the Court and marrying you to her within a +week. It is a subject upon which he will not listen to argument. He +has brought about some extraordinary matches in this way. But I will +speak to the Emperor before I return to Paris, and I will see what I can +arrange for you.' + +I was still endeavouring to thank her for her sympathy and kindness when +the berline rattled up the drive and pulled up at the entrance to the +chateau, where the knot of scarlet footmen and the bearskins of two +sentries from the Guards announced the Imperial quarters. The Empress +and her lady hurried away to prepare their toilets for the evening, and +I was shown at once into the salon, in which the guests had already +begun to assemble. + +This was a large square room furnished as modestly as the sitting-room +of a provincial gentleman would be likely to be. The wall-paper was +gloomy, and the furniture was of dark mahogany upholstered in faded blue +nankeen, but there were numerous candles in candelabra upon the tables +and in sconces upon the walls which gave an air of festivity even to +these sombre surroundings. Out of the large central room were several +smaller ones in which card-tables had been laid out, and the doorways +between had been draped with Oriental chintz. A number of ladies and +gentlemen were standing about, the former in the high evening dresses to +which the Emperor had given his sanction, the latter about equally +divided between the civilians in black court costumes and the soldiers +in their uniforms. Bright colours and graceful draperies predominated, +for in spite of his lectures about economy the Emperor was very harsh to +any lady who did not dress in a manner which would sustain the +brilliancy of his Court. The prevailing fashions gave an opening to +taste and to display, for the simple classical costumes had died out +with the Republic, and Oriental dresses had taken their place as a +compliment to the Conqueror of Egypt. Lucretia had changed to Zuleika, +and the salons which had reflected the austerity of old Rome had turned +suddenly into so many Eastern harems. + +On entering the room I had retired into a corner, fearing that I should +find none there whom I knew; but someone plucked at my arm, and turning +round I found myself looking into the yellow inscrutable face of my +uncle Bernac. He seized my unresponsive hand and wrung it with a false +cordiality. + +'My dear Louis,' said he. 'It was really the hope of meeting you here +which brought me over from Grosbois--although you can understand that +living so far from Paris I cannot afford to miss such an opportunity of +showing myself at Court. Nevertheless I can assure you that it was of +you principally that I was thinking. I hear that you have had a +splendid reception from the Emperor, and that you have been taken into +his personal service. I had spoken to him about you, and I made him +fully realise that if he treats you well he is likely to coax some of +the other young emigres into his service.' + +I was convinced that he was lying, but none the less I had to bow and +utter a few words of cold thanks. + +'I see that you still bear me some grudge for what passed between us the +other day,' said he, 'but really, my dear Louis, you have no occasion to +do so. It was your own good which I had chiefly at heart. I am neither +a young nor a strong man, Louis, and my profession, as you have seen, is +a dangerous one. There is my child, and there is my estate. Who takes +one, takes both. Sibylle is a charming girl, and you must not allow +yourself to be prejudiced against her by any ill temper which she may +have shown towards me. I will confess that she had some reason to be +annoyed at the turn which things had taken. But I hope to hear that you +have now thought better upon this matter.' + +'I have never thought about it at all, and I beg that you will not +discuss it,' said I curtly. + +He stood in deep thought for a few moments, and then he raised his evil +face and his cruel grey eyes to mine. + +'Well, well, that is settled then,' said he. 'But you cannot bear me a +grudge for having wished you to be my successor. Be reasonable, Louis. +You must acknowledge that you would now be six feet deep in the +salt-marsh with your neck broken if I had not stood your friend, at some +risk to myself. Is that not true?' + +'You had your own motive for that,' said I. + +'Very likely. But none the less I saved you. Why should you bear me +ill will? It is no fault of mine if I hold your estate.' + +'It is not on account of that.' + +'Why is it then?' + +I could have explained that it was because he had betrayed his comrades, +because his daughter hated him, because he had ill-used his wife, +because my father regarded him as the source of all his troubles--but +the salon of the Empress was no place for a family quarrel, so I merely +shrugged my shoulders, and was silent. + +'Well, I am very sorry,' said he, 'for I had the best of intentions +towards you. I could have advanced you, for there are few men in +France who exercise more influence. But I have one request to make to +you.' + +'What is that, sir?' + +'I have a number of personal articles, belonging to your father--his +sword, his seals, a deskful of letters, some silver plate--such things +in short as you would wish to keep in memory of him. I should be glad +if you will come to Grosbois--if it is only for one night--and look over +these things, choosing what you wish to take away. My conscience will +then be clear about them.' + +I promised readily that I would do so. + +'And when would you come?' he asked eagerly. Something in the tone of +his voice aroused my suspicions, and glancing at him I saw exultation in +his eyes. I remembered the warning of Sibylle. + +'I cannot come until I have learned what my duties with the Emperor are +to be. When that is settled I shall come.' + +'Very good. Next week perhaps, or the week afterwards. I shall expect +you eagerly, Louis. I rely upon your promise, for a Laval was never +known to break one.' With another unanswered squeeze of my hand, he +slipped off among the crowd, which was growing denser every instant in +the salon. + +I was standing in silence thinking over this sinister invitation of my +uncle's, when I heard my own name, and, looking up, I saw de +Caulaincourt, with his brown handsome face and tall elegant figure, +making his way towards me. + +'It is your first entrance at Court, is it not, Monsieur de Laval,' said +he, in his high-bred cordial manner; 'you should not feel lonely, for +there are certainly many friends of your father here who will be +overjoyed to make the acquaintance of your father's son. From what de +Meneval told me I gather that you know hardly anyone--even by sight.' + +'I know the Marshals,' said I; 'I saw them all at the council in the +Emperor's tent. There is Ney with the red head. And there is Lefebvre +with his singular mouth, and Bernadotte with the beak of a bird of +prey.' + +'Precisely. And that is Rapp, with the round, bullet head. He is +talking to Junot, the handsome dark man with the whiskers. These poor +soldiers are very unhappy.' + +'Why so?' I asked. + +'Because they are all men who have risen from nothing. This society and +etiquette terrifies them much more than all the dangers of war. +When they can hear their sabres clashing against their big boots they +feel at home, but when they have to stand about with their cocked hats +under their arms, and have to pick their spurs out of the ladies' +trains, and talk about David's picture or Passaniello's opera, it +prostrates them. The Emperor will not even permit them to swear, +although he has no scruples upon his own account. He tells them to be +soldiers with the army, and courtiers with the Court, but the poor +fellows cannot help being soldiers all the time. Look at Rapp with his +twenty wounds, endeavouring to exchange little delicate drolleries with +that young lady. There, you see, he has said something which would have +passed very well with a vivandiere, but it has made her fly to her +mamma, and he is scratching his head, for he cannot imagine how he has +offended her.' + +'Who is the beautiful woman with the white dress and the tiara of +diamonds?' I asked. + +'That is Madame Murat, who is the sister of the Emperor. Caroline is +beautiful, but she is not as pretty as her sister Marie, whom you see +over yonder in the corner. Do you see the tall stately dark-eyed old +lady with whom she is talking? That is Napoleon's mother--a wonderful +woman, the source of all their strength, shrewd, brave, vigorous, +forcing respect from everyone who knows her. She is as careful and as +saving as when she was the wife of a small country gentleman in Corsica, +and it is no secret that she has little confidence in the permanence of +the present state of things, and that she is always laying by for an +evil day. The Emperor does not know whether to be amused or exasperated +by her precautions. Well, Murat, I suppose we shall see you riding +across the Kentish hop-fields before long.' + +The famous soldier had paused opposite to us, and shook hands with my +companion. His elegant well-knit figure, large fiery eyes, and noble +bearing made this innkeeper's boy a man who would have drawn attention +and admiration to himself in any assembly in Europe. His mop of curly +hair and thick red lips gave that touch of character and individuality +to his appearance which redeem a handsome face from insipidity. + +'I am told that it is devilish bad country for cavalry--all cut up into +hedges and ditches,' said he. 'The roads are good, but the fields are +impossible. I hope that we are going soon, Monsieur de Caulaincourt, +for our men will all settle down as gardeners if this continues. +They are learning more about watering-pots and spuds than about horses +and sabres.' + +'The army, I hear, is to embark to-morrow.' + +'Yes, yes, but you know very well that they will disembark again upon +the wrong side of the Channel. Unless Villeneuve scatters the English +fleet, nothing can be attempted.' + +'Constant tells me that the Emperor was whistling "Malbrook" all the +time that he was dressing this morning, and that usually comes before a +move.' + +'It was very clever of Constant to tell what tune it was which the +Emperor was whistling,' said Murat, laughing. 'For my part I do not +think that he knows the difference between the "Malbrook" and the +"Marseillaise." Ah, here is the Empress--and how charming she is +looking!' + +Josephine had entered, with several of her ladies in her train, and the +whole assembly rose to do her honour. The Empress was dressed in an +evening gown of rose-coloured tulle, spangled with silver stars--an +effect which might have seemed meretricious and theatrical in another +woman, but which she carried off with great grace and dignity. A little +sheaf of diamond wheat-ears rose above her head, and swayed gently as +she walked. No one could entertain more charmingly than she, for she +moved about among the people with her amiable smile, setting everybody +at their ease by her kindly natural manner, and by the conviction which +she gave them that she was thoroughly at her ease herself. 'How amiable +she is!' I exclaimed. 'Who could help loving her?' + +'There is only one family which can resist her,' said de Caulaincourt, +glancing round to see that Murat was out of hearing. 'Look at the faces +of the Emperor's sisters.' + +I was shocked when I followed his direction to see the malignant glances +with which these two beautiful women were following the Empress as she +walked about the room. They whispered together and tittered +maliciously. Then Madame Murat turned to her mother behind her, and the +stern old lady tossed her haughty head in derision and contempt. + +'They feel that Napoleon is theirs and that they ought to have +everything. They cannot bear to think that she is Her Imperial Majesty +and they are only Her Highness. They all hate her, Joseph, Lucien--all +of them. When they had to carry her train at the coronation they tried +to trip her up, and the Emperor had to interfere. Oh yes, they have the +real Corsican blood, and they are not very comfortable people to get +along with.' + +But in spite of the evident hatred of her husband's family, the Empress +appeared to be entirely unconcerned and at her ease as she strolled +about among the groups of her guests with a kindly glance and a pleasant +word for each of them. A tall, soldierly man, brown-faced and +moustached, walked beside her, and she occasionally laid her hand with a +caressing motion upon his arm. + +'That is her son, Eugene de Beauharnais,' said my companion. + +'Her son!' I exclaimed, for he seemed to me to be the older of the two. + +De Caulaincourt smiled at my surprise. + +'You know she married Beauharnais when she was very young--in fact she +was hardly sixteen. She has been sitting in her boudoir while her son +has been baking in Egypt and Syria, so that they have pretty well +bridged over the gap between them. Do you see the tall, handsome, +clean-shaven man who has just kissed Josephine's hand. That is Talma +the famous actor. He once helped Napoleon at a critical moment of his +career, and the Emperor has never forgotten the debt which the Consul +contracted. That is really the secret of Talleyrand's power. He lent +Napoleon a hundred thousand francs before he set out for Egypt, and now, +however much he distrusts him, the Emperor cannot forget that old +kindness. I have never known him to abandon a friend or to forgive an +enemy. If you have once served him well you may do what you like +afterwards. There is one of his coachmen who is drunk from morning to +night. But he gained the cross at Marengo, and so he is safe.' + +De Caulaincourt had moved on to speak with some lady, and I was again +left to my own thoughts, which turned upon this extraordinary man, who +presented himself at one moment as a hero and at another as a spoiled +child, with his nobler and his worse side alternating so rapidly that I +had no sooner made up my mind about him than some new revelation would +destroy my views and drive me to some fresh conclusion. That he was +necessary to France was evident, and that in serving him one was serving +one's country. But was it an honour or a penance to serve him? Was he +worthy merely of obedience, or might love and esteem be added to it? +These were the questions which we found it difficult to answer--and some +of us will never have answered them up to the end of time. + +The company had now lost all appearance of formality, and even the +soldiers seemed to be at their ease. Many had gone into the side rooms, +where they had formed tables for whist and for vingt-et-un. For my own +part I was quite entertained by watching the people, the beautiful +women, the handsome men, the bearers of names which had been heard of in +no previous generation, but which now rung round the world. Immediately +in front of me were Ney, Lannes, and Murat chatting together and +laughing with the freedom of the camp. Of the three, two were destined +to be executed in cold blood, and the third to die upon the +battle-field, but no coming shadow ever cast a gloom upon their cheery, +full-blooded lives. + +A small, silent, middle-aged man, who looked unhappy and ill at ease, +had been leaning against the wall beside me. Seeing that he was as +great a stranger as myself, I addressed some observation to him, to +which he replied with great good-will, but in the most execrable French. + +'You don't happen to understand English?' he asked. 'I've never met one +living soul in this country who did.' + +'Oh yes, I understand it very well, for I have lived most of my life +over yonder. But surely you are not English, sir? I understood that +every Englishman in France was under lock and key ever since the breach +of the treaty of Amiens.' + +'No, I am not English,' he answered, 'I am an American. My name is +Robert Fulton, and I have to come to these receptions because it is the +only way in which I can keep myself in the memory of the Emperor, who is +examining some inventions of mine which will make great changes in naval +warfare.' + +Having nothing else to do I asked this curious American what his +inventions might be, and his replies very soon convinced me that I had +to do with a madman. He had some idea of making a ship go against the +wind and against the current by means of coal or wood which was to be +burned inside of her. There was some other nonsense about floating +barrels full of gunpowder which would blow a ship to pieces if she +struck against them. I listened to him at the time with an indulgent +smile, but now looking back from the point of vantage of my old age I +can see that not all the warriors and statesmen in that room--no, not +even the Emperor himself--have had as great an effect upon the history +of the world as that silent American who looked so drab and so +commonplace among the gold-slashed uniforms and the Oriental dresses. + +But suddenly our conversation was interrupted by a hush in the room-- +such a cold, uncomfortable hush as comes over a roomful of happy, +romping children when a grave-faced elder comes amongst them. +The chatting and the laughter died away. The sound of the rustling +cards and of the clicking counters had ceased in the other rooms. +Everyone, men and women, had risen to their feet with a constrained +expectant expression upon their faces. And there in the doorway were +the pale face and the green coat with the red cordon across the white +waistcoat. + +There was no saying how he might behave upon these occasions. +Sometimes he was capable of being the merriest and most talkative of the +company, but this was rather in his consular than in his imperial days. +On the other hand he might be absolutely ferocious, with an insulting +observation for everyone with whom he came in contact. As a rule he was +between these two extremes, silent, morose, ill at ease, shooting out +curt little remarks which made everyone uncomfortable. There was always +a sigh of relief when he would pass from one room into the next. + +On this occasion he seemed to have not wholly recovered from the storm +of the afternoon, and he looked about him with a brooding eye and a +lowering brow. It chanced that I was not very far from the door, and +that his glance fell upon me. + +'Come here, Monsieur de Laval,' said he. He laid his hand upon my +shoulder and turned to a big, gaunt man who had accompanied him into the +room. 'Look here, Cambaceres, you simpleton,' said he. 'You always +said that the old families would never come back, and that they would +settle in England as the Huguenots have done. You see that, as usual, +you have miscalculated, for here is the heir of the de Lavals come to +offer his services. Monsieur de Laval, you are now my aide-de-camp, and +I beg you to keep with me wherever I go.' + +This was promotion indeed, and yet I had sense enough to know that it +was not for my own sweet sake that the Emperor had done it, but in order +to encourage others to follow me. My conscience approved what I had +done, for no sordid motive and nothing but the love of my country had +prompted me; but now, as I walked round behind Napoleon, I felt +humiliated and ashamed, like a prisoner led behind the car of his +captor. + +And soon there was something else to make me ashamed, and that was the +conduct of him whose servant I had become. His manners were outrageous. +As he had himself said, it was his nature to be always first, and this +being so he resented those courtesies and gallantries by which men are +accustomed to disguise from women the fact that they are the weaker sex. +The Emperor, unlike Louis XIV., felt that even a temporary and +conventional attitude of humility towards a woman was too great a +condescension from his own absolute supremacy. Chivalry was among those +conditions of society which he refused to accept. + +To the soldiers he was amiable enough, with a nod and a joke for each of +them. To his sisters also he said a few words, though rather in the +tone of a drill sergeant to a pair of recruits. It was only when the +Empress had joined him that his ill-humour came to a head. + +'I wish you would not wear those wisps of pink about your head, +Josephine,' said he, pettishly. 'All that women have to think about is +how to dress themselves, and yet they cannot even do that with +moderation or taste. If I see you again in such a thing I will thrust +it in the fire as I did your shawl the other day.' + +'You are so hard to please, Napoleon. You like one day what you cannot +abide the next. But I will certainly change it if it offends you,' said +Josephine, with admirable patience. + +The Emperor took a few steps between the people, who had formed a lane +for us to pass through. Then he stopped and looked over his shoulder at +the Empress. + +'How often have I told you, Josephine, that I cannot tolerate fat +women.' + +'I always bear it in mind, Napoleon.' + +'Then why is Madame de Chevreux present?' + +'But surely, Napoleon, madame is not very fat.' + +'She is fatter than she should be. I should prefer not to see her. +Who is this?' He had paused before a young lady in a blue dress, whose +knees seemed to be giving way under her as the terrible Emperor +transfixed her with his searching eyes. + +'This is Mademoiselle de Bergerot.' + +'How old are you?' + +'Twenty-three, sire.' + +'It is time that you were married. Every woman should be married at +twenty-three. How is it that you are not married?' + +The poor girl appeared to be incapable of answering, so the Empress +gently remarked that it was to the young men that that question should +be addressed. + +'Oh, that is the difficulty, is it?' said the Emperor. 'We must look +about and find a husband for you.' He turned, and to my horror I found +his eyes fixed with a questioning gaze upon my face. + +'We have to find you a wife also, Monsieur de Laval,' said he. 'Well, +well, we shall see--we shall see. What is your name?' to a quiet +refined man in black. + +'I am Gretry, the musician.' + +'Yes, yes, I remember you. I have seen you a hundred times, but I can +never recall your name. Who are you?' + +'I am Joseph de Chenier.' + +'Of course. I have seen your tragedy. I have forgotten the name of it, +but it was not good. You have written some other poetry, have you not?' + +'Yes, sire. I had your permission to dedicate my last volume to you.' + +'Very likely, but I have not had time to read it. It is a pity that we +have no poets now in France, for the deeds of the last few years would +have given a subject for a Homer or a Virgil. It seems that I can +create kingdoms but not poets. Whom do you consider to be the greatest +French writer?' + +'Racine, sire.' + +'Then you are a blockhead, for Corneille was infinitely greater. I have +no ear for metre or trivialities of the kind, but I can sympathise with +the spirit of poetry, and I am conscious that Corneille is far the +greatest of poets. I would have made him my prime minister had he had +the good fortune to live in my epoch. It is his intellect which I +admire, his knowledge of the human heart, and his profound feeling. +Are you writing anything at present?' + +'I am writing a tragedy upon Henry IV., sire.' + +'It will not do, sir. It is too near the present day, and I will not +have politics upon the stage. Write a play about Alexander. What is +your name?' + +He had pitched upon the same person whom he had already addressed. + +'I am still Gretry, the musician,' said he meekly. + +The Emperor flushed for an instant at the implied rebuke. He said +nothing, however, but passed on to where several ladies were standing +together near the door of the card-room. + +'Well, madame,' said he to the nearest of them, 'I hope you are behaving +rather better. When last I heard from Paris your doings were furnishing +the Quartier St. Germain with a good deal of amusement and gossip.' + +'I beg that your Majesty will explain what you mean,' said she with +spirit. + +'They had coupled your name with that of Colonel Lasalle.' + +'It is a foul calumny, sire.' + +'Very possibly, but it is awkward when so many calumnies cluster round +one person. You are certainly a most unfortunate lady in that respect. +You had a scandal once before with General Rapp's aide-de-camp. This +must come to an end. What is your name?' he continued, turning to +another. + +'Mademoiselle de Perigord.' + +'Your age?' + +'Twenty.' + +'You are very thin and your elbows are red. My God, Madame Boismaison, +are we never to see anything but this same grey gown and the red turban +with the diamond crescent?' + +'I have never worn it before, sire?' + +'Then you had another the same, for I am weary of the sight of it. +Let me never see you in it again. Monsieur de Remusat, I make you a +good allowance. Why do you not spend it?' + +'I do, sire.' + +'I hear that you have been putting down your carriage. I do not give +you money to hoard in a bank, but I give it to you that you may keep up +a fitting appearance with it. Let me hear that your carriage is back in +the coach-house when I return to Paris. Junot, you rascal, I hear that +you have been gambling and losing.' + +'The most infernal run of luck, sire,' said the soldier, 'I give you my +word that the ace fell four times running.' + +'Ta, ta, you are a child, with no sense of the value of money. How much +do you owe?' + +'Forty thousand, sire.' + +'Well, well, go to Lebrun and see what he can do for you. After all, we +were together at Toulon.' + +'A thousand thanks, sire.' + +'Tut! You and Rapp and Lasalle are the spoiled children of the army. +But no more cards, you rascal! I do not like low dresses, Madame +Picard. They spoil even pretty women, but in you they are inexcusable. +Now, Josephine, I am going to my room, and you can come in half an hour +and read me to sleep. I am tired to-night, but I came to your salon, +since you desired that I should help you in welcoming and entertaining +your guests. You can remain here, Monsieur de Laval, for your presence +will not be necessary until I send you my orders.' + +And so the door closed behind him, and with a long sigh of relief from +everyone, from the Empress to the waiter with the negus, the friendly +chatter began once more, with the click of the counters and the rustle +of the cards just as they had been before he came to help in the +entertainment. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE LIBRARY OF GROSBOIS + +And now, my friends, I am coming to the end of those singular adventures +which I encountered upon my arrival in France, adventures which might +have been of some interest in themselves had I not introduced the figure +of the Emperor, who has eclipsed them all as completely as the sun +eclipses the stars. Even now, you see, after all these years, in an old +man's memoirs, the Emperor is still true to his traditions, and will not +brook any opposition. As I draw his words and his deeds I feel that my +own poor story withers before them. And yet if it had not been for that +story I should not have had an excuse for describing to you my first and +most vivid impressions of him, and so it has served a purpose after all. +You must bear with me now while I tell you of our expedition to the Red +Mill and of what befell in the library of Grosbois. + +Two days had passed away since the reception of the Empress Josephine, +and only one remained of the time which had been allowed to my cousin +Sibylle in which she might save her lover, and capture the terrible +Toussac. For my own part I was not so very anxious that she should save +this craven lover of hers, whose handsome face belied the poor spirit +within him. And yet this lonely beautiful woman, with the strong will +and the loyal heart, had touched my feelings, and I felt that I would +help her to anything--even against my own better judgment, if she should +desire it. It was then with a mixture of feelings that late in the +afternoon I saw her and General Savary enter the little room in which I +lodged at Boulogne. One glance at her flushed cheeks and triumphant +eyes told me that she was confident in her own success. + +'I told you that I would find him, Cousin Louis!' she cried; 'I have +come straight to you, because you said that you would help in the taking +of him.' + +'Mademoiselle insists upon it that I should not use soldiers,' said +Savary, shrugging his shoulders. + +'No, no, no,' she cried with vehemence. 'It has to be done with +discretion, and at the sight of a soldier he would fly to some +hiding-place, where you would never be able to follow him. I cannot +afford to run a risk. There is too much already at stake.' + +'In such an affair three men are as useful as thirty,' said Savary. +'I should not in any case have employed more. You say that you have +another friend, Lieutenant--?' + +'Lieutenant Gerard of the Hussars of Bercheny.' + +'Quite so. There is not a more gallant officer in the Grand Army than +Etienne Gerard. The three of us, Monsieur de Laval, should be equal to +any adventure.' + +'I am at your disposal.' + +'Tell us then, mademoiselle, where Toussac is hiding.' + +'He is hiding at the Red Mill.' + +'But we have searched it, I assure you that he is not there.' + +'When did you search it?' + +'Two days ago.' + +'Then he has come there since. I knew that Jeanne Portal loved him. +I have watched her for six days. Last night she stole down to the Red +Mill with a basket of wine and fruit. All the morning I have seen her +eyes sweeping the country side, and I have read the terror in them +whenever she has seen the twinkle of a bayonet. I am as sure that +Toussac is in the mill as if I had seen him with my own eyes.' + +'In that case there is not an instant to be lost,' cried Savary. 'If he +knows of a boat upon the coast he is as likely as not to slip away after +dark and make his escape for England. From the Red Mill one can see all +the surrounding country, and Mademoiselle is right in thinking that a +large body of soldiers would only warn him to escape.' + +'What do you propose then?' I asked. + +'That you meet us at the south gate of the camp in an hour's time +dressed as you are. You might be any gentleman travelling upon the high +road. I shall see Gerard, and we shall adopt some suitable disguise. +Bring your pistols, for it is with the most desperate man in France we +have to do. We shall have a horse at your disposal.' + +The setting sun lay dull and red upon the western horizon, and the white +chalk cliffs of the French coast had all flushed into pink when I found +myself once more at the gate of the Boulogne Camp. There was no sign of +my companions, but a tall man, dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons +like a small country farmer, was tightening the girth of a magnificent +black horse, whilst a little further on a slim young ostler was waiting +by the roadside, holding the bridles of two others. It was only when I +recognised one of the pair as the horse which I had ridden on my first +coming to camp that I answered the smile upon the keen handsome face of +the ostler, and saw the swarthy features of Savary under the +broad-brimmed hat of the farmer. + +'I think that we may travel without fearing to excite suspicion,' said +he. 'Crook that straight back of yours a little, Gerard! And now we +shall push upon our way, or we may find that we are too late.' + +My life has had its share of adventures, and yet, somehow, this ride +stands out above the others. + +There over the waters I could dimly see the loom of the English coast, +with its suggestions of dreamy villages, humming bees, and the pealing +of Sunday bells. I thought of the long, white High Street of Ashford, +with its red brick houses, and the inn with the great swinging sign. +All my life had been spent in these peaceful surroundings, and now, here +I was with a spirited horse between my knees, two pistols peeping out of +my holsters, and a commission upon which my whole future might depend, +to arrest the most redoubtable conspirator in France. No wonder that, +looking back over many dangers and many vicissitudes, it is still that +evening ride over the short crisp turf of the downs which stands out +most clearly in my memory. One becomes _blase_ to adventure, as one +becomes _blase_ to all else which the world can give, save only the +simple joys of home, and to taste the full relish of such an +expedition one must approach it with the hot blood of youth still +throbbing in one's veins. + +Our route, when we had left the uplands of Boulogne behind us, lay along +the skirts of that desolate marsh in which I had wandered, and so +inland, through plains of fern and bramble, until the familiar black +keep of the Castle of Grosbois rose upon the left. Then, under the +guidance of Savary, we struck to the right down a sunken road, and so +over the shoulder of a hill until, on a further slope beyond, we saw the +old windmill black against the evening sky. Its upper window burned red +like a spot of blood in the last rays of the setting sun. Close by the +door stood a cart full of grain sacks, with the shafts pointing +downwards and the horse grazing at some distance. As we gazed, a woman +appeared upon the downs and stared round, with her hand over her eyes. + +'See that!' said Savary eagerly. 'He is there sure enough, or why +should they be on their guard? Let us take this road which winds round +the hill, and they will not see us until we are at the very door.' + +'Should we not gallop forward?' I suggested. + +'The ground is too cut up. The longer way is the safer. As long as we +are upon the road they cannot tell us from any other travellers.' + +We walked our horses along the path, therefore, with as unconcerned an +air as we could assume; but a sharp exclamation made us glance suddenly +round, and there was the woman standing on a hillock by the roadside and +gazing down at us with a face that was rigid with suspicion. The sight +of the military bearing of my companions changed all her fear into +certainties. In an instant she had whipped the shawl from her +shoulders, and was waving it frantically over her head. With a hearty +curse Savary spurred his horse up the bank and galloped straight for the +mill, with Gerard and myself at his heels. + +It was only just in time. We were still a hundred paces from the door +when a man sprang out from it, and gazed about him, his head whisking +this way and that. There could be no mistaking the huge bristling +beard, the broad chest, and the rounded shoulders of Toussac. A glance +showed him that we would ride him down before he could get away, and he +sprang back into the mill, closing the heavy door with a clang behind +him. + +'The window, Gerard, the window!' cried Savary. + +There was a small, square window opening into the basement room of the +mill. The young hussar disengaged himself from the saddle and flew +through it as the clown goes through the hoops at Franconi's. +An instant later he had opened the door for us, with the blood streaming +from his face and hands. + +'He has fled up the stair,' said he. + +'Then we need be in no hurry, since he cannot pass us,' said Savary, as +we sprang from our horses. 'You have carried his first line of +entrenchments most gallantly, Lieutenant Gerard. I hope you are not +hurt?' + +'A few scratches, General, nothing more.' + +'Get your pistols, then. Where is the miller?' + +'Here I am,' said a squat, rough little fellow, appearing in the open +doorway. 'What do you mean, you brigands, by entering my mill in this +fashion? I am sitting reading my paper and smoking my pipe of +coltsfoot, as my custom is about this time of the evening, and suddenly, +without a word, a man comes flying through my window, covers me with +glass, and opens my door to his friends outside. I've had trouble +enough with my one lodger all day without three more of you turning up.' + +'You have the conspirator Toussac in your house.' + +'Toussac!' cried the miller. 'Nothing of the kind. His name is +Maurice, and he is a merchant in silks.' + +'He is the man we want. We come in the Emperor's name.' + +The miller's jaw dropped as he listened. + +'I don't know who he is, but he offered a good price for a bed and I +asked no more questions. In these days one cannot expect a certificate +of character from every lodger. But, of course, if it is a matter of +State, why, it is not for me to interfere. But, to do him justice, he +was a quiet gentleman enough until he had that letter just now.' + +'What letter? Be careful what you say, you rascal, for your own head +may find its way into the sawdust basket.' + +'It was a woman who brought it. I can only tell you what I know. +He has been talking like a madman ever since. It made my blood run cold +to hear him. There's someone whom he swears he will murder. I shall be +very glad to see the last of him.' + +'Now, gentlemen,' said Savary, drawing his sword, 'we may leave our +horses here. There is no window for forty feet, so he cannot escape +from us. If you will see that your pistols are primed, we shall soon +bring the fellow to terms.' + +The stair was a narrow winding one made of wood, which led to a small +loft lighted from a slit in the wall. + +Some remains of wood and a litter of straw showed that this was where +Toussac had spent his day. There was, however, no sign of him now, and +it was evident that he had ascended the next flight of steps. +We climbed them, only to find our way barred by a heavy door. + +'Surrender, Toussac!' cried Savary. 'It is useless to attempt to escape +us. + +A hoarse laugh sounded from behind the door. + +'I am not a man who surrenders. But I will make a bargain with you. +I have a small matter of business to do to-night. If you will leave me +alone, I will give you my solemn pledge to surrender at the camp +to-morrow. I have a little debt that I wish to pay. It is only to-day +that I understood to whom I owed it.' + +'What you ask is impossible.' + +'It would save you a great deal of trouble.' + +'We cannot grant such a request. You must surrender.' + +'You'll have some work first.' + +'Come, come, you cannot escape us. Put your shoulders against the door! +Now, all together?' + +There was the hot flash of a pistol from the keyhole, and a bullet +smacked against the wall between us. We hurled ourselves against the +door. It was massive, but rotten with age. With a splintering and +rending it gave way before us. We rushed in, weapons in hand, to find +ourselves in an empty room. + +'Where the devil has he got to?' cried Savary, glaring round him. +'This is the top room of all. There is nothing above it.' + +It was a square empty space with a few corn-bags littered about. At the +further side was an open window, and beside it lay a pistol, still +smoking from the discharge. We all rushed across, and, as we craned our +heads over, a simultaneous cry of astonishment escaped from us. + +The distance to the ground was so great that no one could have survived +the fall, but Toussac had taken advantage of the presence of that cart +full of grain-sacks, which I have described as having lain close to the +mill. This had both shortened the distance and given him an excellent +means of breaking the fall. Even so, however, the shock had been +tremendous, and as we looked out he was lying panting heavily upon the +top of the bags. Hearing our cry, however, he looked up, shook his fist +defiantly, and, rolling from the cart, he sprang on to the back of +Savary's black horse, and galloped off across the downs, his great beard +flying in the wind, untouched by the pistol bullets with which we tried +to bring him down. + +How we flew down those creaking wooden stairs and out through the open +door of the mill! Quick as we were, he had a good start, and by the +time Gerard and I were in the saddle he had become a tiny man upon a +small horse galloping up the green slope of the opposite hill. +The shades of evening, too, were drawing in, and upon his left was the +huge salt-marsh, where we should have found it difficult to follow him. +The chances were certainly in his favour. And yet he never swerved from +his course, but kept straight on across the downs on a line which took +him farther and farther from the sea. Every instant we feared to see +him dart away in the morass, but still he held his horse's head against +the hill-side. What could he be making for? He never pulled rein and +never glanced round, but flew onwards, like a man with a definite goal +in view. + +Lieutenant Gerard and I were lighter men, and our mounts were as good as +his, so that it was not long before we began to gain upon him. If we +could only keep him in sight it was certain that we should ride him +down; but there was always the danger that he might use his knowledge of +the country to throw us off his track. As we sank beneath each hill my +heart sank also, to rise again with renewed hope as we caught sight of +him once more galloping in front of us. + +But at last that which I had feared befell us. We were not more than a +couple of hundred paces behind him when we lost all trace of him. +He had vanished behind some rolling ground, and we could see nothing of +him when we reached the summit. + +'There is a road there to the left,' cried Gerard, whose Gascon blood +was aflame with excitement. + +'On, my friend, on, let us keep to the left!' + +'Wait a moment!' I cried. 'There is a bridle-path upon the right, and +it is as likely that he took that.' + +'Then do you take one and I the other.' + +'One moment, I hear the sound of hoofs!' + +'Yes, yes, it is his horse!' + +A great black horse, which was certainly that of General Savary, had +broken out suddenly through a dense tangle of brambles in front of us. +The saddle was empty. + +'He has found some hiding-place here amongst the brambles,' I cried. + +Gerard had already sprung from his horse, and was leading him through +the bushes. I followed his example, and in a minute or two we made our +way down a winding path into a deep chalk quarry. + +'There is no sign of him!' cried Gerard. 'He has escaped us.' + +But suddenly I had understood it all. His furious rage which the miller +had described to us was caused no doubt by his learning how he came to +be betrayed upon the night of his arrival. This sweetheart of his had +in some way discovered it, and had let him know. His promise to deliver +himself up to-morrow was in order to give him time to have his revenge +upon my uncle. And now with one idea in his head he had ridden to this +chalk quarry. Of course, it must be the same chalk quarry into which +the underground passage of Grosbois opened, and no doubt during his +treasonable meetings with my uncle he had learned the secret. Twice I +hit upon the wrong spot, but at the third trial I gained the face of the +cliff, made my way between it and the bushes, and found the narrow +opening, which was hardly visible in the gathering darkness. During our +search Savary had overtaken us on foot, so now, leaving our horses in +the chalk-pit, my two companions followed me through the narrow entrance +tunnel, and on into the larger and older passage beyond. We had no +lights, and it was as black as pitch within, so I stumbled forward as +best I might, feeling my way by keeping one hand upon the side wall, and +tripping occasionally over the stones which were scattered along the +path. It had seemed no very great distance when my uncle had led the +way with the light, but now, what with the darkness, and what with the +uncertainty and the tension of our feelings, it appeared to be a long +journey, and Savary's deep voice at my elbow growled out questions as to +how many more miles we were to travel in this moleheap. + +'Hush!' whispered Gerard. 'I hear someone in front of us.' + +We stood listening in breathless silence. Then far away through the +darkness I heard the sound of a door creaking upon its hinges. + +'On, on!' cried Savary, eagerly. 'The rascal is there, sure enough. +This time at least we have got him!' + +But for my part I had my fears. I remembered that my uncle had opened +the door which led into the castle by some secret catch. This sound +which we had heard seemed to show that Toussac had also known how to +open it. But suppose that he had closed it behind him. I remembered +its size and the iron clampings which bound it together. It was +possible that even at the last moment we might find ourselves face to +face with an insuperable obstacle. On and on we hurried in the dark, +and then suddenly I could have raised a shout of joy, for there in the +distance was a yellow glimmer of light, only visible in contrast with +the black darkness which lay between. The door was open. In his mad +thirst for vengeance Toussac had never given a thought to the pursuers +at his heels. + +And now we need no longer grope. It was a race along the passage and up +the winding stair, through the second door, and into the stone-flagged +corridor of the Castle of Grosbois, with the oil-lamp still burning at +the end of it. A frightful cry--a long-drawn scream of terror and of +pain--rang through it as we entered. + +'He is killing him! He is killing him!' cried a voice, and a woman +servant rushed madly out into the passage. 'Help, help; he is killing +Monsieur Bernac!' + +'Where is he?' shouted Savary. + +'There! The library! The door with the green curtain!' Again that +horrible cry rang out, dying down to a harsh croaking. It ended in a +loud, sharp snick, as when one cracks one's joint, but many times +louder. I knew only too well what that dreadful sound portended. +We rushed together into the room, but the hardened Savary and the +dare-devil hussar both recoiled in horror from the sight which met our +gaze. + +My uncle had been seated writing at his desk, with his back to the door, +when his murderer had entered. No doubt it was at the first glance over +his shoulder that he had raised the scream when he saw that terrible +hairy face coming in upon him, while the second cry may have been when +those great hands clutched at his head. He had never risen from his +chair--perhaps he had been too paralysed by fear--and he still sat with +his back to the door. But what struck the colour from our cheeks was +that his head had been turned completely round, so that his horribly +distorted purple face looked squarely at us from between his shoulders. +Often in my dreams that thin face, with the bulging grey eyes, and the +shockingly open mouth, comes to disturb me. Beside him stood Toussac, +his face flushed with triumph, and his great arms folded across his +chest. + +'Well, my friends,' said he, 'you are too late, you see. I have paid my +debts after all.' + +'Surrender!' cried Savary. + +'Shoot away! Shoot away!' he cried, drumming his hands upon his breast. +'You don't suppose I fear your miserable pellets, do you? Oh, you +imagine you will take me alive! I'll soon knock that idea out of your +heads.' + +In an instant he had swung a heavy chair over his head, and was rushing +furiously at us. We all fired our pistols into him together, but +nothing could stop that thunderbolt of a man. With the blood spurting +from his wounds, he lashed madly out with his chair, but his eyesight +happily failed him, and his swashing blow came down upon the corner of +the table with a crash which broke it into fragments. Then with a mad +bellow of rage he sprang upon Savary, tore him down to the ground, and +had his hand upon his chin before Gerard and I could seize him by the +arms. We were three strong men, but he was as strong as all of us put +together, for again and again he shook himself free, and again and again +we got our grip upon him once more. But he was losing blood fast. +Every instant his huge strength ebbed away. With a supreme effort he +staggered to his feet, the three of us hanging on to him like hounds on +to a bear. Then, with a shout of rage and despair which thundered +through the whole castle, his knees gave way under him, and he fell in a +huge inert heap upon the floor, his black beard bristling up towards the +ceiling. We all stood panting round, ready to spring upon him if he +should move; but it was over. He was dead. + +Savary, deadly pale, was leaning with his hand to his side against the +table. It was not for nothing that those mighty arms had been thrown +round him. + +'I feel as if I had been hugged by a bear,' said he. 'Well, there is +one dangerous man the less in France, and the Emperor has lost one of +his enemies. And yet he was a brave man too!' + +'What a soldier he would have made!' said Gerard thoughtfully. 'What a +quartermaster for the Hussars of Bercheny! He must have been a very +foolish person to set his will against that of the Emperor.' + +I had seated myself, sick and dazed, upon the settee, for scenes of +bloodshed were new to me then, and this one had been enough to shock the +most hardened. Savary gave us all a little cognac from his flask, and +then tearing down one of the curtains he laid it over the terrible +figure of my Uncle Bernac. + +'We can do nothing here,' said he. 'I must get back and report to the +Emperor as soon as possible. But all these papers of Bernac's must be +seized, for many of them bear upon this and other conspiracies.' As he +spoke he gathered together a number of documents which were scattered +about the table--among the others a letter which lay before him upon the +desk, and which he had apparently just finished at the time of Toussac's +irruption. + +'Hullo, what's this?' said Savary, glancing over it. 'I fancy that our +friend Bernac was a dangerous man also. "My dear Catulle--I beg of you +to send me by the very first mail another phial of the same tasteless +essence which you sent three years ago. I mean the almond decoction +which leaves no traces. I have particular reasons for wanting it in the +course of next week, so I implore you not to delay. You may rely upon +my interest with the Emperor whenever you have occasion to demand it."' + +'Addressed to a chemist in Amiens,' said Savary, turning over the +letter. 'A poisoner then, on the top of his other virtues. I wonder +for whom this essence of almonds which leaves no trace was intended.' + +'I wonder,' said I. + +After all, he was my uncle, and he was dead, so why should I say +further? + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE END + +General Savary rode straight to Pont de Briques to report to the +Emperor, while Gerard returned with me to my lodgings to share a bottle +of wine. I had expected to find my Cousin Sibylle there, but to my +surprise there was no sign of her, nor had she left any word to tell us +whither she had gone. + +It was just after daybreak in the morning when I woke to find an equerry +of the Emperor with his hand upon my shoulder. + +'The Emperor desires to see you, Monsieur de Laval,' said he. + +'Where?' + +'At the Pont de Briques.' + +I knew that promptitude was the first requisite for those who hoped to +advance themselves in his service. In ten minutes I was in the saddle, +and in half an hour I was at the chateau. I was conducted upstairs to a +room in which were the Emperor and Josephine, she reclining upon a sofa +in a charming dressing-gown of pink and lace, he striding about in his +energetic fashion, dressed in the curious costume which he assumed +before his official hours had begun--a white sleeping suit, red Turkish +slippers, and a white bandanna handkerchief tied round his head, the +whole giving him the appearance of a West Indian planter. From the +strong smell of eau-de-Cologne I judged that he had just come from his +bath. He was in the best of humours, and she, as usual, reflected him, +so that they were two smiling faces which were turned upon me as I was +announced. It was hard to believe that it was this man with the kindly +expression and the genial eye who had come like an east wind into the +reception-room the other night, and left a trail of wet cheeks and +downcast faces wherever he had passed. + +'You have made an excellent debut as aide-de-camp,' said he; 'Savary +has told me all that has occurred, and nothing could have been better +arranged. I have not time to think of such things myself, but my wife +will sleep more soundly now that she knows that this Toussac is out of +the way.' + +'Yes, yes, he was a terrible man,' cried the Empress. 'So was that +Georges Cadoudal. They were both terrible men.' + +'I have my star, Josephine,' said Napoleon, patting her upon the head. +'I see my own career lying before me and I know exactly what I am +destined to do. Nothing can harm me until my work is accomplished. +The Arabs are believers in Fate, and the Arabs are in the right.' + +'Then why should you plan, Napoleon, if everything is to be decided by +Fate?' + +'Because it is fated that I should plan, you little stupid. Don't you +see that that is part of Fate also, that I should have a brain which is +capable of planning. I am always building behind a scaffolding, and no +one can see what I am building until I have finished. I never look +forward for less than two years, and I have been busy all morning, +Monsieur de Laval, in planning out the events which will occur in the +autumn and winter of 1807. By the way, that good-looking cousin of +yours appears to have managed this affair very cleverly. She is a very +fine girl to be wasted upon such a creature as the Lucien Lesage who has +been screaming for mercy for a week past. Do you not think that it is a +great pity?' + +I acknowledged that I did. + +'It is always so with women--ideologists, dreamers, carried away by +whims and imaginings. They are like the Easterns, who cannot conceive +that a man is a fine soldier unless he has a formidable presence. +I could not get the Egyptians to believe that I was a greater general +than Kleber, because he had the body of a porter and the head of a +hair-dresser. So it is with this poor creature Lesage, who will be made +a hero by women because he has an oval face and the eyes of a calf. +Do you imagine that if she were to see him in his true colours it would +turn her against him?' + +'I am convinced of it, sire. From the little that I have seen of my +cousin I am sure that no one could have a greater contempt for cowardice +or for meanness.' + +'You speak warmly, sir. You are not by chance just a little touched +yourself by this fair cousin of yours?' + +'Sire, I have already told you--' + +'Ta, ta, ta, but she is across the water, and many things have happened +since then.' + +Constant had entered the room. + +'He has been admitted, sire.' + +'Very good. We shall move into the next room. Josephine, you shall +come too, for it is your business rather than mine.' + +The room into which we passed was a long, narrow one. There were two +windows at one side, but the curtains had been drawn almost across, so +that the light was not very good. At the further door was Roustem the +Mameluke, and beside him, with arms folded and his face sunk downwards +in an attitude of shame and contrition, there was standing the very man +of whom we had been talking. He looked up with scared eyes, and started +with fear when he saw the Emperor approaching him. Napoleon stood with +legs apart and his hands behind his back, and looked at him long and +searchingly. + +'Well, my fine fellow,' said he at last, 'you have burned your fingers, +and I do not fancy that you will come near the fire again. Or do you +perhaps think of continuing with politics as a profession?' + +'If your Majesty will overlook what I have done,' Lesage stammered, 'I +shall faithfully promise you that I will be your most loyal servant +until the day of my death.' + +'Hum!' said the Emperor, spilling a pinch of snuff over the front of his +white jacket. 'There is some sense in what you say, for no one makes so +good a servant as the man who has had a thorough fright. But I am a +very exacting master.' + +'I do not care what you require of me. Everything will be welcome, if +you will only give me your forgiveness.' + +'For example,' said the Emperor. 'It is one of my whims that when a man +enters my service I shall marry him to whom I like. Do you agree to +that?' + +There was a struggle upon the poet's face, and he clasped and unclasped +his hands. + +'May I ask, sire--?' + +'You may ask nothing.' + +'But there are circumstances, sire--' + +'There, there, that is enough!' cried the Emperor harshly, turning upon +his heel. 'I do not argue, I order. There is a young lady, Mademoiselle +de Bergerot, for whom I desire a husband. Will you marry her, or will you +return to prison?' + +Again there was the struggle in the man's face, and he was silent, +twitching and writhing in his indecision.' + +'It is enough!' cried the Emperor. 'Roustem, call the guard!' + +'No, no, sire, do not send me back to prison.' + +'The guard, Roustem!' + +'I will do it, sire! I will do it! I will marry whomever you please!' + +'You villain!' cried a voice, and there was Sibylle standing in the +opening of the curtains at one of the windows. Her face was pale with +anger and her eyes shining with scorn; the parting curtains framed her +tall, slim figure, which leaned forwards in her fury of passion. +She had forgotten the Emperor, the Empress, everything, in her revulsion +of feeling against this craven whom she had loved. + +'They told me what you were,' she cried. 'I would not believe them, I +_could_ not believe them--for I did not know that there was upon this +earth a thing so contemptible. They said that they would prove it, and +I defied them to do so, and now I see you as you are. Thank God that I +have found you out in time! And to think that for your sake I have +brought about the death of a man who was worth a hundred of you! Oh, I +am rightly punished for an unwomanly act. Toussac has had his revenge.' + +'Enough!' said the Emperor sternly. 'Constant, lead Mademoiselle Bernac +into the next room. As to you, sir, I do not think that I can condemn +any lady of my Court to take such a man as a husband. Suffice it that +you have been shown in your true colours, and that Mademoiselle Bernac +has been cured of a foolish infatuation. Roustem, remove the prisoner!' + +'There, Monsieur de Laval,' said the Emperor, when the wretched Lesage +had been conducted from the room. 'We have not done such a bad piece of +work between the coffee and the breakfast. It was your idea, Josephine, +and I give you credit for it. But now, de Laval, I feel that we owe you +some recompense for having set the young aristocrats a good example, and +for having had a share in this Toussac business. You have certainly +acted very well.' + +'I ask no recompense, sire,' said I, with an uneasy sense of what was +coming. + +'It is your modesty that speaks. But I have already decided upon your +reward. You shall have such an allowance as will permit you to keep up +a proper appearance as my aide-de-camp, and I have determined to marry +you suitably to one of the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress.' My heart +turned to lead within me. + +'But, sire,' I stammered, 'this is impossible.' + +'Oh, you have no occasion to hesitate. The lady is of excellent family +and she is not wanting in personal charm. In a word, the affair is +settled, and the marriage takes place upon Thursday.' + +'But it is impossible, sire,' I repeated. + +'Impossible! When you have been longer in my service, sir, you will +understand that that is a word which I do not tolerate. I tell you that +it is settled.' + +'My love is given to another, sire. It is not possible for me to +change.' + +'Indeed!' said the Emperor coldly. 'If you persist in such a resolution +you cannot expect to retain your place in my household.' + +Here was the whole structure which my ambition had planned out crumbling +hopelessly about my ears. And yet what was there for me to do? + +'It is the bitterest moment of my life, sire,' said I, 'and yet I must +be true to the promise which I have given. If I have to be a beggar by +the roadside, I shall none the less marry Eugenie de Choiseul or no +one.' + +The Empress had risen and had approached the window. + +'Well, at least, before you make up your mind, Monsieur de Laval,' said +she, 'I should certainly take a look at this lady-in-waiting of mine, +whom you refuse with such indignation.' + +With a quick rasping of rings she drew back the curtain of the second +window. A woman was standing in the recess. She took a step forward +into the room, and then--and then with a cry and a spring my arms were +round her, and hers round me, and I was standing like a man in a dream, +looking down into the sweet laughing eyes of my Eugenie. It was not +until I had kissed her and kissed her again upon her lips, her cheeks, +her hair, that I could persuade myself that she was indeed really there. + +'Let us leave them,' said the voice of the Empress behind me. 'Come, +Napoleon. It makes me sad! It reminds me too much of the old days in +the Rue Chautereine.' + +So there is an end of my little romance, for the Emperor's plans were, +as usual, carried out, and we were married upon the Thursday, as he had +said. That long and all-powerful arm had plucked her out from the +Kentish town, and had brought her across the Channel, in order to make +sure of my allegiance, and to strengthen the Court by the presence of a +de Choiseul. As to my cousin Sibylle, it shall be written some day how +she married the gallant Lieutenant Gerard many years afterwards, when he +had become the chief of a brigade, and one of the most noted cavalry +leaders in all the armies of France. Some day also I may tell how I +came back into my rightful inheritance of Grosbois, which is still +darkened to me by the thought of that terrible uncle of mine, and of +what happened that night when Toussac stood at bay in the library. +But enough of me and of my small fortunes. You have already heard more +of them, perhaps, than you care for. + +As to the Emperor, some faint shadow of whom I have tried in these pages +to raise before you, you have heard from history how, despairing of +gaining command of the Channel, and fearing to attempt an invasion which +might be cut off from behind, he abandoned the camp of Boulogne. +You have heard also how, with this very army which was meant for +England, he struck down Austria and Russia in one year, and Prussia in +the next. From the day that I entered his service until that on which +he sailed forth over the Atlantic, never to return, I have faithfully +shared his fortunes, rising with his star and sinking with it also. +And yet, as I look back at my old master, I find it very difficult to +say if he was a very good man or a very bad one. I only know that he +was a very great one, and that the things in which he dealt were also so +great that it is impossible to judge him by any ordinary standard. +Let him rest silently, then, in his great red tomb at the Invalides, for +the workman's work is done, and the mighty hand which moulded France and +traced the lines of modern Europe has crumbled into dust. The Fates +have used him, and the Fates have thrown him away, but still it lives, +the memory of the little man in the grey coat, and still it moves the +thoughts and actions of men. Some have written to praise and some to +blame, but for my own part I have tried to do neither one nor the other, +but only to tell the impression which he made upon me in those far-off +days when the Army of England lay at Boulogne, and I came back once more +to my Castle of Grosbois. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Uncle Bernac, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10581 *** |