initial commit of ebook 4024HEADmain

2 files changed, 2524 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/tmnds10.txt b/old/tmnds10.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..367895c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/tmnds10.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2524 @@
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man of Destiny, by George Bernard Shaw
+#28 in our series by George Bernard Shaw
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check
+the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!
+
+Please take a look at the important information in this header.
+We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an
+electronic path open for the next readers.
+
+Please do not remove this.
+
+This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book.
+Do not change or edit it without written permission.  The words
+are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they
+need about what they can legally do with the texts.
+
+
+**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
+
+**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
+
+*****These Etexts Are Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and
+further information is included below, including for donations.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
+organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541
+
+
+
+Title: The Man of Destiny
+
+Author: George Bernard Shaw
+
+Release Date: May, 2003  [Etext #4024]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 10/12/01]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man of Destiny, by George Bernard Shaw
+***********This file should be named tmnds10.txt or tmnds10.zip**********
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, tmnds11.txt
+VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tmnds10a.txt
+
+This etext was produced by Eve Sobol, South Bend, Indiana, USA
+
+Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions,
+all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a
+copyright notice is included.  Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any
+of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance
+of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
+Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after
+the official publication date.
+
+Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
+midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
+The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at
+Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month.  A
+preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
+and editing by those who wish to do so.
+
+Most people start at our sites at:
+http://gutenberg.net
+http://promo.net/pg
+
+
+Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement
+can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is
+also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
+indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
+announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
+
+http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03
+or
+ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
+
+Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
+
+Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
+as it appears in our Newsletters.
+
+
+Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
+
+We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work.  The
+time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
+to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
+searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc.  This
+projected audience is one hundred million readers.  If our value
+per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
+million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext
+files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+
+If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
+should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end.
+
+The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext
+Files by December 31, 2001.  [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion]
+This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
+which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
+
+At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third
+of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 4,000 Etexts unless we
+manage to get some real funding.
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
+to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+As of July 12, 2001 contributions are only being solicited from people in:
+Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho,
+Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
+Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North
+Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina*, South Dakota,
+Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia,
+Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
+
+*In Progress
+
+We have filed in about 45 states now, but these are the only ones
+that have responded.
+
+As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising
+will begin in the additional states.  Please feel
+free to ask to check the status of your state.
+
+In answer to various questions we have received on this:
+
+We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork
+to legally request donations in all 50 states.  If
+your state is not listed and you would like to know
+if we have added it since the list you have, just ask.
+
+While we cannot solicit donations from people in
+states where we are not yet registered, we know
+of no prohibition against accepting donations
+from donors in these states who approach us with
+an offer to donate.
+
+
+International donations are accepted,
+but we don't know ANYTHING about how
+to make them tax-deductible, or
+even if they CAN be made deductible,
+and don't have the staff to handle it
+even if there are ways.
+
+All donations should be made to:
+
+Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+PMB 113
+1739 University Ave.
+Oxford, MS 38655-4109
+
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
+organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541,
+and has been approved as a 501(c)(3) organization by the US Internal
+Revenue Service (IRS).  Donations are tax-deductible to the maximum
+extent permitted by law.  As the requirements for other states are met,
+additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the
+additional states.
+
+We need your donations more than ever!
+
+You can get up to date donation information at:
+
+http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
+
+
+***
+
+If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
+you can always email directly to:
+
+Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com>
+
+hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org
+if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if
+it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . .
+
+Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
+
+We would prefer to send you information by email.
+
+
+***
+
+
+Example command-line FTP session:
+
+ftp ftp.ibiblio.org
+login: anonymous
+password: your@login
+cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg
+cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc.
+dir [to see files]
+get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files]
+GET GUTINDEX.??  [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99]
+GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books]
+
+
+**The Legal Small Print**
+
+
+(Three Pages)
+
+***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
+Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
+They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
+your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
+someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
+fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
+disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
+you may distribute copies of this etext if you want to.
+
+*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
+By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
+this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
+a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
+sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
+you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
+medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
+
+ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS
+This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts,
+is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
+through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
+Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
+on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
+distribute it in the United States without permission and
+without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
+below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
+under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
+
+Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
+any commercial products without permission.
+
+To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
+efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
+works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
+medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
+things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
+disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
+codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
+But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
+[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
+receive this etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims
+all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
+legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
+UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
+INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
+OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
+
+If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
+receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
+you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
+time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
+on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
+such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
+copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
+choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
+receive it electronically.
+
+THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
+TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
+PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
+the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
+above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
+may have other legal rights.
+
+INDEMNITY
+You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
+and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
+with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
+legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
+following that you do or cause:  [1] distribution of this etext,
+[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the etext,
+or [3] any Defect.
+
+DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
+You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
+disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
+"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
+or:
+
+[1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
+     requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
+     etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
+     if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
+     binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
+     including any form resulting from conversion by word
+     processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
+     *EITHER*:
+
+     [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
+          does *not* contain characters other than those
+          intended by the author of the work, although tilde
+          (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
+          be used to convey punctuation intended by the
+          author, and additional characters may be used to
+          indicate hypertext links; OR
+
+     [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
+          no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
+          form by the program that displays the etext (as is
+          the case, for instance, with most word processors);
+          OR
+
+     [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
+          no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
+          etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
+          or other equivalent proprietary form).
+
+[2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
+     "Small Print!" statement.
+
+[3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
+     gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
+     already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
+     don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
+     payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
+     the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
+     legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
+     periodic) tax return.  Please contact us beforehand to
+     let us know your plans and to work out the details.
+
+WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
+Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
+public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
+in machine readable form.
+
+The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
+public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
+Money should be paid to the:
+"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
+software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
+hart@pobox.com
+
+[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart
+and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.]
+[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales
+of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or
+software or any other related product without express permission.]
+
+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This etext was produced by Eve Sobol, South Bend, Indiana, USA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MAN OF DESTINY
+
+BERNARD SHAW
+
+1898
+
+The twelfth of May, 1796, in north Italy, at Tavazzano, on the 
+road from Lodi to Milan. The afternoon sun is blazing serenely 
+over the plains of Lombardy, treating the Alps with respect and 
+the anthills with indulgence, not incommoded by the basking of 
+the swine and oxen in the villages nor hurt by its cool reception 
+in the churches, but fiercely disdainful of two hordes of 
+mischievous insects which are the French and Austrian armies. Two 
+days before, at Lodi, the Austrians tried to prevent the French 
+from crossing the river by the narrow bridge there; but the 
+French, commanded by a general aged 27, Napoleon Bonaparte, who 
+does not understand the art of war, rushed the fireswept bridge, 
+supported by a tremendous cannonade in which the young general 
+assisted with his own hands. Cannonading is his technical 
+specialty; he has been trained in the artillery under the old 
+regime, and made perfect in the military arts of shirking his 
+duties, swindling the paymaster over travelling expenses, and 
+dignifying war with the noise and smoke of cannon, as depicted in 
+all military portraits. He is, however, an original observer, and 
+has perceived, for the first time since the invention of 
+gunpowder, that a cannon ball, if it strikes a man, will kill 
+him. To a thorough grasp of this remarkable discovery, he adds a 
+highly evolved faculty for physical geography and for the 
+calculation of times and distances. He has prodigious powers of 
+work, and a clear, realistic knowledge of human nature in public 
+affairs, having seen it exhaustively tested in that department 
+during the French Revolution. He is imaginative without 
+illusions, and creative without religion, loyalty, patriotism or 
+any of the common ideals. Not that he is incapable of these 
+ideals: on the contrary, he has swallowed them all in his 
+boyhood, and now, having a keen dramatic faculty, is extremely 
+clever at playing upon them by the arts of the actor and stage 
+manager. Withal, he is no spoiled child. Poverty, ill-luck, the 
+shifts of impecunious shabby-gentility, repeated failure as a 
+would-be author, humiliation as a rebuffed time server, reproof 
+and punishment as an incompetent and dishonest officer, an escape 
+from dismissal from the service so narrow that if the emigration 
+of the nobles had not raised the value of even the most rascally 
+lieutenant to the famine price of a general he would have been 
+swept contemptuously from the army: these trials have ground the 
+conceit out of him, and forced him to be self-sufficient and to 
+understand that to such men as he is the world will give nothing 
+that he cannot take from it by force. In this the world is not 
+free from cowardice and folly; for Napoleon, as a merciless 
+cannonader of political rubbish, is making himself useful. 
+indeed, it is even now impossible to live in England without 
+sometimes feeling how much that country lost in not being 
+conquered by him as well as by Julius Caesar.
+
+However, on this May afternoon in 1796, it is early days with 
+him. He is only 26, and has but recently become a general, partly 
+by using his wife to seduce the Directory (then governing France) 
+partly by the scarcity of officers caused by the emigration as 
+aforesaid; partly by his faculty of knowing a country, with all 
+its roads, rivers, hills and valleys, as he knows the palm of his 
+hand; and largely by that new faith of his in the efficacy of 
+firing cannons at people. His army is, as to discipline, in a 
+state which has so greatly shocked some modern writers before 
+whom the following story has been enacted, that they, impressed 
+with the later glory of "L'Empereur," have altogether refused to 
+credit it. But Napoleon is not "L'Empereur" yet: he has only just 
+been dubbed "Le Petit Caporal," and is in the stage of gaining 
+influence over his men by displays of pluck. He is not in a 
+position to force his will on them, in orthodox military fashion, 
+by the cat o' nine tails. The French Revolution, which has 
+escaped suppression solely through the monarchy's habit of being 
+at least four years in arrear with its soldiers in the matter of 
+pay, has substituted for that habit, as far as possible, the 
+habit of not paying at all, except in promises and patriotic 
+flatteries which are not compatible with martial law of the 
+Prussian type. Napoleon has therefore approached the Alps in 
+command of men without money, in rags, and consequently 
+indisposed to stand much discipline, especially from upstart 
+generals. This circumstance, which would have embarrassed an 
+idealist soldier, has been worth a thousand cannon to Napoleon. 
+He has said to his army, "You have patriotism and courage; but 
+you have no money, no clothes, and deplorably indifferent food. 
+In Italy there are all these things, and glory as well, to be 
+gained by a devoted army led by a general who regards loot as the 
+natural right of the soldier. I am such a general. En avant, mes 
+enfants!" The result has entirely justified him. The army 
+conquers Italy as the locusts conquered Cyprus. They fight all 
+day and march all night, covering impossible distances and 
+appearing in incredible places, not because every soldier carries 
+a field marshal's baton in his knapsack, but because he hopes to 
+carry at least half a dozen silver forks there next day.
+
+It must be understood, by the way, that the French army does not 
+make war on the Italians. It is there to rescue them from the 
+tyranny of their Austrian conquerors, and confer republican 
+institutions on them; so that in incidentally looting them, it 
+merely makes free with the property of its friends, who ought to 
+be grateful to it, and perhaps would be if ingratitude were not 
+the proverbial failing of their country. The Austrians, whom it 
+fights, are a thoroughly respectable regular army, well 
+disciplined, commanded by gentlemen trained and versed in the art 
+of war: at the head of them Beaulieu, practising the classic art 
+of war under orders from Vienna, and getting horribly beaten by 
+Napoleon, who acts on his own responsibility in defiance of 
+professional precedents or orders from Paris. Even when the 
+Austrians win a battle, all that is necessary is to wait until 
+their routine obliges them to return to their quarters for 
+afternoon tea, so to speak, and win it back again from them: a 
+course pursued later on with brilliant success at Marengo. On the 
+whole, with his foe handicapped by Austrian statesmanship, 
+classic generalship, and the exigencies of the aristocratic 
+social structure of Viennese society, Napoleon finds it possible 
+to be irresistible without working heroic miracles. The world, 
+however, likes miracles and heroes, and is quite incapable of 
+conceiving the action of such forces as academic militarism or 
+Viennese drawing-roomism. Hence it has already begun to 
+manufacture "L'Empereur," and thus to make it difficult for the 
+romanticists of a hundred years later to credit the little scene 
+now in question at Tavazzano as aforesaid.
+
+The best quarters at Tavazzano are at a little inn, the first 
+house reached by travellers passing through the place from Milan 
+to Lodi. It stands in a vineyard; and its principal room, a 
+pleasant refuge from the summer heat, is open so widely at the 
+back to this vineyard that it is almost a large veranda. The 
+bolder children, much excited by the alarums and excursions of 
+the past few days, and by an irruption of French troops at six 
+o'clock, know that the French commander has quartered himself in 
+this room, and are divided between a craving to peep in at the 
+front windows and a mortal terror of the sentinel, a young 
+gentleman-soldier, who, having no natural moustache, has had a 
+most ferocious one painted on his face with boot blacking by his 
+sergeant. As his heavy uniform, like all the uniforms of that 
+day, is designed for parade without the least reference to his 
+health or comfort, he perspires profusely in the sun; and his 
+painted moustache has run in little streaks down his chin and 
+round his neck except where it has dried in stiff japanned 
+flakes, and had its sweeping outline chipped off in grotesque 
+little bays and headlands, making him unspeakably ridiculous in 
+the eye of History a hundred years later, but monstrous and 
+horrible to the contemporary north Italian infant, to whom 
+nothing would seem more natural than that he should relieve the 
+monotony of his guard by pitchforking a stray child up on his 
+bayonet, and eating it uncooked. Nevertheless one girl of bad 
+character, in whom an instinct of privilege with soldiers is 
+already dawning, does peep in at the safest window for a moment, 
+before a glance and a clink from the sentinel sends her flying. 
+Most of what she sees she has seen before: the vineyard at the 
+back, with the old winepress and a cart among the vines; the door 
+close down on her right leading to the inn entry; the landlord's 
+best sideboard, now in full action for dinner, further back on 
+the same side; the fireplace on the other side, with a couch near 
+it, and another door, leading to the inner rooms, between it and 
+the vineyard; and the table in the middle with its repast of 
+Milanese risotto, cheese, grapes, bread, olives, and a big 
+wickered flask of red wine.
+
+The landlord, Giuseppe Grandi, is also no novelty. He is a 
+swarthy, vivacious, shrewdly cheerful, black-curled, bullet 
+headed, grinning little man of 40. Naturally an excellent host, 
+he is in quite special spirits this evening at his good fortune 
+in having the French commander as his guest to protect him 
+against the license of the troops, and actually sports a pair of 
+gold earrings which he would otherwise have hidden carefully 
+under the winepress with his little equipment of silver plate.
+
+Napoleon, sitting facing her on the further side of the table, 
+and Napoleon's hat, sword and riding whip lying on the couch, she 
+sees for the first time. He is working hard, partly at his meal, 
+which he has discovered how to dispatch, by attacking all the 
+courses simultaneously, in ten minutes (this practice is the 
+beginning of his downfall), and partly at a map which he is 
+correcting from memory, occasionally marking the position of the 
+forces by taking a grapeskin from his mouth and planting it on 
+the map with his thumb like a wafer. He has a supply of writing 
+materials before him mixed up in disorder with the dishes and 
+cruets; and his long hair gets sometimes into the risotto gravy 
+and sometimes into the ink.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Will your excellency--
+
+NAPOLEON (intent on his map, but cramming himself mechanically 
+with his left hand). Don't talk. I'm busy.
+
+GIUSEPPE (with perfect goodhumor). Excellency: I obey. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Some red ink.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Alas! excellency, there is none.
+
+NAPOLEON (with Corsican facetiousness). Kill something and bring 
+me its blood.
+
+GIUSEPPE (grinning). There is nothing but your excellency's 
+horse, the sentinel, the lady upstairs, and my wife. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Kill your wife.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Willingly, your excellency; but unhappily I am not 
+strong enough. She would kill me. 
+
+NAPOLEON. That will do equally well.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Your excellency does me too much honor. (Stretching his 
+hand toward the flask.) Perhaps some wine will answer your 
+excellency's purpose.
+
+NAPOLEON (hastily protecting the flask, and becoming quite 
+serious). Wine! No: that would be waste. You are all the same: 
+waste! waste! waste! (He marks the map with gravy, using his fork 
+as a pen.) Clear away. (He finishes his wine; pushes back his 
+chair; and uses his napkin, stretching his legs and leaning back, 
+but still frowning and thinking.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (clearing the table and removing the things to a tray on 
+the sideboard). Every man to his trade, excellency. We innkeepers 
+have plenty of cheap wine: we think nothing of spilling it. You 
+great generals have plenty of cheap blood: you think nothing of 
+spilling it. Is it not so, excellency?
+
+NAPOLEON. Blood costs nothing: wine costs money. (He rises and 
+goes to the fireplace. )
+
+GIUSEPPE. They say you are careful of everything except human 
+life, excellency.
+
+NAPOLEON. Human life, my friend, is the only thing that takes 
+care of itself. (He throws himself at his ease on the couch.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (admiring him). Ah, excellency, what fools we all are 
+beside you! If I could only find out the secret of your success!
+
+NAPOLEON. You would make yourself Emperor of Italy, eh? 
+
+GIUSEPPE. Too troublesome, excellency: I leave all that to you. 
+Besides, what would become of my inn if I were Emperor? See how 
+you enjoy looking on at me whilst I keep the inn for you and wait 
+on you! Well, I shall enjoy looking on at you whilst you become 
+Emperor of Europe, and govern the country for me. (Whilst he 
+chatters, he takes the cloth off without removing the map and 
+inkstand, and takes the corners in his hands and the middle of 
+the edge in his mouth, to fold it up.)
+
+NAPOLEON. Emperor of Europe, eh? Why only Europe? 
+
+GIUSEPPE. Why, indeed? Emperor of the world, excellency! Why not? 
+(He folds and rolls up the cloth, emphasizing his phrases by the 
+steps of the process.) One man is like another (fold): one 
+country is like another (fold): one battle is like another. (At 
+the last fold, he slaps the cloth on the table and deftly rolls 
+it up, adding, by way of peroration) Conquer one: conquer all. 
+(He takes the cloth to the sideboard, and puts it in a drawer.)
+
+NAPOLEON. And govern for all; fight for all; be everybody's 
+servant under cover of being everybody's master: Giuseppe.
+
+GIUSEPPE (at the sideboard). Excellency. 
+
+NAPOLEON. I forbid you to talk to me about myself. 
+
+GIUSEPPE (coming to the foot of the couch). Pardon. Your 
+excellency is so unlike other great men. It is the subject they 
+like best.
+
+NAPOLEON. Well, talk to me about the subject they like next best, 
+whatever that may be.
+
+GIUSEPPE (unabashed). Willingly, your excellency. Has your 
+excellency by any chance caught a glimpse of the lady upstairs?
+
+(Napoleon promptly sits up and looks at him with an interest 
+which entirely justifies the implied epigram.)
+
+NAPOLEON. How old is she? 
+
+GIUSEPPE. The right age, excellency. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Do you mean seventeen or thirty? 
+
+GIUSEPPE. Thirty, excellency.
+
+NAPOLEON. Goodlooking?
+
+GIUSEPPE. I cannot see with your excellency's eyes: every man 
+must judge that for himself. In my opinion, excellency, a fine 
+figure of a lady. (Slyly.) Shall I lay the table for her 
+collation here?
+
+NAPOLEON (brusquely, rising). No: lay nothing here until the 
+officer for whom I am waiting comes back. (He looks at his watch, 
+and takes to walking to and fro between the fireplace and the 
+vineyard.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (with conviction). Excellency: believe me, he has been 
+captured by the accursed Austrians. He dare not keep you waiting 
+if he were at liberty.
+
+NAPOLEON (turning at the edge of the shadow of the veranda). 
+Giuseppe: if that turns out to be true, it will put me into such 
+a temper that nothing short of hanging you and your whole 
+household, including the lady upstairs, will satisfy me.
+
+GIUSEPPE. We are all cheerfully at your excellency's disposal, 
+except the lady. I cannot answer for her; but no lady could 
+resist you, General.
+
+NAPOLEON (sourly, resuming his march). Hm! You will never be 
+hanged. There is no satisfaction in hanging a man who does not 
+object to it.
+
+GIUSEPPE (sympathetically). Not the least in the world, 
+excellency: is there? (Napoleon again looks at his watch, 
+evidently growing anxious.) Ah, one can see that you are a great 
+man, General: you know how to wait. If it were a corporal now, or 
+a sub-lieutenant, at the end of three minutes he would be 
+swearing, fuming, threatening, pulling the house about our ears.
+
+NAPOLEON. Giuseppe: your flatteries are insufferable. Go and talk 
+outside. (He sits down again at the table, with his jaws in his 
+hands, and his elbows propped on the map, poring over it with a 
+troubled expression.)
+
+GIUSEPPE. Willingly, your excellency. You shall not be disturbed. 
+(He takes up the tray and prepares to withdraw.) 
+
+NAPOLEON. The moment he comes back, send him to me. 
+
+GIUSEPPE. Instantaneously, your excellency.
+
+A LADY'S VOICE (calling from some distant part of the inn). 
+Giusep-pe! (The voice is very musical, and the two final notes 
+make an ascending interval.)
+
+NAPOLEON (startled). What's that? What's that? 
+
+GIUSEPPE (resting the end of his tray on the table and leaning 
+over to speak the more confidentially). The lady, excellency. 
+
+NAPOLEON (absently). Yes. What lady? Whose lady? 
+
+GIUSEPPE. The strange lady, excellency.
+
+NAPOLEON. What strange lady?
+
+GIUSEPPE (with a shrug). Who knows? She arrived here half an hour 
+before you in a hired carriage belonging to the Golden Eagle at 
+Borghetto. Actually by herself, excellency. No servants. A 
+dressing bag and a trunk: that is all. The postillion says she 
+left a horse--a charger, with military trappings, at the Golden 
+Eagle.
+
+NAPOLEON. A woman with a charger! That's extraordinary.
+
+THE LADY'S VOICE (the two final notes now making a peremptory 
+descending interval). Giuseppe!
+
+NAPOLEON (rising to listen). That's an interesting voice. 
+
+GIUSEPPE. She is an interesting lady, excellency. (Calling.) 
+Coming, lady, coming. (He makes for the inner door.) 
+
+NAPOLEON (arresting him with a strong hand on his shoulder). 
+Stop. Let her come.
+
+VOICE. Giuseppe!! (Impatiently.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (pleadingly). Let me go, excellency. It is my point of 
+honor as an innkeeper to come when I am called. I appeal to you 
+as a soldier.
+
+A MAN's VOICE (outside, at the inn door, shouting). Here, 
+someone. Hello! Landlord. Where are you? (Somebody raps 
+vigorously with a whip handle on a bench in the passage.)
+
+NAPOLEON (suddenly becoming the commanding officer again and 
+throwing Giuseppe off). There he is at last. (Pointing to the 
+inner door.) Go. Attend to your business: the lady is calling 
+you. (He goes to the fireplace and stands with his back to it 
+with a determined military air.) 
+
+GIUSEPPE (with bated breath, snatching up his tray). Certainly, 
+excellency. (He hurries out by the inner door.)
+
+THE MAN's VOICE (impatiently). Are you all asleep here? (The door 
+opposite the fireplace is kicked rudely open; and a dusty 
+sub-lieutenant bursts into the room. He is a chuckle-headed young 
+man of 24, with the fair, delicate, clear skin of a man of rank, 
+and a self-assurance on that ground which the French Revolution 
+has failed to shake in the smallest degree. He has a thick silly 
+lip, an eager credulous eye, an obstinate nose, and a loud 
+confident voice. A young man without fear, without reverence, 
+without imagination, without sense, hopelessly insusceptible to 
+the Napoleonic or any other idea, stupendously egotistical, 
+eminently qualified to rush in where angels fear to tread, yet of 
+a vigorous babbling vitality which bustles him into the thick of 
+things. He is just now boiling with vexation, attributable by a 
+superficial observer to his impatience at not being promptly 
+attended to by the staff of the inn, but in which a more 
+discerning eye can perceive a certain moral depth, indicating a 
+more permanent and momentous grievance. On seeing Napoleon, he is 
+sufficiently taken aback to check himself and salute; but he does 
+not betray by his manner any of that prophetic consciousness of 
+Marengo and Austerlitz, Waterloo and St. Helena, or the 
+Napoleonic pictures of Delaroche and Meissonier, which modern 
+culture will instinctively expect from him.)
+
+NAPOLEON (sharply). Well, sir, here you are at last. Your 
+instructions were that I should arrive here at six, and that I 
+was to find you waiting for me with my mail from Paris and with 
+despatches. It is now twenty minutes to eight. You were sent on 
+this service as a hard rider with the fastest horse in the camp. 
+You arrive a hundred minutes late, on foot. Where is your horse!
+
+THE LIEUTENANT (moodily pulling off his gloves and dashing them 
+with his cap and whip on the table). Ah! where indeed? That's 
+just what I should like to know, General. (With emotion.) You 
+don't know how fond I was of that horse.
+
+NAPOLEON (angrily sarcastic). Indeed! (With sudden misgiving.) 
+Where are the letters and despatches?
+
+THE LIEUTENANT (importantly, rather pleased than otherwise at 
+having some remarkable news). I don't know. 
+
+NAPOLEON (unable to believe his ears). You don't know!
+
+LIEUTENANT. No more than you do, General. Now I suppose I shall 
+be court-martialled. Well, I don't mind being court-martialled; 
+but (with solemn determination) I tell you, General, if ever I 
+catch that innocent looking youth, I'll spoil his beauty, the 
+slimy little liar! I'll make a picture of him. I'll--
+
+NAPOLEON (advancing from the hearth to the table). What innocent 
+looking youth? Pull yourself together, sir, will you; and give an 
+account of yourself.
+
+LIEUTENANT (facing him at the opposite side of the table, leaning 
+on it with his fists). Oh, I'm all right, General: I'm perfectly 
+ready to give an account of myself. I shall make the 
+court-martial thoroughly understand that the fault was not mine. 
+Advantage has been taken of the better side of my nature; and I'm 
+not ashamed of it. But with all respect to you as my commanding 
+officer, General, I say again that if ever I set eyes on that son 
+of Satan, I'll--
+
+NAPOLEON (angrily). So you said before.
+
+LIEUTENANT (drawing himself upright). I say it again. just wait 
+until I catch him. Just wait: that's all. (He folds his arms 
+resolutely, and breathes hard, with compressed lips.) 
+
+NAPOLEON. I AM waiting, sir--for your explanation.
+
+LIEUTENANT (confidently). You'll change your tone, General, when 
+you hear what has happened to me.
+
+NAPOLEON. Nothing has happened to you, sir: you are alive and not 
+disabled. Where are the papers entrusted to you?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Nothing! Nothing!! Oho! Well, we'll see. (Posing 
+himself to overwhelm Napoleon with his news.) He swore eternal 
+brotherhood with me. Was that nothing? He said my eyes reminded 
+him of his sister's eyes. Was that nothing? He cried--actually 
+cried--over the story of my separation from Angelica. Was that 
+nothing? He paid for both bottles of wine, though he only ate 
+bread and grapes himself. Perhaps you call that nothing! He gave 
+me his pistols and his horse and his despatches--most important 
+despatches--and let me go away with them. (Triumphantly, seeing 
+that he has reduced Napoleon to blank stupefaction.) Was THAT 
+nothing?
+
+NAPOLEON (enfeebled by astonishment). What did he do that for?
+
+LIEUTENANT (as if the reason were obvious). To show his 
+confidence in me. (Napoleon's jaw does not exactly drop; but its 
+hinges become nerveless. The Lieutenant proceeds with honest 
+indignation.) And I was worthy of his confidence: I brought them 
+all back honorably. But would you believe it?--when I trusted him 
+with MY pistols, and MY horse, and MY despatches--
+
+NAPOLEON (enraged). What the devil did you do that for?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Why, to show my confidence in him, of course. And he 
+betrayed it--abused it--never came back. The thief! the swindler! 
+the heartless, treacherous little blackguard! You call that 
+nothing, I suppose. But look here, General: (again resorting to 
+the table with his fist for greater emphasis) YOU may put up with 
+this outrage from the Austrians if you like; but speaking for 
+myself personally, I tell you that if ever I catch--
+
+NAPOLEON (turning on his heel in disgust and irritably resuming 
+his march to and fro). Yes: you have said that more than once 
+already.
+
+LIEUTENANT (excitedly). More than once! I'll say it fifty times; 
+and what's more, I'll do it. You'll see, General. I'll show my 
+confidence in him, so I will. I'll--
+
+NAPOLEON. Yes, yes, sir: no doubt you will. What kind of man was 
+he?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Well, I should think you ought to be able to tell 
+from his conduct the sort of man he was.
+
+NAPOLEON. Psh! What was he like?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Like! He's like--well, you ought to have just seen 
+the fellow: that will give you a notion of what he was like. He 
+won't be like it five minutes after I catch him; for I tell you 
+that if ever--
+
+NAPOLEON (shouting furiously for the innkeeper). Giuseppe! (To 
+the Lieutenant, out of all patience.) Hold your tongue, sir, if 
+you can.
+
+LIEUTENANT. I warn you it's no use to try to put the blame on me. 
+(Plaintively.) How was I to know the sort of fellow he was? (He 
+takes a chair from between the sideboard and the outer door; 
+places it near the table; and sits down.) If you only knew how 
+hungry and tired I am, you'd have more consideration.
+
+GIUSEPPE (returning). What is it, excellency?
+
+NAPOLEON (struggling with his temper). Take this--this officer. 
+Feed him; and put him to bed, if necessary. When he is in his 
+right mind again, find out what has happened to him and bring me 
+word. (To the Lieutenant.) Consider yourself under arrest, sir.
+
+LIEUTENANT (with sulky stiffness). I was prepared for that. It 
+takes a gentleman to understand a gentleman. (He throws his sword 
+on the table. Giuieppe takes it up and politely offers it to 
+Napoleon, who throws it violently on the couch.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (with sympathetic concern). Have you been attacked by 
+the Austrians, lieutenant? Dear, dear, dear! 
+
+LIEUTENANT (contemptuously). Attacked! I could have broken his 
+back between my finger and thumb. I wish I had, now. No: it was 
+by appealing to the better side of my nature: that's what I can't 
+get over. He said he'd never met a man he liked so much as me. He 
+put his handkerchief round my neck because a gnat bit me, and my 
+stock was chafing it. Look! (He pulls a handkerchief from his 
+stock. Giuseppe takes it and examines it.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (to Napoleon). A lady's handkerchief, excellency. (He 
+smells it.) Perfumed!
+
+NAPOLEON. Eh? (He takes it and looks at it attentively.) Hm! (He 
+smells it.) Ha! (He walks thoughtfully across the room, looking 
+at the handkerchief, which he finally sticks in the breast of his 
+coat.)
+
+LIEUTENANT. Good enough for him, anyhow. I noticed that he had a 
+woman's hands when he touched my neck, with his coaxing, fawning 
+ways, the mean, effeminate little hound. (Lowering his voice with 
+thrilling intensity.) But mark my words, General. If ever--
+
+THE LADY'S VOICE (outside, as before). Giuseppe! 
+
+LIEUTENANT (petrified). What was that?
+
+GIUSEPPE. Only a lady upstairs, lieutenant, calling me.
+ 
+LIEUTENANT. Lady!
+
+VOICE. Giuseppe, Giuseppe: where ARE you? 
+
+LIEUTENANT (murderously). Give me that sword. (He strides to the 
+couch; snatches the sword; and draws it.) 
+
+GIUSEPPE (rushing forward and seizing his right arm.) What are 
+you thinking of, lieutenant? It's a lady: don't you hear that 
+it's a woman's voice?
+
+LIEUTENANT. It's HIS voice, I tell you. Let me go. (He breaks 
+away, and rushes to the inner door. It opens in his face; and the 
+Strange Lady steps in. She is a very attractive lady, tall and 
+extraordinarily graceful, with a delicately intelligent, 
+apprehensive, questioning face--perception in the brow, 
+sensitiveness in the nostrils, character in the chin: all keen, 
+refined, and original. She is very feminine, but by no means 
+weak: the lithe, tender figure is hung on a strong frame: the 
+hands and feet, neck and shoulders, are no fragile ornaments, but 
+of full size in proportion to her stature, which considerably 
+exceeds that of Napoleon and the innkeeper, and leaves her at no 
+disadvantage with the lieutenant. Only her elegance and radiant 
+charm keep the secret of her size and strength. She is not, 
+judging by her dress, an admirer of the latest fashions of the 
+Directory; or perhaps she uses up her old dresses for travelling. 
+At all events she wears no jacket with extravagant lappels, no 
+Greco-Tallien sham chiton, nothing, indeed, that the Princesse de 
+Lamballe might not have worn. Her dress of flowered silk is long 
+waisted, with a Watteau pleat behind, but with the paniers 
+reduced to mere rudiments, as she is too tall for them. It is cut 
+low in the neck, where it is eked out by a creamy fichu. She is 
+fair, with golden brown hair and grey eyes. 
+
+She enters with the self-possession of a woman accustomed to the 
+privileges of rank and beauty. The innkeeper, who has excellent 
+natural manners, is highly appreciative of her. Napoleon, on whom 
+her eyes first fall, is instantly smitten self-conscious. His 
+color deepens: he becomes stiffer and less at ease than before. 
+She perceives this instantly, and, not to embarrass him, turns in 
+an infinitely well bred manner to pay the respect of a glance to 
+the other gentleman, who is staring at her dress, as at the 
+earth's final masterpiece of treacherous dissimulation, with 
+feelings altogether inexpressible and indescribable. As she looks 
+at him, she becomes deadly pale. There is no mistaking her 
+expression: a revelation of some fatal error utterly unexpected, 
+has suddenly appalled her in the midst of tranquillity, security 
+and victory. The next moment a wave of color rushes up from 
+beneath the creamy fichu and drowns her whole face. One can see 
+that she is blushing all over her body. Even the lieutenant, 
+ordinarily incapable of observation, and just now lost in the 
+tumult of his wrath, can see a thing when it is painted red for 
+him. Interpreting the blush as the involuntary confession of 
+black deceit confronted with its victim, he points to it with a 
+loud crow of retributive triumph, and then, seizing her by the 
+wrist, pulls her past him into the room as he claps the door to, 
+and plants himself with his back to it.)
+
+LIEUTENANT. So I've got you, my lad. So you've disguised 
+yourself, have you? (In a voice of thunder.) Take off that skirt.
+
+GIUSEPPE (remonstrating). Oh, lieutenant!
+
+LADY (affrighted, but highly indignant at his having dared to 
+touch her). Gentlemen: I appeal to you. Giuseppe. (Making a 
+movement as if to run to Giuseppe.)
+
+LIEUTENANT (interposing, sword in hand). No you don't. 
+
+LADY (taking refuge with Napoleon). Ah, sir, you are an officer--
+a general. You will protect me, will you not?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Never you mind him, General. Leave me to deal with 
+him.
+
+NAPOLEON. With him! With whom, sir? Why do you treat this lady in 
+such a fashion?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Lady! He's a man! the man I showed my confidence in. 
+(Advancing threateningly.) Here you--
+
+LADY (running behind Napoleon and in her agitation embracing the 
+arm which he instinctively extends before her as a 
+fortification). Oh, thank you, General. Keep him away.
+
+NAPOLEON. Nonsense, sir. This is certainly a lady (she suddenly 
+drops his arm and blushes again); and you are under arrest. Put 
+down your sword, sir, instantly.
+
+LIEUTENANT. General: I tell you he's an Austrian spy. He passed 
+himself off on me as one of General Massena's staff this 
+afternoon; and now he's passing himself off on you as a woman. Am 
+I to believe my own eyes or not?
+
+LADY. General: it must be my brother. He is on General Massena's 
+staff. He is very like me.
+
+LIEUTENANT (his mind giving way). Do you mean to say that you're 
+not your brother, but your sister?--the sister who was so like 
+me?--who had my beautiful blue eyes? It was a lie: your eyes are 
+not like mine: they're exactly like your own. What perfidy!
+
+NAPOLEON. Lieutenant: will you obey my orders and leave the room, 
+since you are convinced at last that this is no gentleman?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Gentleman! I should think not. No gentleman would 
+have abused my confi--
+
+NAPOLEON (out of all patience). Enough, sir, enough. Will you 
+leave the room. I order you to leave the room. 
+
+LADY. Oh, pray let ME go instead.
+
+NAPOLEON (drily). Excuse me, madame. With all respect to your 
+brother, I do not yet understand what an officer on General 
+Massena's staff wants with my letters. I have some questions to 
+put to you.
+
+GIUSEPPE (discreetly). Come, lieutenant. (He opens the door.)
+
+LIEUTENANT. I'm off. General: take warning by me: be on your 
+guard against the better side of your nature. (To the lady.) 
+Madame: my apologies. I thought you were the same person, only of 
+the opposite sex; and that naturally misled me. 
+
+LADY (sweetly). It was not your fault, was it? I'm so glad 
+you're not angry with me any longer, lieutenant. (She offers her 
+hand.) 
+
+LIEUTENANT (bending gallantly to kiss it). Oh, madam, not the 
+lea-- (Checking himself and looking at it.) You have your 
+brother's hand. And the same sort of ring.
+
+LADY (sweetly). We are twins.
+
+LIEUTENANT. That accounts for it. (He kisses her hand.) A 
+thousand pardons. I didn't mind about the despatches at all: 
+that's more the General's affair than mine: it was the abuse of 
+my confidence through the better side of my nature. (Taking his 
+cap, gloves, and whip from the table and going.) You'll excuse my 
+leaving you, General, I hope. Very sorry, I'm sure. (He talks 
+himself out of the room. Giuseppe follows him and shuts the 
+door.)
+
+NAPOLEON (looking after them with concentrated irritation). 
+Idiot! (The Strange Lady smiles sympathetically. He comes 
+frowning down the room between the table and the fireplace, all 
+his awkwardness gone now that he is alone with her.)
+
+LADY. How can I thank you, General, for your protection? 
+
+NAPOLEON (turning on her suddenly). My despatches: come! (He puts 
+out his hand for them.)
+
+LADY. General! (She involuntarily puts her hands on her fichu as 
+if to protect something there.)
+
+NAPOLEON. You tricked that blockhead out of them. You disguised 
+yourself as a man. I want my despatches. They are there in the 
+bosom of your dress, under your hands.
+
+LADY (quickly removing her hands). Oh, how unkindly you are 
+speaking to me! (She takes her handkerchief from her fichu.) You 
+frighten me. (She touches her eyes as if to wipe away a tear.)
+
+NAPOLEON. I see you don't know me madam, or you would save 
+yourself the trouble of pretending to cry.
+
+LADY (producing an effect of smiling through her tears). Yes, I 
+do know you. You are the famous General Buonaparte. (She gives 
+the name a marked Italian pronunciation Bwaw-na-parr-te.)
+
+NAPOLEON (angrily, with the French pronunciation). Bonaparte, 
+madame, Bonaparte. The papers, if you please. 
+
+LADY. But I assure you-- (He snatches the handkerchief rudely 
+from her.) General! (Indignantly.)
+
+NAPOLEON (taking the other handkerchief from his breast). You 
+were good enough to lend one of your handkerchiefs to my 
+lieutenant when you robbed him. (He looks at the two
+handkerchiefs.) They match one another. (He smells them.) The 
+same scent. (He flings them down on the table.) I am waiting for 
+the despatches. I shall take them, if necessary, with as little 
+ceremony as the handkerchief. (This historical incident was used 
+eighty years later, by M. Victorien Sardou, in his drama entitled 
+"Dora.")
+
+LADY (in dignified reproof). General: do you threaten women?
+
+NAPOLEON (bluntly). Yes.
+
+LADY (disconcerted, trying to gain time). But I don't understand. 
+I--
+
+NAPOLEON. You understand perfectly. You came here because your 
+Austrian employers calculated that I was six leagues away. I am 
+always to be found where my enemies don't expect me. You have 
+walked into the lion's den. Come: you are a brave woman. Be a 
+sensible one: I have no time to waste. The papers. (He advances a 
+step ominously).
+
+LADY (breaking down in the childish rage of impotence, and 
+throwing herself in tears on the chair left beside the table by 
+the lieutenant). I brave! How little you know! I have spent the 
+day in an agony of fear. I have a pain here from the tightening 
+of my heart at every suspicious look, every threatening movement. 
+Do you think every one is as brave as you? Oh, why will not you 
+brave people do the brave things? Why do you leave them to us, 
+who have no courage at all? I'm not brave: I shrink from 
+violence: danger makes me miserable.
+
+NAPOLEON (interested). Then why have you thrust yourself into 
+danger?
+
+LADY. Because there is no other way: I can trust nobody else. And 
+now it is all useless--all because of you, who have no fear, 
+because you have no heart, no feeling, no-- (She breaks off, and 
+throws herself on her knees.) Ah, General, let me go: let me go 
+without asking any questions. You shall have your despatches and 
+letters: I swear it. 
+
+NAPOLEON (holding out his hand). Yes: I am waiting for them.
+(She gasps, daunted by his ruthless promptitude into despair of 
+moving him by cajolery; but as she looks up perplexedly at him, 
+it is plain that she is racking her brains for some device to 
+outwit him. He meets her regard inflexibly.)
+
+LADY (rising at last with a quiet little sigh). I will get them 
+for you. They are in my room. (She turns to the door.)
+
+NAPOLEON. I shall accompany you, madame.
+
+LADY (drawing herself up with a noble air of offended delicacy).I 
+cannot permit you, General, to enter my chamber.
+
+NAPOLEON. Then you shall stay here, madame, whilst I have your 
+chamber searched for my papers.
+
+LADY (spitefully, openly giving up her plan). You may save 
+yourself the trouble. They are not there.
+
+NAPOLEON. No: I have already told you where they are. (Pointing 
+to her breast.)
+
+LADY (with pretty piteousness). General: I only want to keep one 
+little private letter. Only one. Let me have it.
+
+NAPOLEON (cold and stern). Is that a reasonable demand, madam?
+
+LADY (encouraged by his not refusing point blank). No; but that 
+is why you must grant it. Are your own demands reasonable? 
+thousands of lives for the sake of your victories, your 
+ambitions, your destiny! And what I ask is such a little thing. 
+And I am only a weak woman, and you a brave man. (She looks at 
+him with her eyes full of tender pleading and is about to kneel 
+to him again.)
+
+NAPOLEON (brusquely). Get up, get up. (He turns moodily away and 
+takes a turn across the room, pausing for a moment to say, over 
+his shoulder) You're talking nonsense; and you know it. (She gets 
+up and sits down in almost listless despair on the couch. When he 
+turns and sees her there, he feels that his victory is complete, 
+and that he may now indulge in a little play with his victim. He 
+comes back and sits beside her. She looks alarmed and moves a 
+little away from him; but a ray of rallying hope beams from her 
+eye. He begins like a man enjoying some secret joke.) How do you 
+know I am a brave man?
+
+LADY (amazed). You! General Buonaparte. (Italian pronunciation.)
+
+NAPOLEON. Yes, I, General Bonaparte (emphasizing the French 
+pronunciation).
+
+LADY. Oh, how can you ask such a question? you! who stood only 
+two days ago at the bridge at Lodi, with the air full of death, 
+fighting a duel with cannons across the river! (Shuddering.) Oh, 
+you DO brave things.
+
+NAPOLEON. So do you.
+
+LADY. I! (With a sudden odd thought.) Oh! Are you a coward?
+
+NAPOLEON (laughing grimly and pinching her cheek). That is the 
+one question you must never ask a soldier. The sergeant asks 
+after the recruit's height, his age, his wind, his limb, but 
+never after his courage. (He gets up and walks about with his 
+hands behind him and his head bowed, chuckling to himself.)
+
+LADY (as if she had found it no laughing matter). Ah, you can 
+laugh at fear. Then you don't know what fear is. 
+
+NAPOLEON (coming behind the couch). Tell me this. Suppose you 
+could have got that letter by coming to me over the bridge at 
+Lodi the day before yesterday! Suppose there had been no other 
+way, and that this was a sure way--if only you escaped the 
+cannon! (She shudders and covers her eyes for a moment with her 
+hands.) Would you have been afraid?
+
+LADY. Oh, horribly afraid, agonizingly afraid. (She presses her 
+hands on her heart.) It hurts only to imagine it. 
+
+NAPOLEON (inflexibly). Would you have come for the despatches?
+
+LADY (overcome by the imagined horror). Don't ask me. I must have 
+come.
+
+NAPOLEON. Why?
+
+LADY. Because I must. Because there would have been no other way.
+
+NAPOLEON (with conviction). Because you would have wanted my 
+letter enough to bear your fear. There is only one universal 
+passion: fear. Of all the thousand qualities a man may have, the 
+only one you will find as certainly in the youngest drummer boy 
+in my army as in me, is fear. It is fear that makes men fight: it 
+is indifference that makes them run away: fear is the mainspring 
+of war. Fear! I know fear well, better than you, better than any 
+woman. I once saw a regiment of good Swiss soldiers massacred by 
+a mob in Paris because I was afraid to interfere: I felt myself a 
+coward to the tips of my toes as I looked on at it. Seven months 
+ago I revenged my shame by pounding that mob to death with cannon 
+balls. Well, what of that? Has fear ever held a man back from 
+anything he really wanted--or a woman either? Never. Come with 
+me; and I will show you twenty thousand cowards who will risk 
+death every day for the price of a glass of brandy. And do you 
+think there are no women in the army, braver than the men, 
+because their lives are worth less? Psha! I think nothing of your 
+fear or your bravery. If you had had to come across to me at 
+Lodi, you would not have been afraid: once on the bridge, every 
+other feeling would have gone down before the necessity--the 
+necessity--for making your way to my side and getting what you 
+wanted.
+
+And now, suppose you had done all this--suppose you had come 
+safely out with that letter in your hand, knowing that when the 
+hour came, your fear had tightened, not your heart, but your grip 
+of your own purpose--that it had ceased to be fear, and had 
+become strength, penetration, vigilance, iron resolution--how 
+would you answer then if you were asked whether you were a 
+coward?
+
+LADY (rising). Ah, you are a hero, a real hero. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Pooh! there's no such thing as a real hero. (He strolls 
+down the room, making light of her enthusiasm, but by no means 
+displeased with himself for having evoked it.)
+
+LADY. Ah, yes, there is. There is a difference between what you 
+call my bravery and yours. You wanted to win the battle of Lodi 
+for yourself and not for anyone else, didn't you?
+
+NAPOLEON. Of course. (Suddenly recollecting himself.) Stop: no. 
+(He pulls himself piously together, and says, like a man 
+conducting a religious service) I am only the servant of the 
+French republic, following humbly in the footsteps of the heroes 
+of classical antiquity. I win battles for humanity--for my 
+country, not for myself.
+
+LADY (disappointed). Oh, then you are only a womanish hero, after 
+all. (She sits down again, all her enthusiasm gone, her elbow on 
+the end of the couch, and her cheek propped on her hand.)
+
+NAPOLEON (greatly astonished). Womanish!
+
+LADY (listlessly). Yes, like me. (With deep melancholy.) Do you 
+think that if I only wanted those despatches for myself, I dare 
+venture into a battle for them? No: if that were all, I should 
+not have the courage to ask to see you at your hotel, even. My 
+courage is mere slavishness: it is of no use to me for my own 
+purposes. It is only through love, through pity, through the 
+instinct to save and protect someone else, that I can do the 
+things that terrify me.
+
+NAPOLEON (contemptuously). Pshaw! (He turns slightingly away from 
+her.)
+
+LADY. Aha! now you see that I'm not really brave. (Relapsing into 
+petulant listlessness.) But what right have you to despise me if 
+you only win your battles for others? for your country! through 
+patriotism! That is what I call womanish: it is so like a 
+Frenchman!
+
+NAPOLEON (furiously). I am no Frenchman.
+
+LADY (innocently). I thought you said you won the battle of Lodi 
+for your country, General Bu-- shall I pronounce it in Italian or 
+French?
+
+NAPOLEON. You are presuming on my patience, madam. I was born a 
+French subject, but not in France.
+
+LADY (folding her arms on the end of the couch, and leaning on 
+them with a marked access of interest in him). You were not born 
+a subject at all, I think.
+
+NAPOLEON (greatly pleased, starting on a fresh march). Eh? Eh? 
+You think not.
+
+LADY. I am sure of it.
+
+NAPOLEON. Well, well, perhaps not. (The self-complacency of his 
+assent catches his own ear. He stops short, reddening. Then, 
+composing himself into a solemn attitude, modelled on the heroes 
+of classical antiquity, he takes a high moral tone.) But we must 
+not live for ourselves alone, little one. Never forget that we 
+should always think of others, and work for others, and lead and 
+govern them for their own good. Self-sacrifice is the foundation 
+of all true nobility of character.
+
+LADY (again relaxing her attitude with a sigh). Ah, it is easy to 
+see that you have never tried it, General.
+
+NAPOLEON (indignantly, forgetting all about Brutus and Scipio). 
+What do you mean by that speech, madam? 
+
+LADY. Haven't you noticed that people always exaggerate the value 
+of the things they haven't got? The poor think they only need 
+riches to be quite happy and good. Everybody worships truth, 
+purity, unselfishness, for the same reason--because they have no 
+experience of them. Oh, if they only knew!
+
+NAPOLEON (with angry derision). If they only knew! Pray, do you 
+know?
+
+LADY (with her arms stretched down and her hands clasped on her 
+knees, looking straight before her). Yes. I had the misfortune to 
+be born good. (Glancing up at him for a moment.) And it is a 
+misfortune, I can tell you, General. I really am truthful and 
+unselfish and all the rest of it; and it's nothing but cowardice; 
+want of character; want of being really, strongly, positively 
+oneself.
+
+NAPOLEON. Ha? (Turning to her quickly with a flash of strong 
+interest.)
+
+LADY (earnestly, with rising enthusiasm). What is the secret of 
+your power? Only that you believe in yourself. You can fight and 
+conquer for yourself and for nobody else. You are not afraid of 
+your own destiny. You teach us what we all might be if we had the 
+will and courage; and that (suddenly sinking on her knees before 
+him) is why we all begin to worship you. (She kisses his hands.)
+
+NAPOLEON (embarrassed). Tut, tut! Pray rise, madam.
+
+LADY. Do not refuse my homage: it is your right. You will be 
+emperor of France
+
+NAPOLEON (hurriedly). Take care. Treason!
+
+LADY (insisting). Yes, emperor of France; then of Europe; perhaps 
+of the world. I am only the first subject to swear allegiance. 
+(Again kissing his hand.) My Emperor! 
+
+NAPOLEON (overcome, raising her). Pray, pray. No, no, 
+little one: this is folly. Come: be calm, be calm. (Petting her.) 
+There, there, my girl.
+
+LADY (struggling with happy tears). Yes, I know it is an 
+impertinence in me to tell you what you must know far better than 
+I do. But you are not angry with me, are you?
+
+NAPOLEON. Angry! No, no: not a bit, not a bit. Come: you are a 
+very clever and sensible and interesting little woman. (He pats 
+her on the cheek.) Shall we be friends?
+
+LADY (enraptured). Your friend! You will let me be your friend! 
+Oh! (She offers him both her hands with a radiant smile.) You 
+see: I show my confidence in you. 
+
+NAPOLEON (with a yell of rage, his eyes flashing). What! 
+
+LADY. What's the matter?
+
+NAPOLEON. Show your confidence in me! So that I may show my 
+confidence in you in return by letting you give me the slip with 
+the despatches, eh? Ah, Dalila, Dalila, you have been trying your 
+tricks on me; and I have been as great a gull as my jackass of a 
+lieutenant. (He advances threateningly on her.) Come: the 
+despatches. Quick: I am not to be trifled with now.
+
+LADY (flying round the couch). General--
+
+NAPOLEON. Quick, I tell you. (He passes swiftly up the middle of 
+the room and intercepts her as she makes for the vineyard.)
+
+LADY (at bay, confronting him). You dare address me in that tone.
+
+NAPOLEON. Dare!
+
+LADY. Yes, dare. Who are you that you should presume to speak to 
+me in that coarse way? Oh, the vile, vulgar Corsican adventurer 
+comes out in you very easily.
+
+NAPOLEON (beside himself). You she devil! (Savagely.) Once more, 
+and only once, will you give me those papers or shall I tear them 
+from you--by force?
+
+LADY (letting her hands fall ). Tear them from me--by force! (As 
+he glares at her like a tiger about to spring, she crosses her 
+arms on her breast in the attitude of a martyr. The gesture and 
+pose instantly awaken his theatrical instinct: he forgets his 
+rage in the desire to show her that in acting, too, she has met 
+her match. He keeps her a moment in suspense; then suddenly 
+clears up his countenance; puts his hands behind him with 
+provoking coolness; looks at her up and down a couple of times; 
+takes a pinch of snuff; wipes his fingers carefully and puts up 
+his handkerchief, her heroic pose becoming more and more 
+ridiculous all the time.)
+
+NAPOLEON (at last). Well?
+
+LADY (disconcerted, but with her arms still crossed devotedly). 
+Well: what are you going to do?
+
+NAPOLEON. Spoil your attitude.
+ 
+LADY. You brute! (abandoning the attitude, she comes to the end 
+of the couch, where she turns with her back to it, leaning 
+against it and facing him with her hands behind her.) 
+
+NAPOLEON. Ah, that's better.  Now listen to me. I like you. 
+What's more, I value your respect. 
+
+LADY. You value what you have not got, then. 
+
+NAPOLEON. I shall have it presently. Now attend to me. Suppose I 
+were to allow myself to be abashed by the respect due to your 
+sex, your beauty, your heroism and all the rest of it? Suppose I, 
+with nothing but such sentimental stuff to stand between these 
+muscles of mine and those papers which you have about you, and 
+which I want and mean to have: suppose I, with the prize within 
+my grasp, were to falter and sneak away with my hands empty; or, 
+what would be worse, cover up my weakness by playing the 
+magnanimous hero, and sparing you the violence I dared not use, 
+would you not despise me from the depths of your woman's soul? 
+Would any woman be such a fool? Well, Bonaparte can rise to the 
+situation and act like a woman when it is necessary. Do you 
+understand?
+
+The lady, without speaking, stands upright, and takes a packet of 
+papers from her bosom. For a moment she has an intense impulse to 
+dash them in his face. But her good breeding cuts her off from 
+any vulgar method of relief. She hands them to him politely, only 
+averting her head. The moment he takes them, she hurries across 
+to the other side of the room; covers her face with her hands; 
+and sits down, with her body turned away to the back of the 
+chair.
+
+NAPOLEON (gloating over the papers). Aha! That's right. That's 
+right. (Before opening them he looks at her and says) Excuse me. 
+(He sees that she is hiding her face.) Very angry with me, eh? 
+(He unties the packet, the seal of which is already broken, and 
+puts it on the table to examine its contents.)
+
+LADY (quietly, taking down her hands and showing that she is not 
+crying, but only thinking). No. You were right. But I am sorry 
+for you.
+
+NAPOLEON (pausing in the act of taking the uppermost paper from 
+the packet). Sorry for me! Why?
+
+LADY. I am going to see you lose your honor.
+
+NAPOLEON. Hm! Nothing worse than that? (He takes up the paper.)
+
+LADY. And your happiness.
+
+NAPOLEON. Happiness, little woman, is the most tedious thing in 
+the world to me. Should I be what I am if I cared for happiness? 
+Anything else?
+
+LADY. Nothing-- (He interrupts her with an exclamation of 
+satisfaction. She proceeds quietly) except that you will cut a 
+very foolish figure in the eyes of France.
+
+NAPOLEON (quickly). What? (The hand holding the paper 
+involuntarily drops. The lady looks at him enigmatically in 
+tranquil silence. He throws the letter down and breaks
+out into a torrent of scolding.) What do you mean? Eh? Are you at 
+your tricks again? Do you think I don't know what these papers 
+contain? I'll tell you. First, my information as to Beaulieu's 
+retreat. There are only two things he can do--leatherbrained 
+idiot that he is!--shut himself up in Mantua or violate the 
+neutrality of Venice by taking Peschiera. You are one of old 
+Leatherbrain's spies: he has discovered that he has been 
+betrayed, and has sent you to intercept the information at all 
+hazards--as if that could save him from ME, the old fool! The 
+other papers are only my usual correspondence from Paris, of 
+which you know nothing.
+
+LADY (prompt and businesslike). General: let us make a fair 
+division. Take the information your spies have sent you about the 
+Austrian army; and give me the Paris correspondence. That will 
+content me.
+
+NAPOLEON (his breath taken away by the coolness of the proposal). 
+A fair di-- (He gasps.) It seems to me, madame, that you have 
+come to regard my letters as your own property, of which I am 
+trying to rob you.
+
+LADY (earnestly). No: on my honor I ask for no letter of yours--
+not a word that has been written by you or to you. That packet 
+contains a stolen letter: a letter written by a woman to a man--a 
+man not her husband--a letter that means disgrace, infamy--
+
+NAPOLEON. A love letter?
+
+LADY (bitter-sweetly). What else but a love letter could stir up 
+so much hate?
+
+NAPOLEON. Why is it sent to me? To put the husband in my power, 
+eh?
+
+LADY. No, no: it can be of no use to you: I swear that it will 
+cost you nothing to give it to me. It has been sent to you out of 
+sheer malice--solely to injure the woman who wrote it.
+
+NAPOLEON. Then why not send it to her husband instead of to me?
+
+LADY (completely taken aback). Oh! (Sinking back into the chair.) 
+I--I don't know. (She breaks down.)
+
+NAPOLEON. Aha! I thought so: a little romance to get the papers 
+back. (He throws the packet on the table and confronts her with 
+cynical goodhumor.) Per Bacco, little woman, I can't help 
+admiring you. If I could lie like that, it would save me a great 
+deal of trouble.
+
+LADY (wringing her hands). Oh, how I wish I really had told you 
+some lie! You would have believed me then. The truth is the one 
+thing that nobody will believe.
+
+NAPOLEON (with coarse familiarity, treating her as if she were a 
+vivandiere). Capital! Capital! (He puts his hands behind him on 
+the table, and lifts himself on to it, sitting with his arms 
+akimbo and his legs wide apart.) Come: I am a true Corsican in my 
+love for stories. But I could tell them better than you if I set 
+my mind to it. Next time you are asked why a letter compromising 
+a wife should not be sent to her husband, answer simply that the 
+husband would not read it. Do you suppose, little innocent, that 
+a man wants to be compelled by public opinion to make a scene, to 
+fight a duel, to break up his household, to injure his career by 
+a scandal, when he can avoid it all by taking care not to know?
+
+LADY (revolted). Suppose that packet contained a letter about 
+your own wife?
+
+NAPOLEON (offended, coming off the table). You are impertinent, 
+madame.
+
+LADY (humbly). I beg your above suspicion.
+
+NAPOLEON (with a deliberate assumption of superiority). You have 
+committed an indiscretion. I pardon you. In future, do not permit 
+yourself to introduce real persons in your romances.
+
+LADY (politely ignoring a speech which is to her only a breach of 
+good manners, and rising to move towards the table). General: 
+there really is a woman's letter there. (Pointing to the packet.) 
+Give it to me.
+
+NAPOLEON (with brute conciseness, moving so as to prevent her 
+getting too near the letters). Why?
+
+LADY. She is an old friend: we were at school together. She has 
+written to me imploring me to prevent the letter falling into 
+your hands.
+
+NAPOLEON. Why has it been sent to me?
+
+LADY. Because it compromises the director Barras. 
+
+NAPOLEON (frowning, evidently startled). Barras! (Haughtily.) 
+Take care, madame. The director Barras is my attached personal 
+friend.
+
+LADY (nodding placidly). Yes. You became friends through your 
+wife.
+
+NAPOLEON. Again! Have I not forbidden you to speak of my wife? 
+(She keeps looking curiously at him, taking no account of the 
+rebuke. More and more irritated, he drops his haughty manner, of 
+which he is himself somewhat impatient, and says suspiciously, 
+lowering his voice) Who is this woman with whom you sympathize so 
+deeply?
+
+LADY. Oh, General! How could I tell you that? 
+
+NAPOLEON (ill-humoredly, beginning to walk about again in angry 
+perplexity). Ay, ay: stand by one another. You are all the same, 
+you women.
+
+LADY (indignantly). We are not all the same, any more than you 
+are. Do you think that if _I_ loved another man, I should pretend 
+to go on loving my husband, or be afraid to tell him or all the 
+world? But this woman is not made that way. She governs men by 
+cheating them; and (with disdain) they like it, and let her 
+govern them. (She sits down again, with her back to him.)
+
+NAPOLEON (not attending to her). Barras, Barras I-- (Turning very 
+threateningly to her, his face darkening.) Take care, take care: 
+do you hear? You may go too far.
+
+LADY (innocently turning her face to him). What's the matter?
+
+NAPOLEON. What are you hinting at? Who is this woman?
+
+LADY (meeting his angry searching gaze with tranquil indifference 
+as she sits looking up at him with her right arm resting lightly 
+along the back of her chair, and one knee crossed over the 
+other). A vain, silly, extravagant creature, with a very able and 
+ambitious husband who knows her through and through--knows that 
+she has lied to him about her age, her income, her social 
+position, about everything that silly women lie about--knows that 
+she is incapable of fidelity to any principle or any person; and 
+yet could not help loving her--could not help his man's instinct 
+to make use of her for his own advancement with Barras.
+
+NAPOLEON (in a stealthy, coldly furious whisper). This is your 
+revenge, you she cat, for having had to give me the letters.
+
+LADY. Nonsense! Or do you mean that YOU are that sort of man?
+
+NAPOLEON (exasperated, clasps his hands behind him, his fingers 
+twitching, and says, as he walks irritably away from her to the 
+fireplace). This woman will drive me out of my senses. (To her.) 
+Begone.
+
+LADY (seated immovably). Not without that letter. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Begone, I tell you. (Walking from the fireplace to the 
+vineyard and back to the table.) You shall have no letter. I 
+don't like you. You're a detestable woman, and as ugly as Satan. 
+I don't choose to be pestered by strange women. Be off. (He turns 
+his back on her. In quiet amusement, she leans her cheek on her 
+hand and laughs at him. He turns again, angrily mocking her.) Ha! 
+ha! ha! What are you laughing at?
+
+LADY. At you, General. I have often seen persons of your sex 
+getting into a pet and behaving like children; but I never saw a 
+really great man do it before.
+
+NAPOLEON (brutally, flinging the words in her face). Pooh: 
+flattery! flattery! coarse, impudent flattery!
+
+LADY (springing up with a bright flush in her cheeks). Oh, you 
+are too bad. Keep your letters. Read the story of your own 
+dishonor in them; and much good may they do you. Good-bye. (She 
+goes indignantly towards the inner door.)
+
+NAPOLEON. My own--! Stop. Come back. Come back, I order you. (She 
+proudly disregards his savagely peremptory tone and continues on 
+her way to the door. He rushes at her; seizes her by the wrist; 
+and drags her back.) Now, what do you mean? Explain. Explain, I 
+tell you, or--(Threatening her. She looks at him with unflinching 
+defiance.) Rrrr! you obstinate devil, you. Why can't you answer a 
+civil question?
+
+LADY (deeply offended by his violence). Why do you ask me? You 
+have the explanation.
+
+NAPOLEON. Where?
+
+LADY (pointing to the letters on the table). There. You have only 
+to read it. (He snatches the packet up, hesitates; looks at her 
+suspiciously; and throws it down again.) 
+
+NAPOLEON. You seem to have forgotten your solicitude for the 
+honor of your old friend.
+
+LADY. She runs no risk now: she does not quite understand her 
+husband.
+
+NAPOLEON. I am to read the letter, then? (He stretches out his 
+hand as if to take up the packet again, with his eye on her.) 
+
+LADY. I do not see how you can very well avoid doing so now. (He 
+instantly withdraws his hand.) Oh, don't be afraid. You will find 
+many interesting things in it.
+
+NAPOLEON. For instance?
+
+LADY. For instance, a duel--with Barras, a domestic scene, a 
+broken household, a public scandal, a checked career, all sorts 
+of things.
+
+NAPOLEON. Hm! (He looks at her, takes up the packet and looks at 
+it, pursing his lips and balancing it in his hand; looks at her 
+again; passes the packet into his left hand and puts it behind 
+his back, raising his right to scratch the back of his head as he 
+turns and goes up to the edge of the vineyard, where he stands 
+for a moment looking out into the vines, deep in thought. The 
+Lady watches him in silence, somewhat slightingly. Suddenly he 
+turns and comes back again, full of force and decision.) I grant 
+your request, madame. Your courage and resolution deserve to 
+succeed. Take the letters for which you have fought so well; and 
+remember henceforth that you found the vile, vulgar Corsican 
+adventurer as generous to the vanquished after the battle as he 
+was resolute in the face of the enemy before it. (He offers her 
+the packet.) 
+
+LADY (without taking it, looking hard at him). What are you at 
+now, I wonder? (He dashes the packet furiously to the floor.) 
+Aha! I've spoiled that attitude, I think. (She makes him a pretty 
+mocking curtsey.)
+
+NAPOLEON (snatching it up again). Will you take the letters and 
+begone (advancing and thrusting them upon her)? 
+
+LADY (escaping round the table). No: I don't want letters.
+
+NAPOLEON. Ten minutes ago, nothing else would satisfy you.
+
+LADY (keeping the table carefully between them). Ten minutes ago 
+you had not insulted me past all bearing. 
+
+NAPOLEON. I-- (swallowing his spleen) I apologize.
+
+LADY (coolly). Thanks. (With forced politeness he offers her the 
+packet across the table. She retreats a step out of its reach and 
+says) But don't you want to know whether the Austrians are at 
+Mantua or Peschiera?
+
+NAPOLEON. I have already told you that I can conquer my enemies 
+without the aid of spies, madame.
+
+LADY. And the letter! don't you want to read that? 
+
+NAPOLEON. You have said that it is not addressed to me. I am not 
+in the habit of reading other people's letters. (He again offers 
+the packet.)
+
+LADY. In that case there can be no objection to your keeping it. 
+All I wanted was to prevent your reading it. (Cheerfully.) Good 
+afternoon, General. (She turns coolly  towards the inner door.)
+
+NAPOLEON (furiously flinging the packet on the couch). Heaven 
+grant me patience! (He goes up determinedly and places himself 
+before the door.) Have you any sense of personal danger? Or are 
+you one of those women who like to be beaten black and blue?
+
+LADY. Thank you, General: I have no doubt the sensation is very 
+voluptuous; but I had rather not. I simply want to go home: 
+that's all. I was wicked enough to steal your despatches; but you 
+have got them back; and you have forgiven me, because (delicately 
+reproducing his rhetorical cadence) you are as generous to the 
+vanquished after the battle as you are resolute in the face of 
+the enemy before it. Won't you say good-bye to me? (She offers 
+her hand sweetly.)
+
+NAPOLEON (repulsing the advance with a gesture of concentrated 
+rage, and opening the door to call fiercely). Giuseppe! (Louder.) 
+Giuseppe! (He bangs the door to, and comes to the middle of the 
+room. The lady goes a little way into the vineyard to avoid him.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (appearing at the door). Excellency? 
+
+NAPOLEON. Where is that fool?
+
+GIUSEPPE. He has had a good dinner, according to your 
+instructions, excellency, and is now doing me the honor to gamble 
+with me to pass the time.
+
+NAPOLEON. Send him here. Bring him here. Come with him. 
+(Giuseppe, with unruffled readiness, hurries off. Napoleon turns 
+curtly to the lady, saying) I must trouble you to remain some 
+moments longer, madame. (He comes to the couch. She comes from 
+the vineyard down the opposite side of the room to the sideboard, 
+and posts herself there, leaning against it, watching him. He 
+takes the packet from the couch and deliberately buttons it 
+carefully into his breast pocket, looking at her meanwhile with 
+an expression which suggests that she will soon find out the 
+meaning of his proceedings, and will not like it. Nothing more is 
+said until the lieutenant arrives followed by Giuseppe, who 
+stands modestly in attendance at the table. The lieutenant, 
+without cap, sword or gloves, and much improved in temper and 
+spirits by his meal, chooses the Lady's side of the room, and 
+waits, much at his ease, for Napoleon to begin.)
+
+NAPOLEON. Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT (encouragingly). General.
+
+NAPOLEON. I cannot persuade this lady to give me much 
+information; but there can be no doubt that the man who tricked 
+you out of your charge was, as she admitted to you, her brother.
+
+LIEUTENANT (triumphantly). What did I tell you, General! What did 
+I tell you!
+
+NAPOLEON. You must find that man. Your honor is at stake; and the 
+fate of the campaign, the destiny of France, of Europe, of 
+humanity, perhaps, may depend on the information those despatches 
+contain.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Yes, I suppose they really are rather serious (as if 
+this had hardly occurred to him before).
+
+NAPOLEON (energetically). They are so serious, sir, that if you 
+do not recover them, you will be degraded in the presence of your 
+regiment.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Whew! The regiment won't like that, I can tell you.
+
+NAPOLEON. Personally, I am sorry for you. I would willingly 
+conceal the affair if it were possible. But I shall be called to 
+account for not acting on the despatches. I shall have to prove 
+to all the world that I never received them, no matter what the 
+consequences may be to you. I am sorry; but you see that I cannot 
+help myself. 
+
+LIEUTENANT (goodnaturedly). Oh, don't take it to heart, General: 
+it's really very good of you. Never mind what happens to me: I 
+shall scrape through somehow; and we'll beat the Austrians for 
+you, despatches or no despatches. I hope you won't insist on my 
+starting off on a wild goose chase after the fellow now. I 
+haven't a notion where to look for him.
+
+GIUSEPPE (deferentially). You forget, Lieutenant: he has your 
+horse.
+
+LIEUTENANT (starting). I forgot that. (Resolutely.) I'll go after 
+him, General: I'll find that horse if it's alive anywhere in 
+Italy. And I shan't forget the despatches: never fear. Giuseppe: 
+go and saddle one of those mangy old posthorses of yours, while I 
+get my cap and sword and things. Quick march. Off with you 
+(bustling him).
+
+GIUSEPPE. Instantly, Lieutenant, instantly. (He disappears in the 
+vineyard, where the light is now reddening with the sunset.)
+
+LIEUTENANT (looking about him on his way to the inner door). By 
+the way, General, did I give you my sword or did I not? Oh, I 
+remember now. (Fretfully.) It's all that nonsense about putting a 
+man under arrest: one never knows where to find-- (Talks himself 
+out of the room.)
+
+LADY (still at the sideboard). What does all this mean, General?
+
+NAPOLEON. He will not find your brother. 
+
+LADY. Of course not. There's no such person. 
+
+NAPOLEON. The despatches will be irrecoverably lost.
+
+LADY. Nonsense! They are inside your coat. 
+
+NAPOLEON. You will find it hard, I think, to prove that wild 
+statement. (The Lady starts. He adds, with clinching emphasis) 
+Those papers are lost.
+
+LADY (anxiously, advancing to the corner of the table). And that 
+unfortunate young man's career will be sacrificed. 
+
+NAPOLEON. HIS career! The fellow is not worth the gunpowder it 
+would cost to have him shot. (He turns contemptuously and goes to 
+the hearth, where he stands with his back to her.)
+
+LADY (wistfully). You are very hard. Men and women are nothing to 
+you but things to be used, even if they are broken in the use.
+
+NAPOLEON (turning on her). Which of us has broken this fellow--I 
+or you? Who tricked him out of the despatches? Did you think of 
+his career then?
+
+LADY (naively concerned about him). Oh, I never thought of that. 
+It was brutal of me; but I couldn't help it, could I? How else 
+could I have got the papers? (Supplicating.) General: you will 
+save him from disgrace.
+
+NAPOLEON (laughing sourly). Save him yourself, since you are so 
+clever: it was you who ruined him. (With savage intensity.) I 
+HATE a bad soldier.
+
+He goes out determinedly through the vineyard. She follows him a 
+few steps with an appealing gesture, but is interrupted by the 
+return of the lieutenant, gloved and capped, with his sword on, 
+ready for the road. He is crossing to the outer door when she 
+intercepts him.
+
+LADY. Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT (importantly). You mustn't delay me, you know. Duty, 
+madame, duty.
+
+LADY (imploringly). Oh, sir, what are you going to do to my poor 
+brother?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Are you very fond of him?
+
+LADY. I should die if anything happened to him. You must spare 
+him. (The lieutenant shakes his head gloomily.) Yes, yes: you 
+must: you shall: he is not fit to die. Listen to me. If I tell 
+you where to find him--if I undertake to place him in your hands 
+a prisoner, to be delivered up by you to General Bonaparte--will 
+you promise me on your honor as an officer and a gentleman not to 
+fight with him or treat him unkindly in any way?
+
+LIEUTENANT. But suppose he attacks me. He has my pistols.
+
+LADY. He is too great a coward.
+
+LIEUTENANT. I don't feel so sure about that. He's capable of 
+anything.
+
+LADY. If he attacks you, or resists you in any way, I release you 
+from your promise.
+
+LIEUTENANT. My promise! I didn't mean to promise. Look here: 
+you're as bad as he is: you've taken an advantage of me through 
+the better side of my nature. What about my horse?
+
+LADY. It is part of the bargain that you are to have your
+horse and pistols back.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Honor bright?
+
+LADY. Honor bright. (She offers her hand.)
+
+LIEUTENANT (taking it and holding it). All right: I'll be as 
+gentle as a lamb with him. His sister's a very pretty
+woman. (He attempts to kiss her.)
+
+LADY (slipping away from him). Oh, Lieutenant! You forget: your 
+career is at stake--the destiny of Europe--of humanity.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Oh, bother the destiny of humanity (Making for her.) 
+Only a kiss.
+
+LADY (retreating round the table). Not until you have regained 
+your honor as an officer. Remember: you have not captured my 
+brother yet.
+
+LIEUTENANT (seductively). You'll tell me where he is, won't you?
+
+LADY. I have only to send him a certain signal; and he will be 
+here in quarter of an hour.
+
+LIEUTENANT. He's not far off, then.
+
+LADY. No: quite close. Wait here for him: when he gets my 
+message he will come here at once and surrender himself to you. 
+You understand?
+
+LIEUTENANT (intellectually overtaxed). Well, it's a little 
+complicated; but I daresay it will be all right.
+
+LADY. And now, whilst you're waiting, don't you think you had 
+better make terms with the General? 
+
+LIEUTENANT. Oh, look here, this is getting frightfully 
+complicated. What terms?
+
+LADY. Make him promise that if you catch my brother he will 
+consider that you have cleared your character as a soldier. He 
+will promise anything you ask on that condition.
+
+LIEUTENANT. That's not a bad idea. Thank you: I think I'll try 
+it.
+
+LADY. Do. And mind, above all things, don't let him see how 
+clever you are.
+
+LIEUTENANT. I understand. He'd be jealous.
+
+LADY. Don't tell him anything except that you are resolved to 
+capture my brother or perish in the attempt. He won't believe 
+you. Then you will produce my brother--
+
+LIEUTENANT (interrupting as he masters the plot). And have
+the laugh at him! I say: what a clever little woman you are! 
+(Shouting.) Giuseppe!
+
+LADY. Sh! Not a word to Giuseppe about me. (She puts her finger 
+on her lips. He does the same. They look at one another 
+warningly. Then, with a ravishing smile, she changes the gesture 
+into wafting him a kiss, and runs out through the inner door. 
+Electrified, he bursts into a volley of chuckles. Giuseppe comes 
+back by the outer door.) 
+
+GIUSEPPE. The horse is ready, Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT. I'm not going just yet. Go and find the General, and 
+tell him I want to speak to him.
+
+GIUSEPPE (shaking his head). That will never do, Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Why not?
+
+GIUSEPPE. In this wicked world a general may send for a 
+lieutenant; but a lieutenant must not send for a general. 
+
+LIEUTENANT. Oh, you think he wouldn't like it. Well, perhaps 
+you're right: one has to be awfully particular about that sort of 
+thing now we've got a republic.
+
+Napoleon reappears, advancing from the vineyard, buttoning the 
+breast of his coat, pale and full of gnawing thoughts.
+
+GIUSEPPE (unconscious of Napoleon's approach). Quite true, 
+Lieutenant, quite true. You are all like innkeepers now in 
+France: you have to be polite to everybody.
+
+NAPOLEON (putting his hand on Giuseppe's shoulder). And that 
+destroys the whole value of politeness, eh?
+
+LIEUTENANT. The very man I wanted! See here, General: suppose I 
+catch that fellow for you!
+
+NAPOLEON (with ironical gravity). You will not catch him, my 
+friend.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Aha! you think so; but you'll see. Just wait. Only, 
+if I do catch him and hand him over to you, will you cry quits? 
+Will you drop all this about degrading me in the presence of my 
+regiment? Not that I mind, you know; but still no regiment likes 
+to have all the other regiments laughing at it.
+
+NAPOLEON. (a cold ray of humor striking pallidly across his 
+gloom). What shall we do with this officer, Giuseppe? Everything 
+he says is wrong.
+
+GIUSEPPE (promptly). Make him a general, excellency; and then 
+everything he says will be right.
+
+LIEUTENANT (crowing). Haw-aw! (He throws himself ecstatically on 
+the couch to enjoy the joke.)
+
+NAPOLEON (laughing and pinching Giuseppe's ear). You are thrown 
+away in this inn, Giuseppe. (He sits down and places Giuseppe 
+before him like a schoolmaster with a pupil.) Shall I take you 
+away with me and make a man of you? 
+
+GIUSEPPE (shaking his head rapidly and repeatedly). No, thank 
+you, General. All my life long people have wanted to make a man 
+of me. When I was a boy, our good priest wanted to make a man of 
+me by teaching me to read and write. Then the organist at 
+Melegnano wanted to make a man of me by teaching me to read 
+music. The recruiting sergeant would have made a man of me if I 
+had been a few inches taller. But it always meant making me work; 
+and I am too lazy for that, thank Heaven! So I taught myself to
+cook and became an innkeeper; and now I keep servants to do the 
+work, and have nothing to do myself except talk, which suits me 
+perfectly.
+
+NAPOLEON (looking at him thoughtfully). You are satisfied? 
+
+GIUSEPPE (with cheerful conviction). Quite, excellency. 
+
+NAPOLEON. And you have no devouring devil inside you who must be 
+fed with action and victory--gorged with them night and day--who 
+makes you pay, with the sweat of your brain and body, weeks of 
+Herculean toil for ten minutes of enjoyment--who is at once your 
+slave and your tyrant, your genius and your doom--who brings you 
+a crown in one hand and the oar of a galley slave in the other--
+who shows you all the kingdoms of the earth and offers to make 
+you their master on condition that you become their servant!--
+have you nothing of that in you?
+
+GIUSEPPE. Nothing of it! Oh, I assure you, excellency, MY 
+devouring devil is far worse than that. He offers me no crowns 
+and kingdoms: he expects to get everything for nothing--sausages, 
+omelettes, grapes, cheese, polenta, wine--three times a day, 
+excellency: nothing less will content him.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Come, drop it, Giuseppe: you're making me feel hungry 
+again.
+
+(Giuseppe, with an apologetic shrug, retires from the 
+conversation, and busies himself at the table, dusting it, 
+setting the map straight, and replacing Napoleon's chair, which 
+the lady has pushed back.)
+
+NAPOLEON (turning to the lieutenant with sardonic ceremony). I 
+hope _I_ have not been making you feel ambitious. 
+
+LIEUTENANT. Not at all: I don't fly so high. Besides: I'm better 
+as I am: men like me are wanted in the army just now. The fact 
+is, the Revolution was all very well for civilians; but it won't 
+work in the army. You know what soldiers are, General: they WILL  
+have men of family for their officers. A subaltern must be a 
+gentleman, because he's so much in contact with the men. But a 
+general, or even a colonel, may be any sort of riff-raff if he 
+understands the shop well enough. A lieutenant is a gentleman: 
+all the rest is chance. Why, who do you suppose won the battle of 
+Lodi? I'll tell you. My horse did.
+
+NAPOLEON (rising) Your folly is carrying you too far, sir. Take 
+care.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Not a bit of it. You remember all that red-hot 
+cannonade across the river: the Austrians blazing away at you to 
+keep you from crossing, and you blazing away at them to keep them 
+from setting the bridge on fire? Did you notice where I was then?
+
+NAPOLEON (with menacing politeness). I am sorry. I am afraid I 
+was rather occupied at the moment.
+
+GIUSEPPE (with eager admiration). They say you jumped off your 
+horse and worked the big guns with your own hands, General.
+
+LIEUTENANT. That was a mistake: an officer should never let 
+himself down to the level of his men. (Napoleon looks at him 
+dangerously, and begins to walk tigerishly to and fro.) But you 
+might have been firing away at the Austrians still, if we cavalry 
+fellows hadn't found the ford and got across and turned old 
+Beaulieu's flank for you. You know you daren't have given the 
+order to charge the bridge if you hadn't seen us on the other 
+side. Consequently, I say that whoever found that ford won the 
+battle of Lodi. Well, who found it? I was the first man to cross: 
+and I know. It was my horse that found it. (With conviction, as 
+be rises from the couch.) That horse is the true conqueror of the 
+Austrians. 
+
+NAPOLEON (passionately). You idiot: I'll have you shot for losing 
+those despatches: I'll have you blown from the mouth of a cannon: 
+nothing less could make any impression on you. (Baying at him.) 
+Do you hear? Do you understand?
+
+A French officer enters unobserved, carrying his sheathed sabre 
+in his hand. 
+
+LIEUTENANT (unabashed). IF I don't capture him, General. Remember 
+the if.
+
+NAPOLEON. If! If!! Ass: there is no such man.
+
+THE OFFICER (suddenly stepping between them and speaking in the 
+unmistakable voice of the Strange Lady). Lieutenant: I am your 
+prisoner. (She offers him her sabre. They are amazed. Napoleon 
+gazes at her for a moment thunderstruck; then seizes her by the 
+wrist and drags her roughly to him, looking closely and fiercely 
+at her to satisfy himself as to her identity; for it now begins 
+to darken rapidly into night, the red glow over the vineyard 
+giving way to clear starlight.)
+
+NAPOLEON. Pah! (He flings her hand away with an exclamation of 
+disgust, and turns his back on her with his hand in his breast 
+and his brow lowering.)
+
+LIEUTENANT (triumphantly, taking the sabre). No such man: eh, 
+General? (To the Lady.) I say: where's my horse?
+
+LADY. Safe at Borghetto, waiting for you, Lieutenant. 
+
+NAPOLEON (turning on them). Where are the despatches? 
+
+LADY. You would never guess. They are in the most unlikely place 
+in the world. Did you meet my sister here, any of you?
+
+LIEUTENANT. Yes. Very nice woman. She's wonderfully like you; 
+but of course she's better looking.
+
+LADY (mysteriously). Well, do you know that she is a witch?
+
+GIUSEPPE (running down to them in terror, crossing himself). Oh, 
+no, no, no. It is not safe to jest about such things. I cannot 
+have it in my house, excellency.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Yes, drop it. You're my prisoner, you know. Of course 
+I don't believe in any such rubbish; but still it's not a proper 
+subject for joking.
+
+LADY. But this is very serious. My sister has bewitched the 
+General. (Giuseppe and the Lieutenant recoil from Napoleon.) 
+General: open your coat: you will find the despatches in the 
+breast of it. (She puts her hand quickly on his breast.) Yes: 
+there they are: I can feel them. Eh? (She looks up into his face 
+half coaxingly, half mockingly.) Will you allow me, General? 
+(She takes a button as if to unbutton his coat, and pauses for 
+permission.)
+
+NAPOLEON (inscrutably). If you dare.
+
+LADY. Thank you. (She opens his coat and takes out the 
+despatches.) There! (To Giuseppe, showing him the despatches.) 
+See!
+
+GIUSEPPE (flying to the outer door). No, in heaven's name! 
+They're bewitched.
+
+LADY (turning to the Lieutenant). Here, Lieutenant: YOU'RE not 
+afraid of them.
+
+LIEUTENANT (retreating). Keep off. (Seizing the hilt of the 
+sabre.) Keep off, I tell you.
+
+LADY (to Napoleon). They belong to you, General. Take them.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Don't touch them, excellency. Have nothing to do with 
+them.
+
+LIEUTENANT. Be careful, General: be careful. 
+
+GIUSEPPE. Burn them. And burn the witch, too. 
+
+LADY (to Napoleon). Shall I burn them? 
+
+NAPOLEON (thoughtfully). Yes, burn them. Giuseppe: go and fetch a 
+light.
+
+GIUSEPPE (trembling and stammering). Do you mean go alone--in the 
+dark--with a witch in the house?
+
+NAPOLEON. Psha! You're a poltroon. (To the Lieutenant.) Oblige me 
+by going, Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT (remonstrating). Oh, I say, General! No, look here, 
+you know: nobody can say I'm a coward after Lodi. But to ask me 
+to go into the dark by myself without a candle after such an 
+awful conversation is a little too much. How would you like to 
+do it yourself? 
+
+NAPOLEON (irritably). You refuse to obey my order? 
+
+LIEUTENANT (resolutely). Yes, I do. It's not reasonable. But I'll 
+tell you what I'll do. If Giuseppe goes, I'll go with him and 
+protect him.
+
+NAPOLEON (to Giuseppe). There! will that satisfy you? Be off, 
+both of you.
+
+GIUSEPPE (humbly, his lips trembling). W--willingly, your 
+excellency. (He goes reluctantly towards the inner door.) Heaven 
+protect me! (To the lieutenant.) After you, Lieutenant.
+
+LIEUTENANT. You'd better go first: I don't know the way.
+
+GIUSEPPE. You can't miss it. Besides (imploringly, laying his 
+hand on his sleeve), I am only a poor innkeeper; and you are a 
+man of family.
+
+LIEUTENANT. There's something in that. Here: you needn't be in 
+such a fright. Take my arm. (Giuseppe does so.) That's the 
+way.(They go out, arm in arm. It is now starry night. The lady 
+throws the packet on the table and seats herself at her ease on 
+the couch enjoying the sensation of freedom from petticoats.)
+
+LADY. Well, General: I've beaten you.
+
+NAPOLEON (walking about). You have been guilty of indelicacy--of 
+unwomanliness. Do you consider that costume a proper one to wear?
+
+LADY. It seems to me much the same as yours. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Psha! I blush for you.
+
+LADY (naively). Yes: soldiers blush so easily! (He growls and 
+turns away. She looks mischievously at him, balancing the 
+despatches in her hand.) Wouldn't you like to read these before 
+they're burnt, General? You must be dying with curiosity. Take a 
+peep. (She throws the packet on the table, and turns her face 
+away from it.) I won't look.
+
+NAPOLEON. I have no curiosity whatever, madame. But since you are 
+evidently burning to read them, I give you leave to do so.
+
+LADY. Oh, I've read them already.
+
+NAPOLEON (starting). What!
+
+LADY. I read them the first thing after I rode away on that poor 
+lieutenant's horse. So you see I know what's in them; and you 
+don't. 
+
+NAPOLEON. Excuse me: I read them there in the vineyard ten 
+minutes ago.
+
+LADY. Oh! (Jumping up.) Oh, General I've not beaten you. I do 
+admire you so. (He laughs and pats her cheek.) This time really 
+and truly without shamming, I do you homage (kissing his
+hand).
+
+NAPOLEON (quickly withdrawing it). Brr! Don't do that. No more 
+witchcraft.
+
+LADY. I want to say something to you--only you would 
+misunderstand it.
+
+NAPOLEON. Need that stop you?
+
+LADY. Well, it is this. I adore a man who is not afraid
+to be mean and selfish.
+
+NAPOLEON (indignantly). I am neither mean nor selfish. 
+
+LADY. Oh, you don't appreciate yourself. Besides, I don't really 
+mean meanness and selfishness.
+
+NAPOLEON. Thank you. I thought perhaps you did.
+
+LADY. Well, of course I do. But what I mean is a certain strong 
+simplicity about you.
+
+NAPOLEON. That's better.
+
+LADY. You didn't want to read the letters; but you were curious 
+about what was in them. So you went into the garden and read them 
+when no one was looking, and then came back and pretended you 
+hadn't. That's the meanest thing I ever knew any man do; but it 
+exactly fulfilled your purpose; and so you weren't a bit afraid 
+or ashamed to do it.
+
+NAPOLEON (abruptly). Where did you pick up all these vulgar 
+scruples--this (with contemptuous emphasis) conscience of yours? 
+I took you for a lady--an aristocrat. Was your grandfather a 
+shopkeeper, pray?
+
+LADY. No: he was an Englishman.
+
+NAPOLEON. That accounts for it. The English are a nation of 
+shopkeepers. Now I understand why you've beaten me.
+
+LADY. Oh, I haven't beaten you. And I'm not English.
+
+NAPOLEON. Yes, you are--English to the backbone. Listen to me: I 
+will explain the English to you.
+
+LADY (eagerly). Do. (With a lively air of anticipating an 
+intellectual treat, she sits down on the couch and composes 
+herself to listen to him. Secure of his audience, he at once 
+nerves himself for a performance. He considers a little before he 
+begins; so as to fix her attention by a moment of suspense. His 
+style is at first modelled on Talma's in Corneille's "Cinna;" but 
+it is somewhat lost in the darkness, and Talma presently gives 
+way to Napoleon, the voice coming through the gloom with 
+startling intensity.)
+
+NAPOLEON. There are three sorts of people in the world, the low 
+people, the middle people, and the high people. The low people 
+and the high people are alike in one thing: they have no 
+scruples, no morality. The low are beneath morality, the high 
+above it. I am not afraid of either of them: for the low are 
+unscrupulous without knowledge, so that they make an idol of me; 
+whilst the high are unscrupulous without purpose, so that they go 
+down before my will. Look you: I shall go over all the mobs and 
+all the courts of Europe as a plough goes over a field. It is the 
+middle people who are dangerous: they have both knowledge and 
+purpose. But they, too, have their weak point. They are full of 
+scruples--chained hand and foot by their morality and 
+respectability.
+
+LADY. Then you will beat the English; for all shopkeepers are 
+middle people.
+
+NAPOLEON. No, because the English are a race apart. No Englishman 
+is too low to have scruples: no Englishman is high enough to be 
+free from their tyranny. But every Englishman is born with a 
+certain miraculous power that makes him master of the world. When 
+he wants a thing, he never tells himself that he wants it. He 
+waits patiently until there comes into his mind, no one knows 
+how, a burning conviction that it is his moral and religious duty 
+to conquer those who have got the thing he wants. Then he becomes 
+irresistible. Like the aristocrat, he does what pleases him and 
+grabs what he wants: like the shopkeeper, he pursues his purpose 
+with the industry and steadfastness that come from strong 
+religious conviction and deep sense of moral responsibility. He 
+is never at a loss for an effective moral attitude. As the great 
+champion of freedom and national independence, he conquers and 
+annexes half the world, and calls it Colonization. When he wants 
+a new market for his adulterated Manchester goods, he sends
+a missionary to teach the natives the gospel of peace. The 
+natives kill the missionary: he flies to arms in defence of 
+Christianity; fights for it; conquers for it; and takes the
+market as a reward from heaven. In defence of his island shores, 
+he puts a chaplain on board his ship; nails a flag with a cross 
+on it to his top-gallant mast; and sails to the ends of the 
+earth, sinking, burning and destroying all who dispute the empire 
+of the seas with him. He boasts that a slave is free the moment 
+his foot touches British soil; and he sells the children of his 
+poor at six years of age to work under the lash in his factories 
+for sixteen hours a day. He makes two revolutions, and then 
+declares war on our one in the name of law and order. There is 
+nothing so bad or so good that you will not find Englishmen doing 
+it; but you will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does
+everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; 
+he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial 
+principles; he bullies you on manly principles; he supports his 
+king on loyal principles, and cuts off his king's head on 
+republican principles. His watchword is always duty; and he 
+never forgets that the nation which lets its duty get on the 
+opposite side to its interest is lost. He--
+
+LADY. W-w-w-w-w-wh! Do stop a moment. I want to know how you make 
+me out to be English at this rate. 
+
+NAPOLEON (dropping his rhetorical style). It's plain enough. You 
+wanted some letters that belonged to me. You have spent the 
+morning in stealing them--yes, stealing them, by highway robbery. 
+And you have spent the afternoon in putting me in the wrong about 
+them--in assuming that it was I who wanted to steal YOUR 
+letters--in explaining that it all came about through my meanness 
+and selfishness, and your goodness, your devotion, your 
+self-sacrifice. That's English.
+
+LADY. Nonsense. I am sure I am not a bit English. The English are 
+a very stupid people.
+
+NAPOLEON. Yes, too stupid sometimes to know when they're beaten. 
+But I grant that your brains are not English. You see, though 
+your grandfather was an Englishman, your grandmother was--what?
+A Frenchwoman?  
+
+LADY. Oh, no. An Irishwoman.
+
+NAPOLEON (quickly). Irish! (Thoughtfully.) Yes: I forgot the 
+Irish. An English army led by an Irish general: that might be a 
+match for a French army led by an Italian general. (He pauses, 
+and adds, half jestingly, half moodily) At all events, YOU have 
+beaten me; and what beats a man first will beat him last. (He 
+goes meditatively into the moonlit vineyard and looks up. She 
+steals out after him. She ventures to rest her hand on his 
+shoulder, overcome by the beauty of the night and emboldened by 
+its obscurity.)
+
+LADY (softly). What are you looking at?
+ 
+NAPOLEON (pointing up). My star. 
+
+LADY. You believe in that?
+
+NAPOLEON. I do. (They look at it for a moment, she leaning a 
+little on his shoulder.)
+
+LADY. Do you know that the English say that a man's star is not 
+complete without a woman's garter?
+
+NAPOLEON (scandalized--abruptly shaking her off and coming back 
+into the room). Pah! The hypocrites! If the French said that, how 
+they would hold up their hands in pious horror! (He goes to the 
+inner door and holds it open, shouting) Hallo! Giuseppe. Where's 
+that light, man. (He comes between the table and the sideboard, 
+and moves the chair to the table, beside his own.) We have still 
+to burn the letter. (He takes up the packet. Giuseppe comes back, 
+pale and still trembling, carrying a branched candlestick with a 
+couple of candles alight, in one hand, and a broad snuffers tray 
+in the other.)
+
+GIUSEPPE (piteously, as he places the light on the table). 
+Excellency: what were you looking up at just now--out there? (He 
+points across his shoulder to the vineyard, but is afraid to look 
+round.)
+
+NAPOLEON (unfolding the packet). What is that to you? 
+
+GIUSEPPE (stammering). Because the witch is gone--vanished; and 
+no one saw her go out.
+
+LADY (coming behind him from the vineyard). We were watching her 
+riding up to the moon on your broomstick, Giuseppe. You will 
+never see her again.
+
+GIUSEPPE. Gesu Maria! (He crosses himself and hurries out.)
+
+NAPOLEON (throwing down the letters in a heap on the table). Now. 
+(He sits down at the table in the chair which be has just 
+placed.)
+
+LADY. Yes; but you know you have THE letter in your pocket. (He 
+smiles; takes a letter from his pocket; and tosses it on the top 
+of the heap. She holds it up and looks at him, saying) About 
+Caesar's wife.
+
+NAPOLEON. Caesar's wife is above suspicion. Burn it. 
+
+LADY (taking up the snuffers and holding the letter to the
+candle flame with it). I wonder would Caesar's wife be above 
+suspicion if she saw us here together!
+
+NAPOLEON (echoing her, with his elbows on the table and his 
+cheeks on his hands, looking at the letter). I wonder! (The 
+Strange Lady puts the letter down alight on the snuffers tray, 
+and sits down beside Napoleon, in the same attitude, elbows on 
+table, cheeks on hands, watching it burn. When it is burnt, they 
+simultaneously turn their eyes and look at one another. The 
+curtain steals down and hides them.)
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Man of Destiny, by George Bernard Shaw
+
diff --git a/old/tmnds10.zip b/old/tmnds10.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e085aa6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/tmnds10.zip