Marie Antoinette and Her Son Part 80

"But this enmity of the Count de Lille vanishes like a glow-worm in the darkness. I want tangible proofs by which I can arrest my enemies. Can you give them to me?"

"General, it will not be difficult to do this. We will speak of it hereafter. Allow me first a word about this dangerous adjutant of Desaix, Colonel Louis. You said, general, that you made futile efforts to gain information about this interesting and brave young man. Those efforts were made in the years when M. Regnier d'Angely was chief of police, in which my enemies succeeded in withdrawing the confidence of the First Consul from me. But had I been chief of police at that time, I should have been able to tell you that the young man whom you were seeking, and respecting whom you obtained no information, was living here in Paris."

"What!" cried Bonaparte, in amazement. "This so-called Louis XVII.

in Paris, then?" "General, he is still here; he has been living in Paris for about four years--about as long as M. Regnier has been head of police."

"And Regnier has told me nothing about it! Has he not known that so dangerous a person was living in Paris?"

Fouche shrugged his shoulders. "Monsieur Regnier--who doubts the existence of secret societies in France, and tells you that the a.s.sa.s.sins who have so often of late imperilled your life have all been sent hither from foreign parts by the pretenders to the crown, and that there are no conspirators in France--Monsieur Regnier could not of course know the head of this secret society. He left them to follow their own pleasures unhindered here in Paris. But I know them, and I give you my word of honor, general, that the so-called nephew of Kleber is living here in Paris. Directly after his arrival he came to me, and I handed to him the papers and doc.u.ments which Desaix intrusted to me, and which I had solemnly sworn to deliver to his adjutant Louis. The young man gave me his confidence, and when I spoke to him regretfully and with enthusiasm about his father and his mother, and addressed him as 'his majesty,' I won his love. He opened his heart to me, confessed that he was Louis XVII., and asked my counsel and help. I promised him both, and showed myself to him in a very compliant and devoted mood. My first counsel was, that he should live incognito under a borrowed name. In order that this might be possible, I gave him the name for his incognito, and had all the necessary doc.u.ments prepared, the certificate of his birth, baptism, the marriage of his parents, and the will of his relatives."

"And all these doc.u.ments were false and forged?" said Bonaparte, in amazement.

"There are everywhere pliable public officials in France," replied Fouche, with a smile. "I did not content myself with procuring for my protege the papers which insured him an honorable name, respectable family position, and a life without care; I did much more for him. I followed the efforts already related with others. I had a certificate of the death of M. Louis prepared, so as to give him a pa.s.sport out of life. In order to protect himself from every injury, I told him that he, as the adjutant of Desaix, must pa.s.s as dead. He approved of it, and I took the pains to procure from the hospital at Alessandria a duly signed and sealed certificate that Colonel Louis, the adjutant of General Desaix, died of his wounds there."

"Good G.o.d!" cried Bonaparte, "is every thing in life to be bought and sold thus?"

"Yes, general, every thing--loyalty and love, life and death. I have caused the son of the King of France to die, and then rise again-- and all with gold. But, when the certificate arrived, a change had occurred in my relations. I had been removed from office, and Regnier was my successor. I kept the certificate in my possession; but, in order to secure my protege against what might befall me in case of my death, I wrote to him that I had received the papers, and that he would live without danger in Paris, under his a.s.sumed name.

This letter I signed with my whole name, and set my seal to it, that in case of need it might be of service to him."

"Fouche, you are a sly fox," said Bonaparte, with a laugh. "It is easier to get out of the way of a cannonball than out of your snares. One might say to you, in the words of the King of Prussia, 'G.o.d defend mo from my friends, from my enemies I can defend myself!' According to this you have caused Colonel Louis to die for friends.h.i.+p's sake, and rise again under another name."

"Yes, general, that is it! Colonel Louis--that is, the rightful king, Louis XVII.--is a tool in my hands, which I hold as a check to all parties, and which I can hold up or withdraw according as it pleases me. At present my game is not merely to bring disunion and hatred into the ranks of the royalists, but to bring over many republicans who have a soft heart, to be zealous partisans of the young and unfortunate king."

"And afterward," said Bonaparte, with a sterner tone, "you might make use of this instrument to intimidate that fourth party of which you spoke before--the Bonapartists. But you have been mistaken, Fouche; this reckoning does not do--your cunning has overreached itself. You do not terrify me; and if it could really happen that the French nation should offer me an imperial crown, at the same time that I should accept it, I should put my foot on the neck of all rebels and pretenders. With a single tread I would crush them all. I want no parties, no political factions; I want to bring all these risings and agitations to silence. There shall be no secret societies in France; and against each and every conspirator, whatever his rank may be, I will bring from this time forth the whole weight of the law. Mark this, Fouche! I mean to make an end of all parties, and only when you shall give their chiefs into my hand- -not for my personal vengeance, for I cherish no vengeance against those cowardly worms of conspirators, but for the righteous punishment and retaliatory laws of France--only when you are able, by one grand coup, and one well-founded charge, to destroy all conspiracies, and bring all secret coalitions to the light, only then shall you become chief of police--only then will the future emperor give you the t.i.tle of duke."

"General, I build on your word, and I am sure of becoming chief of police and duke. We will put an end to all conspiracies."

"And to the Monsieur Louis, too," cried Bonaparte, eagerly. "It is a disagreeable and troublesome figure. So long as he lives he would live in the ermine of the imperial cloak like a troublesome insect, which always stings and p.r.i.c.ks. One must not allow such insects to find their way into his fur, and this Monsieur Louis must be put out of the way once for all. I hope he has entered deeply enough into the conspiracy, not to come out of it again with a whole skin!"

"General, I have told you already, that day before yesterday his dependants saluted him, in a secret gathering, as their king. It is true, indeed, that the poor little fellow strongly opposed it, and obstinately refused to accept all honors, but the fact remains unchanged."

"And on the ground of this fact shall he be apprehended," cried Bonaparte, with a threatening voice.

"There must be an example made, and this Louis is a suitable person for it. He must be the bete de souffrance for all the rest. He is the head of a conspiracy; we will crush this head, and the limbs will fall of themselves. Besides the sensitive souls who love nurses' stories and believe in every thing, there will be no one who will weep for him. No one will lament his death, but he will be a warning to all. Direct yourself to this, Fouche, and set all the infernal machines of your intrigues in operation that we may put an end to conspiracy."

"General, only one thing is wanting; it is that I be at the head of the police, and have the power in my hands to make my infernal machines effectual."

"But I have told you that I will appoint you as minister only when you give me incontrovertible proofs that your conspiracies are not the fabric of your own phantasy."

"Very well, general, now that we are at one, I am prepared to give you these proofs. I have told you that the royalists and republicans have united for the purpose of taking your life. They have chosen fifty men by ballot, in foreign parts, who are to come to Paris and accomplish here the great work of your destruction. These fifty a.s.sa.s.sins have arrived in Paris, and their chief men had an interview yesterday with the chiefs of the conspiracies here."

"Fouche!" cried Bonaparte, with a threatening voice, "think well what you are saying. You are playing for the stake of your own head!

If these fifty a.s.sa.s.sins are creatures of your own imagination, it is you who will have to pay for it."

"These fifty men have been in Paris since the day before yesterday,"

rejoined Fouche, quietly. "They came hither by different roads, and appearing like simple travellers, and yesterday they had their first interview with the chief of the republican party."

"Who is this chief? Name him, or I will call you a liar and impostor!"

"This chief," said Fouche, slowly, and measuring every word, "this chief is General Moreau."

Bonaparte uttered a low cry, an ashy paleness suffused his cheeks; he pressed his lips together, and his eyes flamed out such darts of rage that even Fouche trembled and lowered his gaze.

"Moreau," muttered Bonaparte, after a long pause, "Moreau a conspirator, a traitor! Moreau in an alliance with a.s.sa.s.sins whom the royalists are sending out against me! I knew very well that he was my enemy, but I did not think that his enmity would lead him to be a murderer!"

He walked up and down with quick steps, his hands folded behind his back, then stopped short before Fouche and looked him full in the face.

"Fouche, do you abide by your a.s.sertion, that Moreau is a conspirator?"

"I abide by it, general."

"And those fifty a.s.sa.s.sins, whom the royalists have sent, are in Paris?"

"Yes, general, they are in Paris, and Georges and Pichegru are at their head."

"Fouche," cried Bonaparte, clinching his fist and raising it threateningly, "Fouche, so sure as G.o.d lives, I will have you hanged as a traitor if you have lied!"

"General, as surely as G.o.d lives, I have spoken the truth. I came here to show you what I am, and what Regnier is. I have waited here till the whole net of these conspiracies should be spread out and be fully complete. The time has come when I must speak; and now I say to you, general, take some steps, for there is danger on foot!"

Bonaparte, trembling with emotion, had thrown himself into an arm- chair, and took, as was his custom in moments of the greatest excitement, his penknife from the writing-desk, and began to whittle on the back of the chair.

Fouche stood leaning against the wall, and looked with complete calmness and an invisible smile at this singular occupation of the general, when the door of the cabinet was opened, and the Mameluke Roustan appeared at the entrance.

"Consul," he said, softly, "Councillor Real is again here, and pressingly desires an audience."

Bonaparte rose, and threw away the knife. "Real!" he cried in a loud tone.

The man who was summoned immediately appeared at the open door--a tall, grave personage, with a face so pale and distorted that Bonaparte noticed it, despite his great agitation.

"What is it, Real?" he asked, eagerly. "Have you spoken with the condemned man?"

"Yes, general, I have spoken with him," whispered Real, with pale lips.

"And it is as I said, is it not? This Doctor Querolle has only pretended to be able to make great disclosures, only to prolong his own life a few hours. He has poisoned his wife, in order to marry his mistress, and the poisoner is executed."

"General," cried Fouche, almost with an air of joy, "I knew Querolle, and I knew that his wife poisoned herself. Querolle is not a poisoner."

"What is he then, M. Omniscience?"

"General, he is a conspirator!"

"A conspirator!" repeated Bonaparte, and now his troubled face turned again to the councillor. "Real, what do you know? What did the condemned man say to you?"

"Consul, he swore that he was innocent of the death of his wife, but he acknowledged himself a member of a conspiracy, the object of which is to murder General Bonaparte. He a.s.serts that the royalists and republicans have allied themselves; that fifty emissaries of the Count de Lille and the Duke d'Enghien, Pichegru and Georges at their head, have crept into Paris; that they had an interview yesterday with General Moreau, and with the so-called King Louis XVII., who is secreted in Paris, and that at this hour those fifty men are prowling around the streets of the city, and are watching the Tuileries, waiting for an opportunity to kill the First Consul."

The troubled eye of Bonaparte turned slowly from the pale face of Councillor Real to the calm, sagacious face of Fouche, which guarded itself well from expressing any token of triumph and satisfaction.

The consul then walked slowly through the room, and with his foot pushed open the door leading into the great reception-room, in which, at this hour every day, all the dignitaries of the republic were a.s.sembled, to receive the orders of Bonaparte.

"Murat!" cried Bonaparte, loudly; and at once the person summoned, General Murat, at that time governor of Paris, appeared at the door of the cabinet.