The Bronze Eagle (12 page)

"Impossible, M. le Comte," he cried pitiably, "I could not do it. . . .
Where could I go? . . . The existence of the money is known . . . known
to the Bonapartists, I am convinced. . . . There's Dumoulin, the
glovemaker, he knows everything that goes on in Grenoble . . . and his
friend Emery, who is an army surgeon in the pay of Bonaparte . . . both
these men have been to and from Elba incessantly these past few months
. . . then there's the Bonapartist club in Grenoble . . . with a
membership of over two thousand . . . the members have friends and spies
everywhere . . . even inside the Hôtel de Ville . . . why! the other day
I had to dismiss a servant who . . ."

"Easy, easy, M. le préfet," broke in M. le Comte impatiently, "the long
and the short of it is that you would not feel safe with the money
anywhere outside Grenoble."

"Or inside it, M. le Comte."

"Very well, then, the money must be deposited there, where it will be
safe. Now what do you think of Dupont's Bank?"

"Oh, M. le Comte! an avowed Bonapartist! . . . M. de Talleyrand would
not trust him with the money last year."

"That is so . . . but . . ."

"It seems to me," here interposed Mme. la Duchesse abruptly, "that by
far the best plan—since this district
[Pg 94]
seems to be a hot-bed of
disloyalty—would be to convey the money straightway to Paris, and then
the King or M. de Talleyrand can dispose of it as best they like."

"Ah, Mme. la Duchesse," sighed M. Fourier ecstatically as he clasped his
podgy little hands together and looked on Madame with eyes full of
admiration for her wisdom, "how cleverly that was spoken! If only I
could be relieved from that awful responsibility . . . five and twenty
millions under my charge and that Corsican ogre at our gates! . . ."

"That is all very well!" quoth the Comte with marked impatience, "but
how is it going to be done? 'Convey the money to Paris' is easily said.
But who is going to do it? M. le préfet here says that the Bonapartists
have spies everywhere round Grenoble, and . . ."

"Ah, M. le Comte!" exclaimed the préfet eagerly. "I have already thought
of such a beautiful plan! If only you would consent . . ."

M. le Comte's thin lips curled in a sarcastic smile.

"Oh! you have thought it all out already, M. le préfet?" he said. "Well!
let me hear your plan, but I warn you that I will not have the money
brought here. I don't half trust the peasantry of the neighbourhood, and
I won't have a fight or an outrage committed in my house!"

M. le préfet was ready with a protest:

"No, no, M. le Comte!" he said, "I wouldn't suggest such a thing for the
world. If the Corsican brigand is successful in capturing Grenoble, no
place would be sacred to him. No! My idea was if you, M. le Comte—who
have oft before journeyed to Paris and back—would do it now . . .
before Bonaparte gets any nearer to Grenoble . . . and take the money
with you . . ."

"I?" exclaimed the Comte. "But, man, if—as you say—Grenoble is full of
Bonapartist spies, my movements are no doubt just as closely watched as
your own."

[Pg 95]
"No, no, M. le Comte, not quite so closely, I am sure."

The insinuating manner of the worthy man, however, was apparently
getting on M. le Comte's nerves.

"Ah, ça, M. le préfet," he ejaculated abruptly, "but meseems that the
splendid plan you thought on merely consists in transferring
responsibility from your shoulders to mine own."

And M. le Comte cast such a wrathful look on poor M. Fourier that the
unfortunate man was stricken dumb with confusion.

"Moreover," concluded the Comte, "I don't know that you, M. le préfet,
have the right to dispose of this money which was entrusted to you by M.
de Talleyrand in the King's behalf without consulting His Majesty's
wishes in the matter."

"Bah, André," broke in the Duchesse in her incisive way, "you are
talking nonsense, and you know it. There is no time for red-tapeism now
with that ogre at our gates. How are you going to consult His Majesty's
wishes—who is in Paris—between now and Tuesday, I would like to know?"
she added with a shrug of the shoulders.

Whereupon M. le Comte waxed politely sarcastic.

"Perhaps," he said, "you would prefer us to consult yours."

"You might do worse," she retorted imperturbably. "The question is one
which is very easily solved. Ought His Majesty the King to have that
money, or should M. le préfet here take the risk of its falling in
Bonaparte's hands? Answer me that," she said decisively, "and then I
will tell you how best to succeed in carrying out your own wishes."

"What a question, my good Sophie!" said the Comte stiffly. "Of course we
desire His Majesty to have what is rightfully his."

"You mean he ought to have the twenty-five millions
[Pg 96]
which the Prince de
Bénévant stole from Marie Louise. Very well then, obviously that money
ought to be taken to Paris before Bonaparte gets much nearer to
Grenoble—but it should not be taken by you, my good André, nor yet by
M. le préfet."

"By whom then?" queried the Comte irritably.

"By me," replied Mme. la Duchesse.

"By you, Sophie! Impossible!"

"And God alive, why impossible, I pray you?" she retorted. "The money, I
understand, is in a very portable form, notes and bankers' drafts, which
can be stowed away quite easily. Why shouldn't I be journeying back to
Paris after Crystal's wedding? Who would suspect me, I should like to
know, of carrying twenty-five millions under my petticoats? All I should
want would be a couple of sturdy fellows on the box to protect me
against footpads. Impossible?" she continued tartly. "Men are always so
ready with that word. Get a sensible woman, I say, and she will solve
your difficulties before you have finished exclaiming: 'Impossible!'"

And she looked triumphantly from one man to the other. There was obvious
relief on the ruddy face of little M. Fourier, and even M. le Comte was
visibly taken with the idea.

"Well!" he at last condescended to say, "it does sound feasible after
all."

"Feasible? Of course it's feasible," said Madame with a shrug of
contempt. "Either the King is in want of the money, or he is not. Either
Bonaparte is likely to get it or he is not. If the King wants it, he
must have it at any cost and any risk. Twenty-five millions in
Bonaparte's hands at this juncture would help him to reconstitute his
army and make it very unpleasant for the King and for us all. M. le
préfet, who has been in charge of the money all along, and M. le Comte
de Cambray, who
[Pg 97]
is the only true royalist in the district, are both
marked down by spies: ergo Mme. la Duchesse d'Agen is the only possible
agent for the business, and an inoffensive old woman without any
political standing is the least likely to be molested in her task. If I
fail, I fail," concluded Madame decisively, "if I am stopped on the way
and the money taken from me, well! I am stopped, that's all! and M. le
préfet or M. le Comte de Cambray or any male agent they may have sent
would have been stopped likewise. But I maintain that a woman travelling
alone is far safer at this business and more likely to succeed than a
man. So now, for God's sake, don't let's argue any more about it.
Crystal is to be married on Tuesday and I could start that same
afternoon. Can you bring the money over with you to-night?"

She put her query directly to the préfet, who was obviously overjoyed,
and intensely relieved at the suggestion.

M. le Comte too seemed to be won over by his sister's persuasive
rhetoric: her strength of mind and firmness of purpose always imposed
themselves on those over whom she chose to exert her will: and men of
somewhat weak character like the Comte de Cambray came very easily under
the sway of her dominating personality.

But he thought it incumbent upon his dignity to make one more protest
before he finally yielded to his sister's arguments.

"I don't like," he said, "the idea of your travelling alone through the
country without sufficient escort. The roads are none too safe and
. . ."

"Bah!" broke in Madame impatiently. "I pray you, Monsieur my brother, to
strengthen your arguments, if you are really determined to oppose this
sensible scheme of mine. Travelling alone, forsooth! Did I not arrive
only yesterday, having travelled all the way from Boulogne
[Pg 98]
and with no
escort save two louts on the box of a hired coach?"

"You chose to travel alone, my dear sister, for reasons best known to
yourself," retorted the Comte, greatly angered that M. le préfet should
hear the fact that Mme. la Duchesse douairière had travelled at any time
without an escort.

"And who shall say me nay, if I choose to travel back alone again, I
should like to know? So now if you have exhausted your string of
objections, my dear brother, perhaps you will allow M. le préfet to
answer my question."

Whereupon M. le préfet promptly satisfied Mme. la Duchesse on the point:
he certainly could and would bring the money over with him this evening.
And M. le Comte had no further objections to offer.

In the archives of the Ministry of War in Paris, any one who looks may
read that in the subsequent trial of Général Marchand for high
treason—after the Hundred Days and Napoleon's second abdication—préfet
Fourier during the course of his evidence gave a detailed account of
this same interview which he had with M. le Comte de Cambray and Mme. la
Duchesse douairière d'Agen on Sunday, March the 5th. In his deposition
he naturally laid great stress upon his own zeal in the matter,
declaring that he it was who finally overcame by his eloquence M. le
Comte's objections to the scheme and decided him to give his
acquiescence thereto.
[1]

Certain it is that there was but little argument after this between Mme.
la Duchesse and the two men, and that the details of the scheme were
presently discussed soberly and in all their bearings.

"I shall have the honour presently," said Fourier, "of coming back here
to respond to M. le Comte's gracious
[Pg 99]
invitation to dinner. Why
shouldn't I bring the money with me then?"

"Indeed you must bring the money then," retorted the irascible old lady,
"and let there be no shirking or delay. Promptitude is our great chance
of success. I ought not to start later than Tuesday, and I could do so
soon after the wedding ceremony. I could arrange to sleep at Lyons that
night, at Dijon the next day, be in Paris by Thursday evening and in the
King's presence on Friday."

"Provided you are not delayed," sighed the Comte.

"If I am delayed, my good André, then anyhow the game is up. But we are
not going to anticipate misfortune and we are going to believe in our
lucky star."

"Would to God I could bring myself to approve wholeheartedly of this
expedition! The whole thing seems to me chivalrous and romantic rather
than prudent, and Heaven knows how prudent we should be just now!"

"You look back on history, my dear brother," remarked Madame drily, "and
you'll see that more great events have been brought about by chivalry
and romance than by prudence and circumspection. The romance of Joan of
Arc delivered France from foreign yoke, the chivalry of François I.
saved the honour of France after the disaster of Pavie, and it certainly
was not prudence which set Henry of Navarre upon the throne of France
and in the heart of his people. So for gracious' sake do not let us talk
of prudence any more. Rather let us allow M. le préfet to return quietly
to the Hôtel de Ville, so that he and Mme. Fourier may proceed to dress
for to-night's ceremony, just as if nothing untoward had happened. In
the meanwhile I will complete my preparations for Tuesday. There are one
or two little details in connection with my journey—hostelries,
servants, horses and so on—which you, my dear André, will kindly decide
for me. And now, gentlemen,"
[Pg 100]
she added, rising from her chair, "I have
the honour to wish you both a very good afternoon."

She did not wait long enough to allow M. le Comte time to ring for
Hector, and she appeared so busy with her lace shawl that she was unable
to do more than acknowledge with a slight inclination of the head M. le
préfet's respectful salute. But then Mme. la Duchesse douairière
d'Agen—though a fervent royalist herself—had a wholesome contempt for
these opportunists. Fourier, celebrated mathematician, loaded with gifts
and honours by Napoleon, who had made him a member of the Institute of
Science and given him the prefecture of the Isère, had turned his coat
very readily at the Restoration, and the oaths of loyalty which he had
tendered to the Emperor seemed not to weigh overheavily upon his
conscience when he reiterated them to the King.

Mme. la Duchesse d'Agen, therefore, did not willingly place her
aristocratic fingers in the hand of a renegade, who she felt might turn
renegade again if his personal interest so dictated it. Perhaps
something of what lay behind Madame's curt nod to him, struck the
préfet's sensibilities, for the high colour suddenly fled from his round
face, and he did not attempt to approach her for the ceremonial
hand-kissing. But he ran across the room as fast as his short legs would
carry him, and he opened the door for her and bowed to her as she sailed
past him with all the deference which in the olden days of the Empire he
had accorded to the Empress Marie Louise.

"It is a mad scheme, my good M. Fourier," sighed the Comte when he found
himself once more alone with the préfet, "but such as it is I can think
of nothing better."

"M. le Comte," exclaimed the préfet with delight, "no one could think of
anything better. Ah, the women of France!" he added ecstatically, "the
women! how often
[Pg 101]
have they saved France in moments of crises? France
owes her grandeur to her women, M. le Comte!"