CHAPTER XXVIII. FAMILY MATTERS
Let us leave our four _hunters_ on their way to Lagny--where, thanks tothe passports they owed to the obligingness of certain clerks in citizenFouche's employ, they exchanged their own horses for post-horses andtheir coachman for a postilion--and see why the First Consul had sentfor Roland.
After leaving Morgan, Roland had hastened to obey the general's orders.He found the latter standing in deep thought before the fireplace. Atthe sound of his entrance General Bonaparte raised his head.
"What were you two saying to each other?" asked Bonaparte, withoutpreamble, trusting to Roland's habit of answering his thought.
"Why," said Roland, "we paid each other all sorts of compliments, andparted the best friends in the world."
"How does he impress you?"
"As a perfectly well-bred man."
"How old do you take him to be?"
"About my age, at the outside."
"So I think; his voice is youthful. What now, Roland, can I be mistaken?Is there a new royalist generation growing up?"
"No, general," replied Roland, shrugging his shoulders; "it's theremains of the old one."
"Well, Roland, we must build up another, devoted to my son--if ever Ihave one."
Roland made a gesture which might be translated into the words, "I don'tobject." Bonaparte understood the gesture perfectly.
"You must do more than not object," said he; "you must contribute toit."
A nervous shudder passed over Roland's body.
"In what way, general?" he asked.
"By marrying."
Roland burst out laughing.
"Good! With my aneurism?" he asked.
Bonaparte looked at him, and said: "My dear Roland, your aneurism looksto me very much like a pretext for remaining single."
"Do you think so?"
"Yes; and as I am a moral man I insist upon marriage."
"Does that mean that I am immoral," retorted Roland, "or that I causeany scandal with my mistresses?"
"Augustus," answered Bonaparte, "created laws against celibates,depriving them of their rights as Roman citizens."
"Augustus--"
"Well?"
"I'll wait until you are Augustus; as yet, you are only Caesar."
Bonaparte came closer to the young man, and, laying his hands on hisshoulders, said: "Roland, there are some names I do not wish to seeextinct, and among them is that of Montrevel."
"Well, general, in my default, supposing that through caprice orobstinacy I refuse to perpetuate it, there is my little brother."
"What! Your brother? Then you have a brother?"
"Why, yes; I have a brother! Why shouldn't I have brother?"
"How old is he?"
"Eleven or twelve."
"Why did you never tell me about him?"
"Because I thought the sayings and doings of a youngster of that agecould not interest you."
"You are mistaken, Roland; I am interested in all that concerns myfriends. You ought to have asked me for something for your brother."
"Asked what, general?"
"His admission into some college in Paris."
"Pooh! You have enough beggars around you without my swelling theirnumber."
"You hear; he is to come to Paris and enter college. When he is oldenough, I will send him to the Ecole Militare, or some other schoolwhich I shall have founded before then."
"Faith, general," said Roland, "just as if I had guessed your goodintentions, he is this very day on the point of, starting for Paris."
"What for?"
"I wrote to my mother three days ago to bring the boy to Paris. Iintended to put him in college without mentioning it, and when he wasold enough to tell you about him--always supposing that my aneurism hadnot carried me off in the meantime. But in that case--"
"In that case?"
"Oh! in that case I have left a bit of a will addressed to you, andrecommending to your kindness my mother, and the boy and the girl--inshort, the whole raft."
"The girl! Who is she?"
"My sister."
"So you have a sister also?"
"Yes."
"How old is she?"
"Seventeen."
"Pretty?"
"Charming."
"I'll take charge of her establishment."
Roland began to laugh.
"What's the matter?" demanded the First Consul.
"General, I'm going to put a placard over the grand entrance to theLuxembourg."
"What will you put on the placard?"
"'Marriages made here.'"
"Why not? Is it any reason because you don't wish to marry for yoursister to remain an old maid? I don't like old maids any better than Ido old bachelors."
"I did not say, general, that my sister should remain an old maid; it'squite enough for one member of the Montrevel family to have incurredyour displeasure."
"Then what do you mean?"
"Only that, as the matter concerns my sister, she must, if you willallow it, be consulted."
"Ah, ha! Some provincial love-affair, is there?"
"I can't say. I left poor Amelie gay and happy, and I find her pale andsad. I shall get the truth out of her; and if you wish me to speak toyou again about the matter, I will do so."
"Yes, do so--when you get back from the Vendee."
"Ah! So I am going to the Vendee?"
"Why, is that, like marriage, repugnant, to you?"
"Not in the least."
"Then you are going to the Vendee."
"When?"
"Oh, you need not hurry, providing you start to-morrow."
"Excellent; sooner if you wish. Tell me what I am to do there."
"Something of the utmost importance, Roland."
"The devil! It isn't a diplomatic mission, I presume?"
"Yes; it is a diplomatic mission for which I need a man who is not adiplomatist."
"Then I'm your man, general! Only, you understand, the less adiplomatist I am, the more precise my instructions must be."
"I am going to give them to you. Do you see that map?"
And he showed the young man a large map of Piedmont stretched out on thefloor, under a lamp suspended from the ceiling.
"Yes, I see it," replied Roland, accustomed to follow the general alongthe unexpected dashes of his genius; "but it is a map of Piedmont."
"Yes, it's a map of Piedmont."
"So there is still a question of Italy?"
"There is always a question of Italy."
"I thought you spoke of the Vendee?"
"Secondarily."
"Why, general, you are not going to send me to the Vendee and goyourself to Italy, are you?"
"No; don't be alarmed."
"All right; but I warn you, if you did, I should desert and join you."
"I give you permission to do so; but now let us go back to Melas."
"Excuse me, general; this is the first time you have mentioned him."
"Yes; but I have been thinking of him for a long time. Do you know whereI shall defeat him?"
"The deuce! I do."
"Where?"
"Wherever you meet him."
Bonaparte laughed.
"Ninny!" he said, with loving familiarity. Then, stooping over the map,he said to Roland, "Come here."
Roland stooped beside him. "There," resumed Bonaparte; "that is where Ishall fight him."
"Near Alessandria?"
"Within eight or nine miles of it. He has all his supplies, hospitals,artillery and reserves in Alessandria; and he will not leave theneighborhood. I shall have to strike a great blow; that's the onlycondition on which I can get peace. I shall cross the Alps"--he pointedto the great Saint-Bernard--"I shall fall upon Melas when he leastexpects me, and rout him utterly."
"Oh! trust you for that!"
"Yes; but you understand, Roland, that in order to quit France with aneasy mind, I can't leave it with an inflammation of the bowels--I can'tleave war in the Vendee."
&
nbsp; "Ah! now I see what you are after. No Vendee! And you are sending me tothe Vendee to suppress it."
"That young man told me some serious things about the Vendee. Theyare brave soldiers, those Vendeans, led by a man of brains, GeorgesCadoudal. I have sent him the offer of a regiment, but he won't accept."
"Jove! He's particular."
"But there's one thing he little knows."
"Who, Cadoudal?"
"Yes, Cadoudal. That is that the Abbe Bernier has made me overtures."
"The Abbe Bernier?"
"Yes."
"Who is the Abbe Bernier?"
"The son of a peasant from Anjou, who may be now about thirty-three orfour years of age. Before the insurrection he was curate of Saint-Laudat Angers. He refused to take the oath and sought refuge among theVendeans. Two or three times the Vendee was pacificated; twice shewas thought dead. A mistake! the Vendee was pacificated, but the AbbeBernier had not signed the peace; the Vendee was dead, but the AbbeBernier was still alive. One day the Vendee was ungrateful to him.He wished to be appointed general agent to the royalist armies of theinterior; Stofflet influenced the decision and got his old master,Comte Colbert de Maulevrier, appointed in Bernier's stead. When, attwo o'clock in the morning, the council broke up, the Abbe Bernier haddisappeared. What he did that night, God and he alone can tell; butat four o'clock in the morning a Republican detachment surrounded thefarmhouse where Stofflet was sleeping, disarmed and defenceless. Athalf-past four Stofflet was captured; eight days later he was executedat Angers. The next day Autichamp took command, and, to avoid making thesame blunder as Stofflet, he appointed the Abbe Bernier general agent.Now, do you understand?"
"Perfectly."
"Well, the Abbe Bernier, general agent of the belligerent forces, andfurnished with plenary powers by the Comte d'Artois--the Abbe Bernierhas made overtures to me."
"To you, to Bonaparte, to the First Consul he deigns to--? Why, that'svery kind of the Abbe Bernier? Have you accepted them?"
"Yes, Roland; if the Vendee will give me peace, I will open her churchesand give her back her priests."
"And suppose they chant the _Domine, salvum fac regem?_"
"That would be better than not singing at all. God is omnipotent, and hewill decide. Does the mission suit you, now that I have explained it?"
"Yes, thoroughly."
"Then, here is a letter for General Hedouville. He is to treat with theAbbe Bernier as the general-in-chief of the Army of the West. But youare to be present at all these conferences; he is only my mouthpiece,you are to be my thought. Now, start as soon as possible; the sooner youget back, the sooner Melas will be defeated."
"General, give me time to write to my mother, that's all."
"Where will she stop?"
"At the Hotel des Ambassadeurs."
"When do you think she will arrive?"
"This is the night of the 21st of January; she will be here the eveningof the 23d, or the morning of the 24th."
"And she stops at the Hotel des Ambassadeurs?"
"Yes, general."
"I take it all on myself."
"Take it all on yourself, general?"
"Certainly; your mother can't stay at a hotel."
"Where should she stay?"
"With a friend."
"She knows no one in Paris."
"I beg your pardon, Monsieur Roland; she knows citizen Bonaparte, FirstConsul, and his wife."
"You are not going to lodge my mother at the Luxembourg. I warn you thatthat would embarrass her very much."
"No; but I shall lodge her in the Rue de la Victoire."
"Oh, general!"
"Come, come; that's settled. Go, now, and get back as soon as possible."
Roland took the First Consul's hand, meaning to kiss it; but Bonapartedrew him quickly to him.
"Embrace me, my dear Roland," he said, "and good luck to you."
Two hours later Roland was rolling along in a post-chaise on the road toOrleans. The next day, at nine in the morning, he entered Nantes, aftera journey of thirty-three hours.