Part 51 (1/2)

Not a muscle moved in Thugut's face to betray his surprise, and he ordered the servant in a perfectly calm voice to admit the gentlemen immediately. He then hastily walked to the door for the purpose of meeting them. They entered a few minutes later: first, Count Colloredo, minister of the imperial household; next, Count Saurau, minister of police; and last, Count Lehrbach, minister without portfolio. Thugut surveyed the three dignitaries with a single searching glance. He perceived that good-natured Count Colloredo looked rather frightened; that the ferocious eyes of Count Lehrbach were glistening like those of a tiger just about to lacerate his victim: and that Count Saurau, that diplomatist generally so impenetrable, permitted a triumphant smile to play on his lips. With the sure tact which Thugut never lost sight of, he saw from the various miens of these three gentlemen what had occasioned their call upon him, and his mind was made up at once.

He received them, however, with a pleasant salutation, and took the hand of Count Colloredo in order to conduct him to an armchair. Colloredo's hand was cold and trembling, and Thugut said to himself, ”he is charged with a very disagreeable message for me, and he is afraid to deliver it.”

”Your excellency is doubtless astonished to see us disturb you at so unexpected an hour,” said Count Colloredo, in a tremulous voice, when the four gentlemen had taken seats.

”No, I am not astonished,” said Thugut, calmly. ”You, gentlemen, on the contrary, have only antic.i.p.ated my wishes. I was just about to invite you to see me for the purpose of holding a consultation, very disastrous tidings having arrived from the headquarters of our army. We have lost a battle at Hohenlinden--Archduke John has been defeated.”

”And Moreau has already crossed the Inn and is now advancing upon Vienna,” said Count Lehrbach, with a sneer. ”You have made some terrible mistakes in your hopes of victory, minister.”

”Yes, indeed, you have made some terrible mistakes, my dear little baron,” said Count Saurau, laying particular stress on the last words.

Thugut fixed a laughing look on him. ”Why,” he said, ”how tender we are to-day, and how big your beak has grown, my dear little count! You seem but slightly afflicted by the misfortunes of the empire, for your face is as radiant as that of a young c.o.c.k that has just driven a rival from its dunghill. But it must have been a very stupid old c.o.c.k that has condescended to fight with you. Now, my dear Count Colloredo, let us talk about business. We have been defeated at Hohenlinden, and Moreau is advancing upon Vienna. These are two facts that cannot be disputed. But we shall recover from these blows; we shall send a fresh army against Moreau, and it will avenge our previous disasters.”

”However, your excellency, that is a mere hope, and we may be disappointed again,” replied Colloredo, anxiously. ”The emperor, my gracious master, has lost faith in our victories, unless we should have an able and tried general at the head of our forces--a general equally trusted by the army and the nation.”

”Let us, then, place such a general at the head of the army,”

said Thugut, calmly; ”let us immediately appoint Archduke Charles commander-in-chief of the Austrian forces.”

”Ah, I am glad that you consent to it,” exclaimed Colloredo, joyfully, ”for the emperor has just instructed me to go to his distinguished brother and to request him in the name of his majesty to resume the command-in-chief.”

”Well, he will accept it,” said Thugut, smiling, ”for commanding and ruling always is a very agreeable occupation; and many a one would be ready and willing to betray his benefactor and friend, if he thereby could acquire power and distinction. Are you not, too, of this opinion, my dear little Count Saurau? Ah, you do not know how tenderly I am devoted to you. You are the puppet which I have raised and fostered, and which I wanted to transform into a man according to my own views. I am not to blame if you have not become a man, but always remained only a machine to be directed by another hand. Beware, my dear, of ever falling into unskilful or bad hands, for then you would be lost, notwithstanding your elasticity and pliability. But you have got a worthy friend there at your side, n.o.ble, excellent Count Lehrbach. Do you know, my dear Count Lehrbach, that there are evil-disposed persons who often tried to prejudice me against you, who wanted to insinuate you were a rival of mine, and were notoriously anxious to supplant me and to become prime minister in my place? Truly, these anxious men actually went so far as to caution me against you.”

”And did not your excellency make any reply to them?” asked Count Lehrbach, laughing.

”Parbleu, you ask me whether I have made a reply to them or not?” said Thugut. ”I have always replied to those warning voices: 'I need not break Count Lehrbach's neck; he will attend to that himself. I like to push a man forward whom I am able to hang at any time.'” [Footnote: Thugut's own words.--Hormayer's ”Lebensbilder,” vol. i., p. 882.]

”But you have not taken into consideration that the man whom you are pus.h.i.+ng forward might reach back and afford you the same pleasure which you had in store for him,” exclaimed Lehrbach, laughing boisterously.

”Yes, that is true,” said Thugut, artlessly; ”I ought to have been afraid of you, after all, and to perceive that you have got a nail in your head on which one may be hanged very comfortably. But, my friends, we detain Count Colloredo by our jokes, and you are aware that he must hasten to the archduke in order to beg him to become our commander-in-chief and to sign a treaty of peace with France. For I believe we will make peace at all events.”

”We shall make peace provided we fulfil the conditions which Bonaparte has exacted,” said Count Colloredo, timidly.

”Ah, he has exacted conditions, and these conditions have been addressed to the emperor and not to myself?” asked Thugut.

”The dispatches were addressed to me, the minister of the imperial household,” said Count Colloredo, modestly. ”The first of these conditions is that Austria and France make peace without letting England partic.i.p.ate in the negotiations.”

”And the second condition is beaming already on Count Lehrbach's forehead,” said Thugut, calmly. ”Bonaparte demands that I shall withdraw from the cabinet, as my dismissal would be to him a guaranty of the pacific intentions of Austria, [Footnote: Hausser's ”History of Germany,” vol. ii., p. 324.] Am I mistaken?”

”You are not; but the emperor, gratefully acknowledging the long and important services your excellency has rendered to the state, will not fulfil this condition and incur the semblance of ingrat.i.tude.”

”Austria and my emperor require a sacrifice of me, and I am ready to make it,” said Thugut, solemnly. ”I shall write immediately to his majesty the emperor and request him to permit me to withdraw from the service of the state without delay.”

Count Colloredo sighed mournfully; Count Saurau smiled, and Count Lehrbach laughed in Thugut's face with the mien of a hyena.

”And do you know who will be your successor?” asked the latter.

”My dear sir, I shall have no successor, only a miserable imitator, and you will be that imitator,” said Thugut, proudly. ”But I give you my word that this task will not be intrusted to you for a long while. I shall now draw up my request to the emperor, and I beg you, gentlemen, to deliver it to his majesty.”

Without saying another word he went to his desk, hastily wrote a few lines on a sheet of paper, which he then sealed and directed. ”Count Colloredo,” he said, ”be kind enough to hand this letter to the emperor.”

Count Colloredo took it with one hand, and with the other he drew a sealed letter from his bosom.