Part 79 (1/2)
”Sire, I venture to unite my prayers with those of Constant,” said Duroc, urgently. ”Sire, do not receive this lady!”
”Your majesty, permit me rather to arrest her immediately,” exclaimed M.
de Vincennes.
Napoleon's flaming eyes glanced in succession smilingly at the three men. ”Truly,” he said, ”on hearing you, one might almost believe this beautiful woman to be a mine, and that it was merely necessary to touch her in order to explode and be shattered! Rea.s.sure yourselves, I believe we will save our life this time. You have warned me, and I shall be on my guard. Not another word, no more prayers! My resolution is fixed; I will see this beautiful woman, and, moreover, alone!”
”Sire,” exclaimed Constant, anxiously, ”suppose this crazy woman should fire a pistol at your head at the moment when your majesty appears before her?”
”In that case the bullets would harmlessly glance off from me, or the pistol would miss fire,” replied Napoleon, in a tone of firm conviction.
”Fate did not place me here to fall by the hands of an a.s.sa.s.sin! Go, gentlemen, and accept my thanks for your zeal and sympathy. M. de Vincennes, return to Vienna; I shall keep your papers here. Is Count Haugwitz still at your rooms, Duroc?”
”Yes, sire, we were just engaged in drawing up the several sections of the treaty, when M. de Vincennes sent for me.”
”Return to the count, and you, Constant, go to M. von Brandt and count with him the minutes which his lady will pa.s.s in my company. I should not be surprised if he should earn a great many gold-pieces, for I do not intend dismissing the interesting belle so soon.”
He nodded to them, and hastily crossing the room, pa.s.sed through the door which Constant opened. With rapid steps, and without any further hesitation, he walked across the two large reception-halls, and then opened the door of the small reception-room where the lady, as Constant had told him, was waiting for him.
He remained for a moment on the threshold, and his burning glances turned toward Marianne, who, as soon as she saw him coming in, had risen from the arm-chair in which she had been sitting.
”It is true,” murmured Napoleon to himself, ”she is really beautiful!”
He advanced a few steps; then, as if remembering only at this moment that he had left the door wide open, he turned around and closed it.
”I suppose you want to speak to me without witnesses?” he asked, approaching Marianne.
”Sire, the words of love and adoration fail too often in the presence of others,” whispered Marianne, casting a flaming glance on him.
Napoleon smiled. ”Well, why did you hesitate, then, just now to write the words of love and adoration between my shoulders?” he asked. ”I turned my back to you intentionally; I wished to give you an opportunity for carrying out your heroic deed.”
”What?” exclaimed Marianne, in terror, ”has your majesty any doubts of my intentions?”
”No,” said Napoleon, laughing, ”I have no doubts whatever of your intentions; on the contrary, I am quite sure of them. I know that you have come hither to translate the Bible, the truth of which has been questioned so often, into reality. You intended to make of the chapter of Judith and Holofernes a tragedy of our times. But although you are as beautiful and seductive as Judith, I am no Holofernes, who allows himself to be ruled by his pa.s.sion, and forgets the dictates of prudence in the arms of a woman. I never was the slave of my pa.s.sions, madame, and it is not sufficient for a woman to be beautiful in order to win my heart; I must be able, too, to esteem her, and never should I be able to esteem a woman capable of loving the conqueror of her country. You see, therefore, that I am no Holofernes, and that I should not have opened my arms to you if I should have believed you to be a recreant daughter of your country. But I know that you are a patriot, and that alters the case: I know that I may esteem you; hence, I do not say that I cannot love you, for it is true, you are enchantingly beautiful.”
”Sire,” said Marianne, indignantly, ”if you have only received me to insult and mortify me, pray permit me to withdraw!”
”No, I have received you because I wanted to give you good advice,” said Napoleon, gravely; ”I, therefore, pray you to remain. You must choose your servants more cautiously, madame; you must confide in them less and watch them better; for slavish souls are easily led astray, and money is a magnet they are unable to withstand. Your mistress of ceremonies is a traitress; beware of her!”
”Then she has slandered me?” asked Marianne, with quivering lips.
”No, she has only betrayed you,” said Napoleon, smiling. ”Even the diamond ring which you gave her as a souvenir did not touch her heart.
Do you yet remember what you said to her when you handed it to her?”
”Sire, how should I remember it?” asked Marianne.
”Well, I will repeat it to you,” exclaimed Napoleon, unfolding the papers which M. de Vincennes had given to him, and which he had kept all the time rolled up in his hand. ”Here it is. You said: 'I know you are a good and enthusiastic Austrian; like myself, you hate the tyrant who wants to subjugate us, and you will bless the hand which will order him to stop, and put an end to his victorious career.' Well, was it not so, madame?”
Marianne made no reply; her cheeks were pale, and her eyes stared at the emperor, who looked at her smilingly.
”A moment before you had concealed a flas.h.i.+ng object in your bosom,”
continued Napoleon. ”That object which your mistress of ceremonies did not see distinctly was a dagger which you had bought this forenoon.