On the contrary, his conscience told him that he ought to ask her to endeavour to join him in France. Such journeys always had their hazards; but Sarodopulous could arrange a passage for her in a neutral ship, provide her with a suitable escort and furnish her with introductions to bankers of his acquaintance in all the principal ports at which she might, have to change ship or be carried to by misadventure, so the chances of her arriving safely in France in two or three months’ time were decidedly favourable.
Yet Bonaparte’s having arbitrarily freed him from his entanglement seemed to Roger, in his more sober moments, an act of Providence. Much as he delighted in Zanthé, he knew in his heart of hearts that the main basis of their attraction for one another had been an overwhelming physical desire; and the thought that in a few years’ time he would have for his wife a large Eastern lady who had run to seed continued to plague him.
There was also the point that, once the current crisis had resolved itself, it was his duty to return to England at the earliest possible moment in order to inform Mr. Pitt about changes of policy that the new Government in France was likely to make. And once home, the very last thing he wanted to do was leave England again. But he could not ask Zanthé to join him there, because he dared not put on paper his reasons for wishing her to do so. So if he sent for her at all he would have to return to France to meet her.
Lastly, there was the tricky problem of his dual nationality. She still believed him to be a Frenchman. As nothing would have induced him to spend the rest of his life in France, he would have to tell her the truth about himself. Since she was half French, he had no means of judging how she would take that and, if she did agree to go to England with him, how was he going to get her there? It was one thing for a man like himself to make a clandestine crossing of the Channel in wartime, but quite another to take a woman with him.
All these considerations were inducements to continue to let matters slide; and the long voyage from Egypt, coupled with the excitement of once again being up to the neck in his old work, were inclining him, more and more, to think of her only as one of his loves of the past.
Before he left the reception Talleyrand drew him aside, but only for a few words. Roger confirmed that he now had nothing to fear from Fouché and Talleyrand asked him to breakfast with him two days hence.
Next morning Roger went to the Rue de la Victoire, where he found Bonaparte in a most evil temper. With him were several of the officers who had accompanied him back from Egypt, and all of them had long faces. The reason soon transpired. They had made all speed to Paris, leaving their baggage to follow in wagons. The news had just come through that the whole of it had been captured by brigands. As Roger had left Egypt with only the clothes he stood up in, he could afford to laugh, although he was much too tactful to do so. But the others had all brought rich cashmeres, silks and Eastern perfumes for their women, and jewelled scimitars, armour, saddlery, etc., of considerable value as souvenirs for themselves. With good reason they were cursing the Government that had allowed the country to fall into such a state of open lawlessness.
As Bonaparte’s glance fell on Roger he snapped at him, Where the devil were you yesterday? You know full well that it was your duty to attend upon me.’
Actually Roger had been far too anxious about what Fouché might do to him to think of anything else, but now he was able to reply with a smile, ‘Mon Général, I was, as ever, being active in your service.’
‘What the hell d’you mean by that?’
‘Grant me but a moment in your cabinet, and I will inform you.’
Bonaparte’s insatiable craving for information of all kinds could always be counted on. With a jerk of his head, he led the way out of the drawing room and across the passage to the room where he and Bourrienne worked. Closing the door, he asked sharply, ‘Well? What is all this mystery?’
Roger lowered his voice. ‘I think I can say that I have put the Minister of Police in your pocket.’
‘What! Fouché?’ the Corsican exclaimed. ‘A most dangerous man.’
‘Dangerous to his enemies, but a most powerful friend. No one is in a stronger position to assist you when you launch your coup d’état.’
‘Who said that I intend to launch a coup d’état? I am a loyal servant of the Government.’
‘Of course,’ Roger shrugged, ‘for as long as it suits you. But in Egypt and during our voyage home you said time ánd again that, when you got here, you would throw all these fops and puppies into the Seine.’
‘Perhaps, but I was not speaking literally. I meant only that the Government needed reconstructing. They have offered me the Command of any Army I choose; so I might go back to Italy.’
‘It is an idea,’ Roger agreed. ‘And, like Fouché, I might take up pig-farming. I don’t think either of us will; but if you feel that I am no longer capable of acting in your best interests, I shall have to consider some other——’
‘No, no!’ Bonaparte interrupted swiftly. ‘I have every confidence in you. So has Talleyrand. We agreed that if …. but that is another matter. Tell me about this conversation you had with Fouché.’
‘We were discussing the appalling state into which France has fallen and agreed that a change of Government is the only remedy. Your name is on every tongue, so naturally it came up. I said that if you had any plans I knew nothing of them, but was convinced that you were the only man in France strong enough to prevent the country from falling into a state of open anarchy. He was inclined to agree and would like to meet you. If you mean to return to Italy it would be a waste of time, but if you … well, you have only to promise him that he shall keep his Ministry and he will observe a benevolent neutrality. I need hardly remark that many a crown has been won or lost owing to the attitude of a Minister of Police.’
‘Crowns! No, no! I am a loyal Republican. But you have done well, Breuc, you have done well. Even so, I do not feel that it would be wise for me to meet Fouché yet. So many things are still uncertain, and the stronger the hand I can show him when we do meet the better. Keep him in play for a few days. Tell him I look forward to making his acquaintance but have been asked by the Directors to advise on the reorganisation of the Armies, and that for the time being I must give that matter my whole attention.’
Next day, the 21st, Roger breakfasted with Talleyrand. When he had told him how he had spiked Fouché’s guns by referring to his overtures to Mitau and what had followed from it, the statesman was both amused and delighted. He said:
‘As a soldier, mon vieux, you are entirely wasted. No diplomat could have achieved a finer coup than bringing Fouché over to us. He is the exceptional leopard who is really capable of changing his spots. The thought of his past crimes makes one shudder but I am convinced that, like the convert to Rome, now that he has achieved respectability he is likely to become more of an anti-Jacobin than any of us. His closing of their club was the first evidence of it. I was hoping to win his support for Bonaparte and you have paved the way for that most admirably. As far as the little General is concerned, I regret to say I have found him far from certain of himself; but one cannot blame him for being cautious, and perhaps it is as well that he should have declined a meeting with Fouché for the moment.’
Dabbing rich Brittany butter on a croissant, Talleyrand went on, ‘I asked you here this morning because, if you are to be of maximum value to us, you must be informed of what has so far gone on behind the scenes. As you know, greatly against the will of the Directors, Sieyés was elected to fill Rewbell’s place last May. Although it is not generally known, that was my doing. I secretly buttonholed every Deputy who I believed wished for an end to the devilish uncertainties that beset us, and urged upon them that Sieyés was the only man capable of directing a stable Government.’
‘Why Sieyés?’ Roger asked. ‘He is timid, and clever only at saving his own skin. He would run a mile rather than take any decisive action. It surprises me that you should choose such a weak tool for your business.’
&nbs
p; Talleyrand smiled. ‘Dear friend, you have yet quite a lot to learn. The majority of successful revolutions are made not from without, but from within. However impracticable Sieyés’s ideas may be, he has persuaded nearly everybody that he has long had a Utopian Constitution in his pocket. Being eaten up with vanity as he is, it was a certainty that, as soon as he was given power, he would not be able to resist the itch to foist his unwieldy child upon the nation. What is more, believing him to be a wizard, the public would support him in any steps he took to do so.
‘The first step was to hack away the dead wood in the Directory. By the bloodless coup d’état of Prairial we got rid of three of them; but unfortunately things did not go quite as well as we had hoped. The Deputies landed us with Gohier, Moulins and Roger Ducos. The first two may give us some trouble; but the situation was at least improved by the inclusion of Ducos, because he is another trimmer and will follow Sieyés’s lead in everything.
‘By then, Sieyés was burning to give birth to his ponderous brain-child, but he at least has sufficient sense to realise that for that business he needs a capable midwife. To quote his own words, “What the nation needs is a brain and a sword.” He, of course, was to be the brain; but who the sword?
‘His first thought was of young Joubert. A good soldier and a sensible man; but he had never directed a victorious campaign, so it was doubtful if the Army could be counted on to support him. It was in the hope that he would win for himself suitable laurels that we sent him to supersede Moreau in Italy. But, as you know, he met only with defeat and was killed at Novi.
‘Sieyés’s next choice was Moreau, His brow was already heavy with laurels won on the Rhine and elsewhere. His popularity as a General is beyond question; but he is no politician. He proved as timid about taking any action that might lead to his being outlawed as Sieyés is himself. When the news arrived of Bonaparte’s having landed at Fréjus, Moreau was with Sieyés and he exclaimed with relief, “Here is your man!”’
Roger nodded and asked, ‘How are they getting on together?’
Talleyrand threw up his hands and raised his eyes to heaven. ‘Getting on! They have not yet even met. Between them they are driving me to distraction. The two of them are behaving like two old dowagers whose arms have the same number of quarterings. Each considers it to be beneath his dignity to be the first to call upon the other.’
‘I no longer wonder, then, that I found our little man in such a state of uncertainty when I spoke to him about Fouché. He even talked about going off to take command of the Army in Italy; although I feel sure he does not mean to.’
‘No, he will not do that. At the moment he is angling to have himself made a Director.’
‘Since he is only thirty, and the lowest age at which one can qualify is forty, he would first have to get passed an amendment to the Constitution.’
‘Exactly, and his chances of doing that are negligible. The Jacobins would oppose it tooth and nail; and so would Gohier and Moulins. They would never agree to have him as one of them.’
‘Then it seems things have come to a stalemate.’
‘Yes. Four precious days have already been lost, and his refusal to meet either Sieyés or Fouché is deplorable. Somehow I must bring him and Sieyés together. In the meantime, I pray you do your utmost to nurse Fouché and prevent him from getting the idea that he has been cold-shouldered.’
‘I wrote to him yesterday and took a gamble on saying that “our friend was eager to meet him”, etc., then asked on what days next week he would be free to take breakfast in some place where the meeting was unlikely to be observed and reported.’
‘Good! Good! Somehow we will get Bonaparte there, even if we have to drag him by the coat-tails.’
‘Ah, but where? I can think of only one suitable place, if it is available. Have you still your little house out at Passy?’
Talleyrand smiled, ‘Why, yes. The Velots still look after it for me and occasionally I use it as a rendezvous to ascertain the colour of some pretty creature’s garters. It is an admirable choice. You have only to let me know the day and I will arrange matters. Within recent months, Fouché and I have become upon quite tolerable terms and he will be more inclined to come in with us when he realises that I am giving Bonaparte my support. As host, I can serve as the oil between the wheels; but, later, you and I must leave them alone together.’
‘So be it then. I only pray that our little man will not bring about his own ruin by too lengthy a hesitation. Fouché feared that, if he failed to act promptly, he might be denounced in the Assembly as a conspirator, and that would prove the end of him.’
‘That is my own fear, but I have taken a precaution against it. Today, unless matters go very wrong, as an honour to the General his brother Lucien is to be elected President for the month of the Five Hundred. He is a most revolting young firebrand, but he has a good head on his shoulders and is devoted to his brother. For his term as President we can count on him to quash any measure likely to thwart the ambitions of our formidable nursling.’
When they had finished breakfast, Talleyrand gave Roger a lift to his tailor’s then drove on to Bonaparte’s. After trying on his new uniforms, Roger followed him there. By then Talleyrand had left, but there were half a dozen officers in the drawing room, gathered round the General, among them Admiral Bruix who, since Breuys’s death, had been the senior Commander in the French Navy. Having talked for a while with some of those present, Roger slipped away to the little cabinet where, as he expected, he found Bourrienne at work.
He confided to his old friend the situation regarding Fouché and asked his help, but the Chef de Cabinet shook his head. ‘I do not feel that it is for me to attempt to influence our master in these matters. Talleyrand has been at him this morning urging him to call on Sieyés, and he has made a half-promise to do so; but I doubt if any good will come of it. The temperaments of the two men are so utterly at variance. If he does ally himself with one of the Directors it is much more likely to be his old patron, Barras. Although he despises him they have much more in common.’
‘Including Josephine,’ remarked Roger with a smile.
Bourrienne gave him a reproving look. ‘Mon vieux, you should not say such things. What is past is past.’
‘But is it? Rumour says that, before our return, she was from time to time still being kind to him for old acquaintance’s sake; although Gohier appears to have been her latest interest.’
‘You would be more correct in saying that Gohier is in love with her and that, by encouraging him without going too far, she is preventing him from joining her husband’s enemies.’
‘Bless you, Bourrienne, for a dear, kindly fellow,’ Roger laughed. ‘All I pray is that she will be discreet. Our little man is in no mood to stand for further infidelities, and she is so good-hearted a creature it would be a tragedy if some scheming harridan were put in her place.’
The next morning Roger witnessed a fine flare-up in the Bonapartes’ drawing room. The General had been prevailed upon by Talleyrand and had sent an aide-de-camp to Sieyès to say that he proposed to call on him the following morning. Evidently the inordinately vain Sieyès considered himself insulted because Bonaparte had already been a week in Paris without troubling to present himself officially to him as one of the heads of the Government; so he had sent back a message saying that the hour proposed would be inconvenient.
Thereupon, Bonaparte flew into one of his passions. He declared that the aide-de-camp had acted without orders and had not been sent by him. Then he raved to those around him that he paid calls on nobody. He was the glory of the nation and if people wished to see him they must call on him.
Much perturbed, Roger slipped away, signalled a coach and drove hell-for-leather to the Rue Taitbout. On hearing Roger’s news, Talleyrand was equally furious but controlled his temper better. Roger had retained the coach and they drove back to the Rue de la Victoire together. By then, Bonaparte had calmed down a little and let Talleyrand lead him out into the sma
ll garden. They remained there, wrangling heatedly, for half an hour. Later, when Talleyrand left the house, Roger accompanied him. When they were out in the street, the statesman exclaimed:
‘God preserve me from such conceited fools. The two of them have come within an ace of wrecking all my labours to give France a stable Government and peace. But I stood no nonsense. I told him that he was behaving like a petulant schoolboy and understood no more about politics than a kitchenmaid. Apparently, he has been toying with the idea of allying himself with Barras. To do so would be suicidal. Barras is now a washed-out rag and hated by one and all for his corruption and incompetence; whereas Sieyès is the new broom at the Directory and people expect great things of him. In the end, I got my way. He has given me his firm promise to call on Sieyès tomorrow. At the same time, I took the opportunity to force his hand about Fouché.’
‘You did! Thank God for that. I have been on tenterhooks lest he should refuse a meeting.’
‘You need worry no more. It was Sieyès who got Fouché made Minister of Police; so I pointed out to our man that the two run in double harness and to become on terms with one but not the other would be invidious. I pray you now, lose no time in fixing a day for them to breakfast with us out at Passy.’
Roger went straight to the Ministry of Police, saw Fouché, told him that Bonaparte was now eager to meet him, and provisionally arranged for the meeting to be on the 25th. That afternoon he again saw Bonaparte, who agreed to the date.
Next day, the 23rd, Bonaparte paid his call on Sieyès, but the meeting was far from a success. The ex-Abbé was frightened by the General’s forthright manner and obvious determination, in the event of a successful coup, to have a big say in the Government. The General scarcely veiled his contempt for the ex-Abbé’s timidity and Utopian ideas. Nevertheless the ice had been broken and, on the 24th, Sieyès, accompanied by Roger Ducos, returned Bonaparte’s call.
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