Sitting down in a huge arm-chair, Pichegru murmured: "The Prince's having sent me this document puts a very different complexion on matters."
"Then may I take it that you agree the terms?"
"I know not. I must think. Upon my decision depends the whole future of my country."
"Do you accept and act with vigour, it will make you, after the King, the most powerful man in France."
"I am already near that; and need no help from the Royalists to elevate myself still further. By marching on Paris I could have myself proclaimed Dictator."
"Perhaps; but what of the war in the meantime? Did you turn your army about, the Austrians would be back over the Rhine and hot upon your heels. Only by entering into this pact could you prevent them doing so."
The General shook his head. "Nay, you are in error there. As I hold your life in my hands, I see no reason why I should not speak frankly to you. General Jourdan's army has reached the north bank of the Necker. I have only to make the dash on Heidelberg, which I have been preparing for these past few days, to join up with him. With our combined forces we shall far outnumber either of the Austrian armies. 'Twill be child's-play for us first to defeat Wurmser, then Clerfayt. That done, Austria must sue for peace; then I should be free to march on Paris."
That was the very thing Roger feared, and he saw that he must play every card he had in an attempt to prevent it. Knowing the French hatred of the English, he had intended to pose as a French emigre, but he realized that Pichegru must know that de Conde was penniless, and that the huge money bribe he was offered could come only from England; so now he felt that it might serve him better to disclose his true nationality. After a moment, he said:
"Even if the Austrians cave in you will not be able to secure peace for France. Britain will fight on. The English are a dogged people, and the Scots and Irish no less so. Only twelve years ago, alone m arms, Britain fought all Europe to a standstill. To them surrender is unthinkable."
Pichegru nodded. "I fear you are right in that The English, too, are so vastly rich that with their gold they will suborn other nations to take up arms against us. Moreover, they love fighting for its own sake and are most ferocious enemies. I am told that such is their lust for blood that when at peace they spend all their time hunting, and devour raw the beasts they kill, tearing at them with their big teeth."
Roger could not help laughing. "Nay, they are not quite as uncivilized as that It is true that they make good fighters, but by far the greater part of them would much prefer to remain at home tilling their rich fields, to enduring a hard soldier's life abroad and as often as not dying on some distant battle-field."
"You speak as though you knew and liked them."
"I do; for although I have lived for many years in France, I am an Englishman myself .
"The Devil you are! Then I am inclined more than ever to have you shot."
"No, General, I do not think you will do that." Roger made the statement with quiet confidence, and, opening his coat, displayed the emigre uniform beneath it "You see, I have come to you as one soldier to another; and, apart from the laws of war, I cannot believe that you would act like a Rewbell. So brave a man as yourself would not descend to soil his hands in the manner of these terrorists."
"You have me there." Pichegru's handsome face broke into a smile. "I may, though, have to imprison you for my own protection. But you are a brave fellow yourself, and a clever one. Why in thunder did not that fool of a Prince send you to me before, instead of a woolly-minded fumbler like Fauche-Borel?"
"Because I had not then been brought into this matter. However, we were speaking of the English. Britain holds the seas, and even were you master of all Europe you could not drive her from them: therefore you can never bring her to her knees. While she, if need be for a generation to come, can deny the oceans to your commerce, blockade your ports, starve and harass you. That she will never make peace with a Revolutionary Government I am convinced. On the other hand, she is ready to do so with a Constitutional Monarchy. I give you my solemn word that, whatever you may have been led to believe, Mr. Pitt is at heart a man of peace, and greatly desires it. If you will but bring about a Restoration, I am confident that he will agree to any honourable terms. He would, I believe, even go so far as to support France at a conference of the Powers in her claim to what she asserts to be her natural boundaries, and thus enable her to retain much of the territory that you and her other Generals have won for her in the present war."
Pichegru stared at him, and asked slowly: "Who are you, that though dressed as a private in an army of outlaws, you should speak as though you knew the mind of Mr. Pitt?"
"I am the personal envoy of His Britannic Majesty's Prime Minister," Roger replied with suitable dignity. "I visited de Condé's headquarters only to secure for you the document you are holding."
As he fired his big gun, he watched anxiously for die General's reactions. They came at once. Jumping to his feet he exclaimed: "Then it is not de Condé alone who is behind this proposition! His name written in his own hand should be good enough; but mere have been times when Princes of the House of Bourbon have gone back upon a bargain. If the British Government is prepared to guarantee the terms, I can count the fortune I am offered as good as already placed to my credit in the Bank of England."
Roger bowed at the implied compliment. "That certainly is true as far as the money clauses are concerned. As to the honours, I can only say that, without casting doubt upon the Prince's word, should Mr. Pitt's influence be needed to secure them for you, I feel sure he would exert it in your favour."
With a vigorous nod, Pichegru murmured: "We have got a long way. A very long way. In a quarter of an hour with you I have got further than in all my weeks of dickering with Fauche-Borel."
"You agree, then?" Roger asked, his hopes rising with a bound.
"Nay; I do not say that. There are matters of far more weighty import than my own future to be considered. You spoke just now of the British Government's being willing to agree a peace if France were a Constitutional Monarchy. Can you give me an assurance that the Bourbon Princes are prepared to make her one?"
"No; that I cannot do. I had no converse with de Condé on that subject."
"It is, though, the vital question upon which the whole future hangs. It is my belief that nine-tenths of the French people would now welcome a Restoration, were it based on the Constitution of '91. Last June, when the poor child in the Temple died and that fat dolt the Comte de Provence became technically Louis XVIII, he already had the game in his hands, had he only exercised a modicum of tact. He had but to announce that he accepted the principles of '91 and would grant an amnesty to all who had taken part in the Revolution, for half France to have risen and spontaneously demanded his recall. Yet dull-witted bigot that he is, he had the folly to declare in public that the Constitutionalists were more detestable to him than Robespierre himself. How can we hope to restrain the emigres from taking their revenge for past ills, and the pursuance of liberal policies, should I put such a man upon the Throne?"
It was a hard question to answer, but Roger did his best. "I think," he said, "you overrate that danger. Whatever the personal views of the King and a handful of ultra-Royalists may be, theirs will be voices crying in the wilderness. The Governments of Britain and Austria no longer give a rap for the pretensions of the ancien regime, and should they make peace at all they will use their utmost endeavours to ensure that it has the basis for a lasting one. Such pretensions to autocracy could lead only to another revolution, with the prospect of further war; so you may be certain that the Allies would insist on the new King opening his reign as a monarch with strictly limited powers. After that, matters will be in the hands of yourself and men ike you. Free elections would produce a Chamber almost entirely composed of Moderates, and the King's only alternative to accepting its views would be to go once more into exile."
"Perhaps you are right," Pichegru muttered. "Yes, I suppose with virtually the whole nati
on behind us we could exert a reasonable control over him. There is, though, another thing. Although I am satisfied that the majority of the people would welcome a Restoration, there are many prominent men who would not, and among them are several holding key posts in the Administration. When I was last in Paris, Carnot told me that did he have the King's pardon in his pocket he would still not consider his life worth ten sous were a Bourbon monarch once more installed at the Tuileries; and, though for long a member of the Committee of Public Safety, he has harmed no man without just cause. Barras, Cambaceres, Larevelliere-Lepeaux,
Cambon and Sieyes are of the same mind. As for villains like Rewbell, Tallien and others whose hands have dripped with innocent blood, they would rather die fighting in a ditch than trust to the mercy of a descendant of St. Louis. And rightly, for they would receive none."
Roger's blue eyes glinted. "What is to prevent you from having Rewbell hanged to the nearest flagstaff. As for the other ex-Terrorists, make a list of them; then when you reach Paris put a price upon their heads, and have them shot at sight."
"With Rewbell and Merlin I can deal at my pleasure. But the situation of the others is very different. As I advance on Paris they will do their utmost to rouse the mobs. They will denounce me in the Chamber as a traitor, and give tongue to their old rallying cry that the Revolution is in danger. When I reach the city scores of agitators paid or inspired by them will mingle with my troops, and will inevitably undermine the loyalty of a great part of them to myself. Overnight the forces upon which I must rely may melt away, or turn against me. That is the great danger."
Agitatedly the General began to walk up and down.
"I spoke of this to Fauche-Borel, and he at least had the sense to admit that I was right. He said that he would go to Paris and endeavour to arrange with certain Royalists there that the most dangerous of our potential enemies should be either bribed into silence or forcibly muzzled. That is what must be done. To be certain of success it is essential that a coup d'etat should be organized to synchronize with my arrival before the gates of Paris. But to bring a few hundred monarchists shouting into the streets is not enough. And how could a nonentity like Fauche-Borel succeed in doing more. What we need is someone who could win over to our designs a few such men as Barras and Dubois-Crancé. They have the power to arrest the ex-Terrorists who would otherwise sabotage our project That is what we must have. And I'll make no move till something of the kind has been arranged. But where in the world are we to find a man capable of such an undertaking?"
Roger sighed. "I fear, mon General, that he stands before you. Or at least one who might succeed in it if fortune favoured him."
"What! You! An Englishman! How could you possibly hope to gain the ear of the most powerful men in France, and persuade them to participate in a monarchist plot?"
"I told you a while back that I have lived long in France. Throughout the greater part of the Terror I was in Paris. I know well all the men you have named. There was a time when they trusted me completely. But I have been absent from Paris for above a year. Everything hangs on whether I can re-establish myself in their confidence. Either I shall be in prison within twenty-four hours of my return to the capital, or I will stand a fair chance of bringing about the conditions you require."
Pichegru suddenly took a step forward and, grasping Roger by the hand, exclaimed: "You are a brave man! And from the open expression of your countenance, I believe an honest one. I am prepared to trust you. If, on your return, you can give me your word that measures to stifle opposition will be taken at the right moment, I promise you that I will march my army on Paris. Not for my own ends, or for the King, but as the only hope I see of restoring peace and prosperity to my country."
Pressing the General's hand firmly, Roger replied: "I thank you for the confidence you place in me. That I will do my utmost you may rest assured, for the future happiness of my countrymen is concerned in this as much as the happiness of yours."
For a moment they, stood in silence with hands clasped, then Roger asked: "But what of the immediate future? Even should I succeed in keeping my freedom and manage to organize a plot designed to smother opposition by the fanatics of the old Jacobin Club, two or three weeks at least must elapse before I can return and report to you. What, in the meantime, are your intentions towards the Austrians?"
With a shrug the General replied: "The war must go on. My plans are laid and must be put into operation. The Austrians will be defeated, but that is their misfortune, and can have no bearing on this other matter."
"Ah, but it may!" Roger protested. "Should you inflict crushing defeats upon both their armies, that might cause them to sue for peace prematurely. If Britain becomes the only Great Power left with the right to make terms, any influence she might exert upon Louis XVIII to grant a Liberal Constitution is bound to be weakened. And in this, as in all other things, it is a good maxim to keep ever in the forefront of one's mind the ultimate object of the operation."
Again Pichegru stared at him, then muttered: "I would I had you for my Chief-of-Staff. Yet in this matter I have little, choice. General Jourdan is expecting me to launch a thrust against Heidelberg, and I'll confess that I am all impatience for this new stroke to bring additional glory to my army and myself."
Roger shrugged, but a diabolically subtle note had crept into his voice as he said: "Upon glory foolish people have become drunk, mon General. Personally, as a bon viveur, I am inclined to feel sorry for those who wake up with bad heads and empty pockets in the morning. But I have no admiration for them."
"There is no question of bad heads, or of pockets being full or empty."
"I differ from you there. Should I fail to bring about the conditions you require in Paris, and in the meantime you have launched this new offensive, all hope will be gone, not only of your doing what is best for France, but also of your securing any part of the great fortune that has been promised you. My master would, I know, approve my language in putting it to you that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
With a frown the General replied: "I fear that I am at a loss to comprehend your meaning."
"I pray you pardon me if my words have seemed obscure." Roger's blue eyes bored into the General's brown ones. "But I have told you that I am the emissary of Mr. Pitt, and you have yourself remarked on the great wealth of Britain. Do you agree to leave the Austrians more or less unmolested until the greater issue has been decided, here and now, as an earnest of our good intentions, I will make you a payment of a million francs."
r'A million francs!" Pichegru gasped; "but how could you?"
Smiling, Roger fished a paper from his inner pocket and said: "Here is a blank order on Mayer Anselm Bauer, banker of Frankfurt-on-Main. I am prepared to fill it in for a million francs, payable to you, if you can see your way to deal gently with the Austrians."
"A million," the General repeated with awe in his voice. "Is it true then that the streets of London are paved with gold?"
"Not quite. But many of our hunting nobility, whom you had supposed to devour game raw, are served with it cooked, and in considerable state, off gold plate, in their mansions. What say you to my proposition?"
"The money bags of these German Jews are said to be bursting; but a million in gold is an enormous sum to pay out on demand. I greatly doubt if this man Bauer could meet the order."
"Since he is an agent of the British Treasury, he should be able to do so at comparatively short notice."
For a moment Pichegru remained thoughtful, then he said: "Time is of importance if I am to enter into this transaction. Should I delay my offensive for more than a few days, and it afterwards transpires that the Jew is unable to pay, I shall have lost my chance of joining forces with General Jourdan yet be no better off."
"How long can you give me?" Roger asked.
"For what?"
"Why, to go to Frankfurt and get the gold for you; or at least a written promise that in the course of a week or so it will be paid over to
anyone you choose to nominate."
The General nodded. "That would certainly settle the question definitely. Frankfurt is near a hundred miles from here, but a light coach would get you there by tomorrow morning. The collection of the gold would require special arrangements; so for that I am willing to wait. But the day after tomorrow, at latest, I must have an assurance that it will be forthcoming."
"Barring accidents, I should be able easily to get back by then."
"That is unnecessary. One of my A.D.C.'s, a Captain Gusiot, is fully in my confidence. I will send him with you. He can bring me back the answer. If it is satisfactory I will send only two divisions against Heidelberg. That will be sufficient to prevent General Jourdan from suspecting that I have departed from our agreed plan, but insufficient to take the place. Unless the Austrians are bigger fools than I take them for, they will then be able to prevent our joining up, and a stalemate result which must last at least a month."
Roger knew then that, providing the money was forthcoming, he would have achieved the equivalent of a great allied victory; but he knew, too, that the final act yet remained to be played and that to play it he must now once more risk his head in Paris.
chapter xx
THE AFTERMATH OF THE REVOLUTION
Pichegru had spoken gloomily and it was evident that he was much troubled by this contemplated betrayal of his army's prospects of achieving another great victory: so Roger was careful to conceal the elation he felt at having won him over. Refraining from comment, he said quietly:
"As tune is of importance, the sooner Captain Gusiot and I set off, the better."
"I agree; but it would be preferable that you should not be seen together in this headquarters.
"There is no reason why we should be seen together at all until we are well out of the city. I have taken a room at the Drei Konige under the name of Bertrand, and Captain Gusiot can pick me up there. It is already dark and there will be no necessity for him to leave the coach; he can simply send in for me."
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