The Eagle of the Empire | Page 9

opened his mouth to speak again, but Napoleon silenced him with word and gesture.
"No more," he said. "Go."
The two marshals bowed and left the room with downcast heads and resentful hearts. As they disappeared Napoleon called after them.
"Send me that boy at the door. Lights," he cried, as the young officer, not waiting for the order to be repeated, promptly entered the inner room and saluted. "The maps on the table, bring them here, and the table, too," commanded the Emperor.
Even as the lights which were placed on the table dispelled the dusk of the room, so something had dispelled the gloom of the great man's soul. For a moment he looked almost young again. The gray pallor left his cheeks. Fire sparkled in his eyes.
"Not yet--not yet," he muttered, spreading the maps upon the table. "We will have one more try with fortune. My star is low on the horizon, but it has not set yet."
"Nor shall it set, Sire, while I and my comrades live," returned Marteau.
"You are right," said the Emperor. "You stand to me for France. Your spirit typifies the spirit of my soldiery, does it not?"
"Theirs is even greater than mine, Sire," was the prompt answer.
"That's well. Do you know the country hereabouts?"
"I was born at Aumenier."
"Let me see," said the Emperor, "the village lies beyond Sézanne?"
"Yes, Sire."
"In an opening in the great woods beyond the marshes of St. Gond," continued the other, studying the map, "there is a chateau there. Are you by any chance of the ancient house of Aumenier?"
"My father was a warden on the estates of the last marquis."
"Good. Do you know that country?"
"I have hunted over every rod of it as a boy, Sire."
"I must have news," said the Emperor, "information, definite tidings. I want to know where Blücher is; where his several army corps are. Can I trust so young a head as yours with great matters?"
"Tortures could not wring from me anything you may confide, your majesty," said the young man resolutely.
"I believe you," said the Emperor, looking at him keenly and reading him like a book. "Look. Before daybreak Marmont marches to Sézanne. The next day after I follow. I shall leave enough men behind the river here to hold back Schwarzenberg, or at least to check him if he advances. With the rest I shall fall on Blücher."
The young man's eyes sparkled. He had been bending over the map. He drew himself up and saluted.
"It is the Emperor at his best," he said.
"You have studied the art of war, young sir?"
"I have read every one of your majesty's campaigns."
"And you see what I would do?"
"Not altogether, but----"
"Fall upon the flank of the unsuspecting Prussian, burst through his line, break his center, turn to the right or left, beat him in detail, drive him back, relieve Paris, and then----"
"And then, Sire?"
"Come back and do the same thing with Schwarzenberg!"
"Your majesty!" cried the young soldier, as the whole mighty plan was made clear to him.
"Ha! It brightens your eyes and flushes your cheek, does it not? So it will brighten the eyes and flush the cheeks of France. I will show them. In six weeks I will drive them across the Rhine. In another month they shall sue for peace and the Vistula shall be our boundary."
"What does your majesty desire of me?"
"That you go at once. Take with you whomsoever you will. Bring or send me reports. You are educated?"
"I was a student at your majesty's Military College," answered the young man.
"Did you finish there?"
"I finished in your majesty's army last year."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-two, Sire."
"You belong to the foot, but you can ride?"
"Anything."
"Marshal Berthier will give you horses. I shall be at Sézanne the day after to-morrow night. You will have news for me then?"
"Or be dead, Sire."
"I have no use for dead men. Don't get yourself taken. Any fool can die, or be made prisoner. It is a wise man who can live for me and France."
"I shall live," said the young man simply. "Have you any further command, Sire?"
"None."
The hand of Marteau was raised in salute.
"Stop," said the Emperor, as the soldier turned to the door.
"Sire?"
"Come back with news, and let us but escape from this tightening coil, and you shall be a lieutenant colonel in my guard."
"I will do it for love of your majesty alone," cried the soldier, turning away.
It was not nearly dawn before Berthier and Maret, who had been pondering over the dispatch to Caulaincourt, who was fighting the envoys of the allies at the Congress at Chatillon, ventured to intrude upon the Emperor. Having come to his decision, as announced to the young soldier, who had got his horses and his comrade and gone, the Emperor, with that supreme command of himself which few men possessed, had at last