The Eagle of the Empire | Page 9

emotion with its roughness, and they noticed that he did not look at
them.
"Sire, the courier of the Duke of Vicenza waits for his answer," said
Maret.
There was another long pause.
"Will not your majesty give way for the good of the people?" urged
Berthier. "Give peace to France, sire. The army is hungry----"
"Am I God, messieurs, to feed thousands with a few loaves and
fishes?" cried the Emperor bitterly.
"No, Sire. Therefore, authorize the duke to sign the treaty, and----"
"What!" said Napoleon fiercely, sitting up on the bed and facing them.
"You would have me sign a treaty like that? Trample under foot my
coronation oath? Unheard-of disaster may have snatched from me the
promise to renounce my own conquests, but give up those before me,
never! Leave France smaller, weaker than I found her! God keep me
from such a disgrace. Reply to Caulaincourt, since you wish it, but tell
him I reject this treaty. We must have better terms. I prefer to run the
uttermost risks of war."
Berthier 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 château 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