The Eagle of the Empire Part 13

"Monsieur Jean," said the Countess, "you put me under great obligations to you."

"By saving your life, your honor, mademoiselle! I gladly----"

"By giving me your confidence," interrupted the girl, who in her secret heart was delighted at the stand the young officer had taken. She would have despised him if he had succ.u.mbed to the temptation of which she herself was part.

"I could do no less, mademoiselle," returned Marteau. "I and my forbears have served your house and known it and loved it for eight hundred years."

"I know it," answered the girl. "I value the a.s.sociation. I am proud of it."

"And since you know it and recognize it perhaps you will tell me how you happen to be here."

"Willingly," answered Mademoiselle Laure. "The estates are to be sold.

There are deeds and papers of value in the chateau without which transactions could not be completed. I alone knew where they were.

With Monsieur Yeovil, my uncle's friend and the father of----" she hesitated and then went on, "so I came to France."

"But with the invading armies----"

"There was no other way. The Czar Alexander gave me a safe conduct. A company of his guards escorted us. Sir Gervaise Yeovil was accredited to Lord Castlereagh, but with his permission he brought me here first.

My uncle was too old to come. Arrived here we found the Cossacks, the wagon-train. There was a battle, a victory, pursuit. Then those villains seized us. They stole upon us unsuspecting, having murdered the sentries, and then you came."

"I see. And have you the papers?"

"They are---- Not yet, but I may take them?"

"a.s.suredly, so far as I am concerned," answered Marteau, "although I regret to see the old estate pa.s.s out of the hands of the ancient family."

"I regret it also, but I am powerless."

"We played together here as children," said Marteau. "My father has kept it well since. Your father died and now mine is gone----"

"And I am very sorry," answered the young woman softly.

Marteau turned away, peered out of the window and sank into gloomy silence.

CHAPTER IX

THE EMPEROR EATS AND RIDES

Sezanne was a scene of the wildest confusion that night. It was congested with troops and more and more were arriving every minute.

They entered the town in fearful condition. They had been weary and ragged and naked before. Now they were in a state of extreme prostration; wet, cold, covered with mud. The roads were blocked with mired artillery, the guns were sunk into the mud to the hubs, the tired horses could no longer move them. The woods on either side were full of stragglers, many of whom had dropped down on the wet ground and slept the sleep of complete exhaustion. Some, indeed, sick and helpless, died where they lay. Everything eatable and drinkable in Sezanne had vanished as a green field before a swarm of locusts when Marmont's division had come through some hours before.

The town boasted a little square or open s.p.a.ce in the midst. A huge fire was burning in the center of this open s.p.a.ce. A cordon of grenadiers kept the ground about the fire clear of stragglers.

Suddenly the Emperor rode into the midst. He was followed by a wet, cold, mud-spattered, bedraggled staff, all of them unutterably weary.

Intense resolution blazed in the Emperor's eyes. He had had nothing to eat or drink since morning, but that ancient bodily vigor, that wonderful power of endurance, which had stood him in such good stead in days gone by, seemed to have come back to him now. He was all fire and energy and determination. So soon as his presence was known, couriers reported to him. Many of them he stopped with questions.

"The convoy of arms, provisions, powder," he snapped out to an officer of Marmont's division approaching him, "which was to meet us here.

Have you seen it?"

"It has not appeared, Sire."

"Has anything been heard of it?"

"Nothing yet, your Majesty."

"Have you scouted for it, sent out parties to find it? Where is the Comte de Grouchy?"

"I come from him, Sire. He is ahead of the Duke of Ragusa's corps."

"Has he come in touch with the enemy?"

"Not yet, Sire."

"The roads?"

"Worse than those we have pa.s.sed over."

"Marshal Marmont?"

"I was ordered by General Grouchy to report to him and then----"

"Well, sir?"

"He sent me back here."

"For what purpose?"

"To find you, Sire, and to say to you most respectfully from the Marshal that the roads are absolutely impa.s.sable. He has put four teams to a gun and can scarcely move them. To advance is impossible.

He but awaits your order to retrace his steps."

"Retrace his steps!" shouted Napoleon, raising his voice. "Never! He must go on. Our only hope, our only chance, salvation lies in an instant advance. He knows that as well as I."

"But the guns, Sire?"

"Abandon the guns if necessary. We'll take what cannon we need from the enemy."

And that admission evidenced the force with which the Emperor held his convictions as to the present movement. Great, indeed, was the necessity which would induce Napoleon to order the abandonment of a single gun.

"But, Sire----"

"Monsieur," said Napoleon severely, "you are a young officer, although you wear the insignia of a Colonel. Know that I am not accustomed to have my commands questioned by anyone. You will return to Marshal Marmont at once. Exchange your tired horse for one of my own. I still have a fresh one, I believe. And spare him not. Tell the Duc de Ragusa that he must advance at all hazards. Advance with the guns if he can, if not then without them. Stay, as for the guns---- Where is the Mayor of the town?"

"Here, Sire," answered a plain, simple man in civilian's dress standing near.

"Are there any horses left in the countryside, monsieur?"