"Do you know this Baron von Moudenfels?" asked Schulmeister. "Was he at your entertainment this evening? I saw several gentlemen who were strangers to me, and whose names I was going to ask you, when I was called away. Was Baron von Moudenfels among them?"
"No, father, he was not among them, and I do not know Baron von Moudenfels at all. According to the descriptions which I heard of him this evening, he is a man already advanced in years, but whose youthful vigor and energy were extravagantly praised and admired. Baron von Moudenfels has been the originator and director of the whole plan, and has been engaged for months in making preparations for its execution. Listen to the rest of my story!
On Thursday the plot must be put into action. On that day the emperor will take a ride in the afternoon, as he always does. If, by chance, he should show no disposition to do so, they will induce him by some means, and will persuade him to go to the woods near Schonbrunn. The emperor likes to dismount there and stroll along the lovely, shady paths, talking with his generals. To his surprise he will find a most charming little hut which he has not seen before--for the very good reason that it was erected only the previous day. The emperor, as is well-known, is curious, and he will go to it. The conspirators--and his entire suite is composed of them--the conspirators will propose going in. A French song, the signal that everything is ready, will be heard within. The emperor will enter, his companions will follow. Inside the hut armed conspirators will be stationed, who, as soon as the emperor enters, will seize and gag him, bind him hand and foot, and thus render him harmless. Then one of the party who entered with the emperor, Colonel Lejeune, whose figure is exactly like his, will put on a suit of clothes made precisely like the emperor"s, and, donning Napoleon"s three-cornered hat, will leave the hut. Meanwhile twilight will have gathered, and the conspirators, with the emperor--that is Colonel Lejeune--at their head, will return to Schonbrunn. The guards will salute as soon as they see the emperor dash into the courtyard. The chief equerry will hold his stirrup, and help him to dismount. The emperor, followed by his suite, will enter the castle, and silently, according to his custom, ascend the stairs and go to the hall where he receives his marshals; there, as he so frequently does, he will dismiss all who are present with a wave of his hand and pa.s.s on into his study, which adjoins his sleeping-room."
"Well, it must be admitted that so far the affair has a glimmer of feasibility and probability," said her father, smiling. "But I should be very anxious about the continuation. Would Roustan, who undresses the emperor every evening, also be deceived by the masquerade, or would the conspirators attempt to abduct him also? And then--has it been forgotten that before going to rest the emperor now works an hour every evening with his private secretary, Bourrienne?"
"Bourrienne is one of the conspirators. He will enter the room with his portfolio and remain there an hour, after first bringing to the anteroom the order, in the emperor"s name, to make no further reports to him that evening, as he was wearied and therefore wished to go to rest early. The Mameluke Roustan could not be bribed, and therefore the attempt was relinquished. But the day before, through a dose of a.r.s.enic which will be administered to him, Roustan will be so dangerously ill that he cannot attend upon the emperor, and Constant will take his place."
"And is the valet Constant one of the conspirators?"
"He is, and he will be on duty during the night in the anteroom of the bedchamber. In this way the emperor"s disappearance will be concealed until the next morning, and the matter will not become known until the following day at nine o"clock, when the generals arrive. What will happen then, whether Eugene is declared emperor or the Bourbons are again summoned to the throne, will depend upon what occurs in France, and what effect the emperor"s disappearance has upon the minds of the people there. We need not trouble ourselves about it for the present; it does not belong to the business which occupies our attention."
"No, no, we have to deal only with the emperor," cried Schulmeister, laughing, "and I can tell you that I am as anxious about the progress of this matter as if it were the development of a drama, and that I am extremely curious to know what more is to be done with the gagged emperor.
We have left him in the hut."
"Yes, and he will remain there until the night has closed in. Then Baron von Moudenfels and two other conspirators, disguised as workmen, will convey him in a basket standing ready in the hut, such as are used in the transportation of the sick to the place in the woods where a carriage will be waiting for the basket and its companions. They will ride all night long, relays will be ready everywhere at the appointed spots, and, when morning dawns, they will have reached the house of a conspirator near Gratz, and spend the day there. At nightfall the journey will be continued in the same way, and so, constantly traveling by night and resting by day in the house of a conspirator, until Trieste is reached. To be prepared for all casualties, a French pa.s.sport for the transportation of an invalid to Trieste has been obtained. Count Andreossy issued it at the request of Colonel Mariage, and for greater security, Captain de Guesniard, in full uniform and provided with the necessary legal doc.u.ments, will accompany the party to Trieste."
"Who are to be the other companions of the captive emperor?"
"Three more persons will accompany him. First, Baron Moudenfels, the originator and instigator of the whole plan. Then there are two subaltern officers in the French army, for whom Captain de Guesniard answers, but whose names were not mentioned."
"Oh, I will discover them," cried Schulmeister, "be a.s.sured I will discover them; and I am glad that there is some special work for me in this affair.
Go on now, go on, my Leonore."
"There is but little more to say. A ship, laden with grain, lies in the harbor of Trieste with papers ready to set sail at once for Genoa. The Baron von Moudenfels, with the prisoner and the two French lieutenants, will take pa.s.sage in her for Genoa, where another vessel, furnished by the Swedish members of the league, is ready to convey the party further. Count von Kotte has already been sent from here to Genoa by Baron von Moudenfels to give directions to the captain of the ship, who from that port will relieve Baron von Moudenfels from the charge of the prisoner."
"And what is the goal of his journey?"
"As I told you, some desolate island in the ocean, where no ships touch.
There the emperor will be put ash.o.r.e and left to support life like a second Robinson Crusoe, or in his despair seek death."
"Well, the plan really is not impracticable, and has been devised with equal boldness and calculation. Only I should like to know why so much ado is made, instead of adopting the shorter process, that is, murdering the emperor."
"For two reasons! The conspirators consider their task too sacred to profane it by a.s.sa.s.sination. They wish to rid Europe of the unhallowed yoke which weighs upon it in the person of the Emperor Napoleon. They are convinced that they are summoned to the work; that they shall thereby render the world and mankind a service full of blessing; but they will not antic.i.p.ate fate; they will leave it to G.o.d to end a life which they merely desire to render harmless to G.o.d and men. This is the first motive for not killing the emperor, the second is that they believe a speedy death would be no fit punishment for the crime which Napoleon has perpetrated on humanity, while a perpetual, hopeless captivity, embittered by the omnipresent, ever alert consciousness of ruined greatness, of fame buried in dust and silence, would be a lasting penance more terrible to an ambitious land-robber than death could ever be."
"They are right, by the eternal G.o.d, they are right!" cried Schulmeister; "I believe that the emperor would prefer a speedy death a hundred times to such slow torture; and to you, Leonore, to you and to me will now fall the vast, the priceless happiness of preserving the emperor from such martyrdom. I say the priceless happiness, but I shall take good care that the emperor pays me for it as dearly as possible, and--so far as it can be done--balances the immense weight of our service by its compensation. By heaven, half a million francs really seems a trivial reward, and I don"t know whether we can be satisfied with it."
"I shall be satisfied," cried Leonore, with an enthusiastic glance, "only when you fulfill the vow which you made; when, after I have made you rich, you make me free and permit me to go with the man whom I love wherever I desire, taking care that you do not betray by a word, a hint, who I am, and what I was."
"I will fulfill my oath to you," said Schulmeister earnestly, "for you have performed yours. You have discovered a conspiracy, and through this discovery saved the emperor from a terrible misfortune, and given me the right to demand a high price. You will make me rich; you will drive the demon of poverty from my head; I will repay you--I will guard yours from the demons of disgrace and shame; you shall have no cause to blush in the presence of the man whom you love. On the day that I bring from the emperor half a million as my property and yours, your past and mine will both be effaced, and we will enter upon a new life, in a new world! Let the spy, Schulmeister, the adventuress Leonore de Simonie; be buried, and new people, new names, rise from the budding seeds of the half million. But now farewell, my daughter, my beautiful Leonie. I must begin the work, must summon all my a.s.sistants and subordinates, and a.s.sign their tasks, for the next few days will bring much work. It is not enough for me to inform the emperor of the existence of a conspiracy, and the plan of the accomplices, but I must be able to give him convincing and irrefutable proofs of this plot, that he may not deem it a mere invention which I have devised in order to be able to claim a large reward. No, the emperor must see that I am telling him the truth, so I must not let the affair explode too soon. I must first know the names and residences of all the conspirators, investigate the details of the whole enterprise, and hold in my hand the threads of the entire web in order to be sure that all the spiders who have labored at it will be caught in their own net."
"Do so, father," cried Leonore joyously. "I will leave them all to you--all these poor spiders of the conspiracy. I feel no pity for them. Let them die, let them suffer, what do I care! I, too, have suffered, oh, and what mortal anguish! Yes, let them die and rot; I shall at last be happy, free, and beloved. Oh, G.o.d be praised that the man whom I love is not entangled in this conspiracy, that I could disclose the whole plot, mention the names of all the conspirators, without fear of compromising him. Yes, I thank Thee, my G.o.d, that Kolbielsky has no share in this scheme."
CHAPTER VII.
THE REVELATION.
The fatal Thursday had pa.s.sed, Wednesday had come, yet Leonore had received no tidings from her father. For three days she had not seen him, had had no message from him.
But it was not this alone that disturbed and tortured Leonore. She had also had no news from Kolbielsky, though the week which he had named as the necessary duration of their parting had expired the day before. He had said:
"My week of exile will begin from this hour, and the first festival will be when I again clasp you in my arms."
This week had expired yesterday, and Kolbielsky had not come to clasp his loved one in his arms again. She had expected him all through the day, all through the night, and the cause of her present deep anxiety was not solicitude about her father, the desire to learn the result of the conspiracy discovered; no, it was only the longing for _him_, the terrible dread that some accident might have befallen Kolbielsky.
Why did he not come, since he had so positively promised to return at the end of a week? Was it really only a coincidence that the day which he had fixed for his return was the selfsame one on which the conspiracy formed by Napoleon"s foes was to break forth?
What if he had had a share in the conspiracy? If he had deceived her, if--But no, no, that was wholly impossible--that could not be! She knew the names of the conspirators, especially those of the heads and leaders; she knew that Kolbielsky"s name had not once been mentioned during the whole discussion between them. So away with anxieties, away with cowardly fears.
Some accident might have detained him, might have caused a day"s delay.
To-day, yes, to-day he would come at last! To-day she would see him again, would rush into his arms, rest on his heart, never, oh! never to part from him again! Hark, a carriage was stopping before the door! Steps echoed in the corridor.
They approached, stopped at her door! It is he, oh, surely it is he!
Darting to the door, she tore it open.
No! It was her father, only her father!
With a troubled cry, she sank into the chair beside the door. Her father went to her; she did not see the sorrowful, almost pitying look he fixed upon her. She had covered her face with her hands and groaned aloud.
Schulmeister stood before her with a gloomy brow, silent and motionless.
At last, after a long pause, Leonore slowly removed her hands from her face and raised her head.
"Are we rich now?" she asked in a whisper, as though she feared lest even the walls should hear her question.
"Yes," he exclaimed joyfully, "yes, we are rich."
Drawing his pocketbook from his coat, he opened it and poured out its contents, shaking the various papers with their array of high numbers into Leonore"s lap.
"Look, my daughter, my beloved child! Look at these wonderful papers. Ten banknotes, each one fifty thousand francs. That is half a million, my Leonore! Look at these papers. Yet no, they are no papers, each is a magic spell, with which you can make a palace rise out of nothing. See this thin sc.r.a.p of paper; a spark would suffice to transform it to ashes, yet you need only carry it to the nearest banker"s to see it changed into a heap of gold, or glitter as a _parure_ of the costliest diamonds. If you desire it, these papers will trans.m.u.te themselves into a magnificent castle, into liveried servants, into superb carriages. Oh, I already see you standing as the proud mistress of a stately castle, in your ancestral hall, with va.s.sals bowing before you, and counts and princes suing for your hand. For these magic papers will give you everything, everything; not luxury alone, but honor, rank, and dignity, the love and esteem of men. Take them, for the whole ten papers shall be yours. I wish to see you rich and happy, therefore I defied disgrace and mortal peril. Come, my child, let us set out this very hour to buy with these papers, far away from here, in an Eden-like region, a castle which shall be adorned with all that luxury and art can offer. Come, my Leonore, come. We have accomplished our work of darkness, now day is dawning, now our star is rising. Come, come! Alas, the days are so short, let us hasten, hasten to enjoy them!"
Leonore slowly shook her head. "_He_ must return," she said solemnly.
"First I must see him again, have him tell me that he will go with me to that distant region. What would all the treasures of the earth avail, if I did not have him! What would I care for castles, diamonds, and carriages if he were not with me! I am expecting him--he may be here at any moment. So tell me, father--describe quickly how everything has happened. I have not seen you for three days; I do not know what has occurred, for, strangely, nothing has reached the public."
"The emperor enjoined the most inviolable silence upon us all," said Schulmeister gloomily. "The whole affair has been treated and concealed as the most profound secret. The emperor does not wish to have anything known about it; no one must deem it possible that people have dared to seek to take his life, to attempt to capture him. I never saw him in such a fury as when I first told him the plan of the conspirators. His eyes flashed lightnings, he stamped his feet, clenched his little hands into fists, and stretched them threateningly toward the invisible conspirators. He vowed to kill them all, to take vengeance on them all for the unprecedented crime."
"And has he fulfilled the vow?"
"He has. He has punished the conspirators, so far as lay in his power. But some of them, for instance Baron von Moudenfels, do not belong to the number of his subjects, but are Austrians. The emperor did not have the sentence which he p.r.o.nounced upon his own subjects executed upon them; he could not at this time, for you know that negotiations for peace have been opened, and the treaty will be signed immediately. So the emperor did not wish to const.i.tute himself a judge of Austrian subjects; it is a delicate attention to the Austrian emperor, and the latter will know how to thank him for it and to punish the criminals with all the rigor of the law.
Therefore Baron von Moudenfels and Count von Kotte have merely been held as prisoners, and were compelled to witness the execution to-day."
"What execution?" asked Leonore in horror.
"Colonel Lejeune, Captain de Guesniard, and two sous-lieutenants were shot this morning on the meadow at Schonbrunn,"[E] said Schulmeister in a low tone.