"What! Is it possible----" cried the Countess Laure, her face flaming.
"Silence, mademoiselle. By the laws of war I could have you shot. It would be a fine example. No Frenchman, however high in rank and station, no Frenchwoman, however young or beautiful, can fight against me and France with impunity. Have you anything to say why I should not mete out to you this well-deserved punishment?"
"Nothing," said the young woman with proud disdain. "The revolution has taken the lives of many of my people. I am not better than they.
You are the very spirit of the revolution incarnate, Sire, and----"
"Your Majesty," interposed General Maurice.
"Well, sir?" said Napoleon.
General Maurice, a famous light horseman, otherwise known as the Count de Vivonne, was an old friend and a devoted follower of the Emperor.
He had interfered before on occasion between Napoleon and his victims.
He knew the Emperor thoroughly and loved him. He realized that it was his time to interpose, or someone"s, and he had intuition enough to suspect that his interposition would be most welcome, that indeed Napoleon was playing, as he sometimes loved to do, a little comedy.
With a wave of his hand the general checked Marteau, whom he knew slightly, who had sprung forward to protest to the Emperor at the words of the woman he loved.
"Allow me a word, Sire," asked the General with that exquisite mixture of courtesy, deference and resolution which characterized his intercourse with the Emperor.
"I am always glad to hear from you, my good Maurice," said the Emperor familiarly. "What have you to say?"
"This young woman is no traitor to you or to France, Sire, however strange her position."
"How do you make that out?" asked the Emperor, the flickering of a smile playing about his lips.
"It was her hand that struck up the Russian"s pistol so that the bullet went there," the General of cavalry pointed upward a moment and then his hand fell until his index finger was trained upon the Emperor"s heart, "instead of there," he added meaningly.
"Very good," said the Emperor graciously. "But had she not struck up that hand it was in Marteau"s heart that the bullet would have lodged, not in mine, if I remember rightly."
"And if that gives me a claim, Sire, to your consideration----"
"Have I not rewarded you enough," asked the Emperor, "in adding the official stamp of a patent to the n.o.bility of heart which is already yours and by giving you the forfeited lands of Aumenier to boot?"
"And I would give them all for the safety of the lady yonder, whose family mine have served for eight hundred years, with whom I played when a boy, and be content to follow your Majesty as the simple soldier I have always been."
"Brave heart and true," said the Emperor, touched. "Mademoiselle, you cannot go back to Blucher. Within two days his army will be no more.
I will give you a safe conduct. You can remain here for the night.
Couriers will be dispatched to Troyes and to Paris under escort in the morning. They will take you there. You have friends there, I presume?"
"Many."
"You can remain there or, if opportunity arises, I will give orders to have you safely conducted so you can go back to England."
"And me, Sire?" growled out Sir Gervaise Yeovil.
The Emperor laughed.
"I am too good a soldier to fight with men of the law," he said. "You may go with your protegee and share her fortunes."
"I thank your Majesty," said the Englishman, touched in his blunt nature by this extraordinary magnanimity. "I will report your consideration to my king and his people and----"
"And say to them that I long for the moment when I can measure swords with the Duke of Wellington."
"And may that moment come speedily," returned Sir Gervaise.
"As for the rest," said the Emperor, turning away in high good humor, "Marteau, you have been continuously on service for two days and two nights and you are wounded----"
"It is nothing."
"Remain here with old Bullet-Stopper, who, true to his name, has had another touch of the enemy"s lead. General Maurice, detail a score of the weakest of your command, those slightly wounded, to whom a night"s rest would be useful. They shall remain here until the courier stops for the lady and her English friend, and then under Marteau"s command rejoin me in the morning."
"Very good, Sire," said General Maurice, turning away.
"I thank your Majesty," said Marteau, "for all you have done for me, and for the Comtesse d"Aumenier."
"And I thank the Emperor also," said the young woman, smiling at him.
"Your Majesty"s generosity almost wins me to an imperial allegiance."
Napoleon laughed.
"Not even the Emperor," he said proudly, "is as black as he is painted by traitors and the English, Mademoiselle!" he bowed abruptly but not ungracefully. "Come, gentlemen," he said, turning on his heel, "we must march."
CHAPTER XII
AN ALLIANCE DECLINED
As the Emperor left the room, followed by the officers and men, a little silence fell over the three people remaining therein.
"Monsieur le Comte d"Aumenier!" exclaimed the Countess Laure, wonder, derision and disdain in her voice. "Your chateau, your domain!"
She looked about the great hall and laughed scornfully. Young Marteau turned crimson. He threw up his head proudly.
"Mademoiselle----" he began sternly, his voice full of indignant protest and resentment.
"Don"t be too hard on the lad, Countess," interposed the Englishman, his interest aroused. "By gad, he saved your honor, your life, and----"
"And, if I mistake not, I repaid the obligation by saving his life also, sir."
"And I recognize it, and am grateful, mademoiselle."
"I am ordered to report to you, sir," said a young man, coming into the room followed by a file of dismounted soldiers, and relieving a situation growing most tense.
"Very good," said Marteau, devoutly thankful for the interruption.
"You will dispose your men so as to guard the approaches of the chateau at every hand. You will keep a strict lookout, and you will awaken me at dawn. I think there is nothing to be apprehended from the enemy.
The advance of the Emperor will have cleared all this section of even wandering troops of Cossacks by this time, but there are masterless men abroad."
"I shall know how to deal with them," said the young officer, saluting.