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Marshal of the Palace Duroc, after telling us what we were to do, had all the Austrian flags which we had brought from Bregenz secretly replaced in the lodgings which Massy and I occupied; then, some hours later, when the Emperor was in conversation with Count Haugwitz in his study, we re-enacted the ceremony of the handover of the flags in exactly the same way as it had been done on the first occasion.
Doubtless he fancied that, if this secret became known to her, she would sulk or storm, after the manner of ordinary wives. What made him so blind to her great qualities? Was it that he had never truly loved her? Had it been owing to mere chance, mere drift of circumstances, that he offered her marriage, instead of throwing out a proposal such as that of Cyrus Redgrave at Bregenz?
Dating it, he handed it to the official. The latter carefully read and reread it, then turned quizzically to Josef. "A thousand pardons, m'sieu," he said, "but you have given no address." "How stupid," laughed the old fellow. "It is for Fraulein Julia Haupt, Notions Merchant, 16 Hoffstrasse, Bregenz."
The aide-de-camp having told him that we were two of Marshal Augereau's aides who had come to hand over to him the flags of Jellachich's Austrian corps captured at Bregenz, we were led inside; there Napoleon, without blinking an eyelid, and as if he had never seen us before, took the letter from Augereau,which had been re-sealed, and read it, although he had been aware of its contents for four days.
He recalled Korsakoff, who still occupied Bregenz; but all his troops together did not number more than thirty thousand men-all that remained of the eighty thousand whom Paul had furnished as his contingent in the coalition. In fifteen days Massena had defeated three separate armies, each numerically stronger than his own.
That those waiting in Krovitch should be informed of their coming, Josef was directed by her to send an already prepared cipher dispatch. The white-haired servitor did so with commendable alacrity. Assured that the operator had actually transmitted it, he filled in a blank for himself, with the following simple message: "Reach Bregenz Thursday. Be on hand. Josef."
They had not met for three years, but the interval signified very little in their lives, and they resumed conversation practically at the point where it had broken off in Mrs. Frothingham's drawing-room. A tactful question assured the man of the world that Mrs. Carnaby knew nothing of certain passages at Munich and Bregenz. 'I'm afraid, he added, 'Mrs. Rolfe has become a little reserved.
Cosy little nook, but I'm not there very often; I half thought of going for a week or two's quietness. Quite cool there by the lake. But I really must try to see you at Bregenz do let me. He begged it as a favour, a privilege, and Alma without hesitation told him where she would be living. 'For a few weeks? Oh, then, I shall make a point of coming that way. You're not working too hard, I hope?
Thenceforward he talked of common things in unemotional language; and when Alma parted from him, it was with a sense of being tired and disappointed. On the following day she did not see him at all. He could not have left Bregenz, for, of course, he would have let her know.
He purchased for them an amount of miscellaneous literature that would have been of benefit to a hospital, provided the patients were strong enough to bear it. And then he bade them good-bye at least half a dozen times as the train was slowly moving out of the station, and made the most solemn vows about meeting them at Bregenz. "Now, Sheila," he said, "shall we go to the theatre?"
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