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Updated: May 8, 2025
'Yes, I have paid a price for my papers, he said, and I heard them crackle as he put his hand up to his bosom. 'No man has ever had more faithful servants no man since the beginning of the world. As he spoke we came upon the scene of the struggle. Colonel Despienne and the man whom we had shot lay together some distance down the road, while their horses grazed contentedly beneath the poplars.
Colonel Despienne had quarters at the 'Sign of the Pheasant, and it was there that we supped together. We were all three men who had been trained to take the strangest turns of fortune as part of our daily life and business, yet we were all flushed and moved by the extraordinary interview which we had had, and by the thought of the great adventure which lay before us.
The Emperor did not at first talk much upon the way. Perhaps the deaths of Despienne and Tremeau still weighed heavily upon his spirits. He was always a reserved man, and in those times, when every hour brought him the news of some success of his enemies or defection of his friends, one could not expect him to be a merry companion.
'Oh, you villains! she interrupted. 'You think that because I am only a woman I am very easily to be hoodwinked! You miserable impostors! I looked at Despienne, who had turned white with anger, and at Tremeau, who was tugging at his moustache. 'Madame, said I, coldly, 'when the Emperor did us the honour to intrust us with this mission, he gave me this amethyst ring as a token.
Tremeau snarled and gripped at his sabre, Despienne ground his teeth, and for my own part I threw out my chest and clicked my heels to show the Emperor that there were some spirits which could rise to adversity. 'My papers and my fortune must be secured, whispered the Emperor. 'The whole course of the future may depend upon my having them safe.
'Colonel Despienne was shot, sire, I stammered. 'And Captain Tremeau cut down. Had I been a few minutes earlier, I might have saved him. The other escaped across the fields. I remembered that I had seen a horseman a moment before I had met the Emperor. He had taken to the fields to avoid me, but if I had known, and Violette been unwounded, the old soldier would not have gone unavenged.
For my own part, it had been my fate three several times to take my orders from the lips of the Emperor himself, but neither the incident of the Ajaccio murderers nor the famous ride which I made to Paris appeared to offer such opportunities as this new and most intimate commission. 'If things go right with the Emperor, said Despienne, 'we shall all live to be marshals yet.
Not one of the three had turned a hair, but Violette was always a head and shoulders to the front. She was going within herself too, and I knew by the spring of her that I had only to let her stretch herself, and the Emperor's horses would see the colour of her tail. 'There they are! cried Despienne. 'We have them! growled Tremeau. 'On, comrades, on! I shouted, once more.
When one has had no change of uniform during a whole winter's campaign, one does not feel at home in a palace. I had been there about a quarter of an hour when the footman opened the door again, and in came Colonel Despienne. Good heavens, what a sight he was!
He had a suite of rooms at the end of the gallery of Francis the First, not very far from those of the Emperor. In the ante-chamber were waiting two men whom I knew well: Colonel Despienne, of the 57th of the line, and Captain Tremeau, of the Voltigeurs.
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