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Monseigneur’s plans for today?’
    Monseigneur Talleyrand had risen to his feet, and two valets were hoisting his black silk breeches up to his belly. Without looking at the Count, Jaucourt murmured like a ventriloquist, ‘That will depend on the battle currently being fought outside Paris.’
    â€˜What news?’
    â€˜The Russian grenadiers are in Pantin, the Prussians have occupied the plain of Romainville, the Austrians are attacking Bagnolet, having already taken Montreuil. Saint-Maur and Bondy have fallen ...’
    â€˜What has Monseigneur decided?’
    â€˜He has great respect for facts, so let us wait for the facts to speak to him.’
    â€˜Does he predict a return of the Bourbons?’
    â€˜His uncle, the former Archbishop of Reims, has become senior chaplain to King Louis XVIII, as you know, and they are in correspondence with one another ...’
    Sémallé was suspicious on principle, and his whispered exchange with Jaucourt continued. ‘All the same,’ he said, ‘he has publicly asked the Empress to remain in Paris.’
    â€˜No doubt, but the Empress hates him. If he asks her to do anything, she does the opposite.’
    â€˜A deliberate strategy?’
    â€˜Are you surprised?’
    The Count saw Talleyrand as a regicide, and was as angry with him as the emigrants were when, like them, he fled the Terror to Kensington Square: the man deserved to be broken on the wheel. Sémalle believed that Talleyrand had played a crucial part in the abduction of the Duke of Enghien in Ettenheim, and blamed him for the Duke’s execution in the ditches of Vincennes, because in order to consolidate the Consulate he’d had to give a pledge to the Jacobins by killing a Bourbon. Certainly - and this was heard abroad among the royalists - it was Talleyrand who had, in a coded message, incited the hesitant allies to charge on Paris. In short, the important thing was not to trust, but to use this character, since he had such influence in the Senate.
    Talleyrand stepped towards his minions on his bandy legs, his feet skating on the waxed parquet, his shirt floating over his breeches.
    â€˜My carriage? My bags?’
    â€˜They await you, Monseigneur.’
    Some of those present smiled complicitly, while the others, dumbfounded, looked mutely at one another. Was Talleyrand going to visit the Imperial court and the government, now installed in Blois? If he left Paris as battle commenced, that could mean that he had been weighing up the likelihood of the Emperor’s return; perhaps he had personal information on the matter. Had he ceased to believe that the monarchy would be restored? What was he playing at? Sémallé took advantage of some movement among the courtiers - fussing around their master - to leave the room. He briefly summed up the situation to La Grange, who was holding their horses by the bridle.
    â€˜So the sly dog really has decided to leave?’ asked the Marquis.
    â€˜And,’ said Sémallé, ‘is that not a sign?’
    A carriage stood by the steps, harnessed to four white horses; the lackeys were piling trunks into the van that would follow it.
    â€˜Those valets are hardly strong men,’ La Grange continued.
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜Take a look for yourself.’
    A valet, thin as a rake, was carrying a large trunk by the handles all by himself. He hoisted it effortlessly, at arm’s length, on to the van.
    â€˜So that means...’ muttered Sémallé with a frown.
    â€˜I sense a ruse.’
    La Grange caught sight of a liveried child carrying a large suitcase on his shoulder. He casually approached the boy and, pretending to be distracted, bumped into him. The lad dropped his case.
    â€˜Clumsy!’ said the Marquis.
    â€˜Hang on, monsieur, you were the one who ...’
    â€˜Who dropped the case? Enough!’ La Grange furiously bent down and picked up the case in question, which was so