The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware Read Online Free PDF Page B

Directory he returned, and started his career as a great statesman by advising on foreign policy. He had been swift to recognise in young General Bonaparte a potential force for restoring France from the destitution and chaos into which she had fallen,and had planned the
coup d’état
that had raised Bonaparte to First Consul.
    For the eight years that followed, he had been using his great talents most successfully as Foreign Minister. He was venal, licentious and unscrupulous and had amassed a great fortune by taking bribes from foreign Ambassadors; but, above all, he was a patriot. As time went on he realised that Napoleon, having earlier restored France to order and prosperity, had begun to ruin her by his ceaseless wars; so, in 1807, he had resigned his portfolio in order to be free to work secretly for the Emperor’s downfall. But, such was the fascination that he held for Napoleon that the Emperor still continued to consult him, although rarely now taking his advice. On his retirement he had been made Vice Grand Elector, one of the great dignities of the Empire, shared only by Napoleon’s brothers, his brother-in-law Marshal Murat, now King of Naples, and Cambacérès, once Second Consul and now Arch-Chancellor.
    He had always held the belief that there could be no lasting peace and prosperity in Europe until the two great protagonists, France and Britain, buried the hatchet once and for all. He had learned as far back as 1787 that Roger was in fact an Englishman, but kept his secret because their minds were as one, and he believed a time might come when Roger could prove a valuable link between their two countries.
    Even way back in ’96, when he had returned from America and Paris was still seething with
ex-sans-culottes
sworn to maintain the doctrines of the Revolution, he had boldly reassumed his status as a great noble, dressed fastidiously in the finest silks and lace ruffles, and wore his hair powdered.
    Roger knew that it had long been Talleyrand’s custom to give frequent lavish breakfasts at which he entertained the great men of the Empire; so it was no surprise whenhe arrived in the Rue du Bac to find half a dozen men holding high office, all of whom were known to him, assembled there, Leaning slightly on his diamond-studded malacca, the elegant Talleyrand limped forward, welcomed Roger most amiably and insisted that he join them for breakfast.
    Among the guests were Gaudin, Napoleon’s brilliant Minister of Finance, who had miraculously lifted France out of her state of bankruptcy in 1800; Decres, the able Minister of Marine, who was engaged in a vast building programme to replace the French battle fleet, almost entirely destroyed at Trafalgar; and Marshal Bernadotte. To Roger the last was of most interest, as he knew him only slightly, although he had heard a lot about him.
    Charles Jean Bernadotte was the son of a lawyer, and a Gascon of Gascons. He was a fine, tall, handsome man and, to the Emperor’s annoyance, defied the prevailing fashion by continuing to wear his hair long. That was far from the only way in which he had annoyed Napoleon.
    In ’96, towards the end of Bonaparte’s first great campaign, Augereau had been sent off to command the Army of the Rhine, and his division was replaced by that of Bernadotte. The soldiers of the Army of Italy were ragged
sans-culottes
; those of the Rhine old regulars who were, by comparison, gentlemen. The latter regarded the Revolution as over and, instead of addressing one another as ‘
citizen
’ had reverted to the use of ‘
monsieur
’. This had resulted in much bad feeling and scores of duels, which had tended to hamper operations. Bonaparte had done his utmost to get Bernadotte recalled to Paris, but had failed.
    That, however, was not the worst result of the exchange. The Army of Italy had fought its way magnificently up through the Carnic Alps and was within a hundred miles of Vienna. It needed only