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The Exploits Of Brigadier Gerard

Arthur Conan Doyle

Section 15 of 16 - Table of Contents
8. HOW THE BRIGADIER WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL


The spring is at hand, my friends. I can see the little green
spear-heads breaking out once more upon the chestnut trees, and the cafe
tables have all been moved into the sunshine. It is more pleasant to sit
there, and yet I do not wish to tell my little stories to the whole
town. You have heard my doings as a lieutenant, as a squadron officer,
as a colonel, as the chief of a brigade. But now I suddenly become
something higher and more important. I become history.

If you have read of those closing years of the life of the Emperor which
were spent in the Island of St Helena, you will remember that, again and
again, he implored permission to send out one single letter which should
be unopened by those who held him. Many times he made this request, and
even went so far as to promise that he would provide for his own wants
and cease to be an expense to the British Government if it were granted
to him. But his guardians knew that he was a terrible man, this pale,
fat gentleman in the straw hat, and they dared not grant him what he
asked. Many have wondered who it was to whom he could have had anything
so secret to say. Some have supposed that it was to his wife, and some
that it was to his father-in-law; some that it was to the Emperor
Alexander, and some to Marshal Soult. What will you think of me, my
friends, when I tell you it was to me--to me, the Brigadier Gerard--that
the Emperor wished to write? Yes, humble as you see me, with only my 100
francs a month of half-pay between me and hunger, it is none the less
true that I was always in the Emperor's mind, and that he would have
given his left hand for five minutes' talk with me. I will tell you
tonight how this came about.

It was after the Battle of Fere-Champenoise where the conscripts in
their blouses and their sabots made such a fine stand, that we, the more
long-headed of us, began to understand that it was all over with us. Our
reserve ammunition had been taken in the battle, and we were left with
silent guns and empty caissons. Our cavalry, too, was in a deplorable
condition, and my own brigade had been destroyed in the charge at
Craonne. Then came the news that the enemy had taken Paris, that the
citizens had mounted the white cockade; and finally, most terrible of
all, that Marmont and his corps had gone over to the Bourbons. We looked
at each other and asked how many more of our generals were going to turn
against us. Already there were Jourdan, Marmont, Murat, Bernadotte, and
Jomini--though nobody minded much about Jomini, for his pen was always
sharper than his sword. We had been ready to fight Europe, but it looked
now as though we were to fight Europe and half of France as well.

We had come to Fontainebleau by a long, forced march, and there we were
assembled, the poor remnants of us, the corps of Ney, the corps of my
cousin Gerard, and the corps of Macdonald: twenty-five thousand in all,
with seven thousand of the guard. But we had our prestige, which was
worth fifty thousand, and our Emperor, who was worth fifty thousand
more. He was always among us, serene, smiling, confident, taking his
snuff and playing with his little riding-whip. Never in the days of his
greatest victories have I admired him as much as I did during the
Campaign of France.

One evening I was with a few of my officers, drinking a glass of wine of
Suresnes. I mention that it was wine of Suresnes just to show you that
times were not very good with us. Suddenly I was disturbed by a message
from Berthier that he wished to see me. When I speak of my old
comrades-in-arms, I will, with your permission, leave out all the fine
foreign titles which they had picked up during the wars. They are
excellent for a Court, but you never heard them in the camp, for we
could not afford to do away with our Ney, our Rapp, or our Soult--names
which were as stirring to our ears as the blare of our trumpets blowing
the reveille. It was Berthier, then, who sent to say that he wished to
see me.

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. They were both old
soldiers--Tremeau had carried a musket in Egypt--and they were also both
famous in the army for their courage and their skill with weapons.
Tremeau had become a little stiff in the wrist, but Despienne was
capable at his best of making me exert myself. He was a tiny fellow,
about three inches short of the proper height for a man--he was exactly
three inches shorter than myself--but both with the sabre and with the
small-sword he had several times almost held his own against me when we
used to exhibit at Verron's Hall of Arms in the Palais Royal. You may
think that it made us sniff something in the wind when we found three
such men called together into one room. You cannot see the lettuce and
dressing without suspecting a salad.

'Name of a pipe!' said Tremeau, in his barrack-room fashion. 'Are we
then expecting three champions of the Bourbons?'

To all of us the idea appeared not improbable. Certainly in the whole
army we were the very three who might have been chosen to meet them.

'The Prince of Neufchatel desires to speak with the Brigadier Gerard,'
said a footman, appearing at the door.

In I went, leaving my two companions consumed with impatience behind me.
It was a small room, but very gorgeously furnished. Berthier was seated
opposite to me at a little table, with a pen in his hand and a note-book
open before him. He was looking weary and slovenly--very different from
that Berthier who used to give the fashion to the army, and who had so
often set us poorer officers tearing our hair by trimming his pelisse
with fur one campaign, and with grey astrakhan the next. On his
clean-shaven, comely face there was an expression of trouble, and he
looked at me as I entered his chamber in a way which had in it something
furtive and displeasing.

'Chief of Brigade Gerard!' said he.

'At your service, your Highness!' I answered.

'I must ask you, before I go further, to promise me, upon your honour as
a gentleman and a soldier, that what is about to pass between us shall
never be mentioned to any third person.'

My word, this was a fine beginning! I had no choice but to give the
promise required.

'You must know, then, that it is all over with the Emperor,' said he,
looking down at the table and speaking very slowly, as if he had a hard
task in getting out the words. 'Jourdan at Rouen and Marmont at Paris
have both mounted the white cockade, and it is rumoured that Talleyrand
has talked Ney into doing the same. It is evident that further
resistance is useless, and that it can only bring misery upon our
country. I wish to ask you, therefore, whether you are prepared to join
me in laying hands upon the Emperor's person, and bringing the war to a
conclusion by delivering him over to the allies?'

I assure you that when I heard this infamous proposition put forward by
the man who had been the earliest friend of the Emperor, and who had
received greater favours from him than any of his followers, I could
only stand and stare at him in amazement. For his part he tapped his
pen-handle against his teeth, and looked at me with a slanting head.

'Well?' he asked.

'I am a little deaf on one side,' said I, coldly. 'There are some
things which I cannot hear. I beg that you will permit me to return to
my duties.'

'Nay, but you must not be headstrong,' rising up and laying his hand
upon my shoulder. 'You are aware that the Senate has declared against
Napoleon, and that the Emperor Alexander refuses to treat with him.'

'Sir,' I cried, with passion, 'I would have you know that I do not care
the dregs of a wine-glass for the Senate or for the Emperor Alexander
either.'

'Then for what do you care?'

'For my own honour and for the service of my glorious master, the
Emperor Napoleon.'

'That is all very well,' said Berthier, peevishly, shrugging his
shoulders. 'Facts are facts, and as men of the world, we must look them
in the face. Are we to stand against the will of the nation? Are we to
have civil war on the top of all our misfortunes? And, besides, we are
thinning away. Every hour comes the news of fresh desertions. We have
still time to make our peace, and, indeed, to earn the highest regard,
by giving up the Emperor.'

I shook so with passion that my sabre clattered against my thigh.

'Sir,' I cried, 'I never thought to have seen the day when a Marshal of
France would have so far degraded himself as to put forward such a
proposal. I leave you to your own conscience; but as for me, until I
have the Emperor's own order, there shall always be the sword of Etienne
Gerard between his enemies and himself.'

I was so moved by my own words and by the fine position which I had
taken up, that my voice broke, and I could hardly refrain from tears. I
should have liked the whole army to have seen me as I stood with my head
so proudly erect and my hand upon my heart proclaiming my devotion to
the Emperor in his adversity. It was one of the supreme moments of my
life.

'Very good,' said Berthier, ringing a bell for the lackey. 'You will
show the Chief of Brigade Gerard into the salon.'

The footman led me into an inner room, where he desired me to be seated.
For my own part, my only desire was to get away, and I could not
understand why they should wish to detain me. 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! His face was as white as a guardsman's gaiters, his eyes
projecting, the veins swollen upon his forehead, and every hair of his
moustache bristling like those of an angry cat. He was too angry to
speak, and could only shake his hands at the ceiling and make a gurgling
in his throat. 'Parricide! Viper!' those were the words that I could
catch as he stamped up and down the room.

Of course it was evident to me that he had been subjected to the same
infamous proposals as I had, and that he had received them in the same
spirit. His lips were sealed to me, as mine were to him, by the promise
which we had taken, but I contented myself with muttering 'Atrocious!
Unspeakable!'--so that he might know that I was in agreement with him.

Well, we were still there, he striding furiously up and down, and I
seated in the corner, when suddenly a most extraordinary uproar broke
out in the room which we had just quitted. There was a snarling,
worrying growl, like that of a fierce dog which has got his grip. Then
came a crash and a voice calling for help. In we rushed, the two of us,
and, my faith, we were none too soon.

Old Tremeau and Berthier were rolling together upon the floor, with the
table upon the top of them. The Captain had one of his great, skinny
yellow hands upon the Marshal's throat, and already his face was
lead-coloured, and his eyes were starting from their sockets. As to
Tremeau, he was beside himself, with foam upon the corners of his lips,
and such a frantic expression upon him that I am convinced, had we not
loosened his iron grip, finger by finger, that it would never have
relaxed while the Marshal lived. His nails were white with the power of
his grasp.

'I have been tempted by the devil!' he cried, as he staggered to his
feet. 'Yes, I have been tempted by the devil!'

As to Berthier, he could only lean against the wall, and pant for a
couple of minutes, putting his hands up to his throat and rolling his
head about. Then, with an angry gesture, he turned to the heavy blue
curtain which hung behind his chair.

The curtain was torn to one side and the Emperor stepped out into the
room. We sprang to the salute, we three old soldiers, but it was all
like a scene in a dream to us, and our eyes were as far out as
Berthier's had been. Napoleon was dressed in his green-coated chasseur
uniform, and he held his little, silver-headed switch in his hand. He
looked at us each in turn, with a smile upon his face--that frightful
smile in which neither eyes nor brow joined--and each in turn had, I
believe, a pringling on his skin, for that was the effect which the
Emperor's gaze had upon most of us. Then he walked across to Berthier
and put his hand upon his shoulder.

'You must not quarrel with blows, my dear Prince,' said he; 'they are
your title to nobility.' He spoke in that soft, caressing manner which
he could assume. There was no one who could make the French tongue sound
so pretty as the Emperor, and no one who could make it more harsh and
terrible.

'I believe he would have killed me,' cried Berthier, still rolling his
head about.

'Tut, tut! I should have come to your help had these officers not heard
your cries. But I trust that you are not really hurt!' He spoke with
earnestness, for he was in truth very fond of Berthier--more so than of
any man, unless it were of poor Duroc.

Berthier laughed, though not with a very good grace.

'It is new for me to receive my injuries from French hands,' said he.

'And yet it was in the cause of France,' returned the Emperor. Then,
turning to us, he took old Tremeau by the ear. 'Ah, old grumbler,' said
he, 'you were one of my Egyptian grenadiers, were you not, and had your
musket of honour at Marengo. I remember you very well, my good friend.
So the old fires are not yet extinguished! They still burn up when you
think that your Emperor is wronged. And you, Colonel Despienne, you
would not even listen to the tempter. And you, Gerard, your faithful
sword is ever to be between me and my enemies. Well, well, I have had
some traitors about me, but now at last we are beginning to see who are
the true men.'

You can fancy, my friends, the thrill of joy which it gave us when the
greatest man in the whole world spoke to us in this fashion. Tremeau
shook until I thought he would have fallen, and the tears ran down his
gigantic moustache. If you had not seen it, you could never believe the
influence which the Emperor had upon those coarse-grained, savage old
veterans.

'Well, my faithful friends,' said he, 'if you will follow me into this
room, I will explain to you the meaning of this little farce which we
have been acting. I beg, Berthier, that you will remain in this chamber,
and so make sure that no one interrupts us.'

It was new for us to be doing business, with a Marshal of France as
sentry at the door. However, we followed the Emperor as we were ordered,
and he led us into the recess of the window, gathering us around him and
sinking his voice as he addressed us.

'I have picked you out of the whole army,' said he, 'as being not only
the most formidable but also the most faithful of my soldiers. I was
convinced that you were all three men who would never waver in your
fidelity to me. If I have ventured to put that fidelity to the proof,
and to watch you while attempts were at my orders made upon your honour,
it was only because, in the days when I have found the blackest treason
amongst my own flesh and blood, it is necessary that I should be doubly
circumspect. Suffice it that I am well convinced now that I can rely
upon your valour.'

'To the death, sire!' cried Tremeau, and we both repeated it after him.

Napoleon drew us all yet a little closer to him, and sank his voice
still lower.

'What I say to you now I have said to no one--not to my wife or my
brothers; only to you. It is all up with us, my friends. We have come to
our last rally. The game is finished, and we must make provision
accordingly.'

My heart seemed to have changed to a nine-pounder ball as I listened to
him. We had hoped against hope, but now when he, the man who was always
serene and who always had reserves--when he, in that quiet, impassive
voice of his, said that everything was over, we realized that the clouds
had shut for ever, and the last gleam gone. 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. They are
our base for the next attempt--for I am very sure that these poor
Bourbons would find that my footstool is too large to make a throne for
them. Where am I to keep these precious things? My belongings will be
searched--so will the houses of my supporters. They must be secured and
concealed by men whom I can trust with that which is more precious to me
than my life. Out of the whole of France, you are those whom I have
chosen for this sacred trust.

'In the first place, I will tell you what these papers are. You shall
not say that I have made you blind agents in the matter. They are the
official proof of my divorce from Josephine, of my legal marriage to
Marie Louise, and of the birth of my son and heir, the King of Rome. If
we cannot prove each of these, the future claim of my family to the
throne of France falls to the ground. Then there are securities to the
value of forty millions of francs--an immense sum, my friends, but of no
more value than this riding-switch when compared to the other papers of
which I have spoken. I tell you these things that you may realize the
enormous importance of the task which I am committing to your care.
Listen, now, while I inform you where you are to get these papers, and
what you are to do with them.

'They were handed over to my trusty friend, the Countess Walewski, at
Paris, this morning. At five o'clock she starts for Fontainebleau in her
blue berline. She should reach here between half-past nine and ten. The
papers will be concealed in the berline, in a hiding-place which none
know but herself. She has been warned that her carriage will be stopped
outside the town by three mounted officers, and she will hand the packet
over to your care. You are the younger man, Gerard, but you are of the
senior grade. I confide to your care this amethyst ring, which you will
show the lady as a token of your mission, and which you will leave with
her as a receipt for her papers.

'Having received the packet, you will ride with it into the forest as
far as the ruined dove-house--the Colombier. It is possible that I may
meet you there--but if it seems to me to be dangerous, I will send my
body-servant, Mustapha, whose directions you may take as being mine.
There is no roof to the Colombier, and tonight will be a full moon. At
the right of the entrance you will find three spades leaning against the
wall. With these you will dig a hole three feet deep in the
north-eastern corner--that is, in the corner to the left of the door,
and nearest to Fontainebleau. Having buried the papers, you will replace
the soil with great care, and you will then report to me at the palace.'

These were the Emperor's directions, but given with an accuracy and
minuteness of detail such as no one but himself could put into an order.
When he had finished, he made us swear to keep his secret as long as he
lived, and as long as the papers should remain buried. Again and again
he made us swear it before he dismissed us from his presence.

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. 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.'

We drank with him to our future cocked hats and our batons.

It was agreed between us that we should make our way separately to our
rendezvous, which was to be the first mile-stone upon the Paris road. In
this way we should avoid the gossip which might get about if three men
who were so well known were to be seen riding out together. My little
Violette had cast a shoe that morning, and the farrier was at work upon
her when I returned, so that my comrades were already there when I
arrived at the trysting-place. I had taken with me not only my sabre,
but also my new pair of English rifled pistols, with a mallet for
knocking in the charges. They had cost me a hundred and fifty francs at
Trouvel's, in the Rue de Rivoli, but they would carry far further and
straighter than the others. It was with one of them that I had saved old
Bouvet's life at Leipzig.

The night was cloudless, and there was a brilliant moon behind us, so
that we always had three black horsemen riding down the white road in
front of us. The country is so thickly wooded, however, that we could
not see very far. The great palace clock had already struck ten, but
there was no sign of the Countess. We began to fear that something might
have prevented her from starting.

And then suddenly we heard her in the distance. Very faint at first were
the birr of wheels and the tat-tat-tat of the horses' feet. Then they
grew louder and clearer and louder yet, until a pair of yellow lanterns
swung round the curve, and in their light we saw the two big brown
horses tearing along the high, blue carriage at the back of them. The
postilion pulled them up panting and foaming within a few yards of us.
In a moment we were at the window and had raised our hands in a salute
to the beautiful pale face which looked out at us.

'We are the three officers of the Emperor, madame,' said I, in a low
voice, leaning my face down to the open window. 'You have already been
warned that we should wait upon you.'

The Countess had a very beautiful, cream-tinted complexion of a sort
which I particularly admire, but she grew whiter and whiter as she
looked up at me. Harsh lines deepened upon her face until she seemed,
even as I looked at her, to turn from youth into age.

'It is evident to me,' she said, 'that you are three impostors.'

If she had struck me across the face with her delicate hand she could
not have startled me more. It was not her words only, but the bitterness
with which she hissed them out.

'Indeed, madame,' said I. 'You do us less than justice. These are the
Colonel Despienne and Captain Tremeau. For myself, my name is Brigadier
Gerard, and I have only to mention it to assure anyone who has heard of
me that----'

'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. I had
not thought that three honourable gentlemen would have needed such
corroboration, but I can only confute your unworthy suspicions by
placing it in your hands.'

She held it up in the light of the carriage lamp, and the most dreadful
expression of grief and of horror contorted her face.

'It is his!' she screamed, and then, 'Oh, my God, what have I done? What
have I done?'

I felt that something terrible had befallen. 'Quick, madame, quick!' I
cried. 'Give us the papers!'

'I have already given them.'

'Given them! To whom?'

'To three officers.'

'When?'

'Within the half-hour.'

'Where are they?'

'God help me, I do not know. They stopped the berline, and I handed them
over to them without hesitation, thinking that they had come from the
Emperor.'

It was a thunder-clap. But those are the moments when I am at my finest.

'You remain here,' said I, to my comrades. 'If three horsemen pass you,
stop them at any hazard. The lady will describe them to you. I will be
with you presently.' One shake of the bridle, and I was flying into
Fontainebleau as only Violette could have carried me. At the palace I
flung myself off, rushed up the stairs, brushed aside the lackeys who
would have stopped me, and pushed my way into the Emperor's own cabinet.
He and Macdonald were busy with pencil and compasses over a chart. He
looked up with an angry frown at my sudden entry, but his face changed
colour when he saw that it was I.
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