The Man of Destiny (2/2) (2/6)

| Lieutenant | Good enough for him, anyhow. I noticed that he had a woman’s hands when he touched my neck, with his coaxing, fawning ways, the mean, effeminate little hound. Lowering his voice with thrilling intensity. But mark my words, General. If ever⁠— | | The Lady’s Voice | Outside, as before. Giuseppe! | | Lieutenant | Petrified. What was that? | | Giuseppe | Only a lady upstairs, lieutenant, calling me. | | Lieutenant | Lady! | | Voice | Giuseppe, Giuseppe: where are you? | | Lieutenant | Murderously. Give me that sword. He strides to the couch; snatches the sword; and draws it. | | Giuseppe | Rushing forward and seizing his right arm. What are you thinking of, lieutenant? It’s a lady: don’t you hear that it’s a woman’s voice? | | Lieutenant | It’s his voice, I tell you. Let me go. He breaks away, and rushes to the inner door. It opens in his face; and the Strange Lady steps in. She is a very attractive lady, tall and extraordinarily graceful, with a delicately intelligent, apprehensive, questioning face⁠—perception in the brow, sensitiveness in the nostrils, character in the chin: all keen, refined, and original. She is very feminine, but by no means weak: the lithe, tender figure is hung on a strong frame: the hands and feet, neck and shoulders, are no fragile ornaments, but of full size in proportion to her stature, which considerably exceeds that of Napoleon and the innkeeper, and leaves her at no disadvantage with the lieutenant. Only her elegance and radiant charm keep the secret of her size and strength. She is not, judging by her dress, an admirer of the latest fashions of the Directory; or perhaps she uses up her old dresses for travelling. At all events she wears no jacket with extravagant lapels, no Greco-Tallien sham chiton, nothing, indeed, that the Princesse de Lamballe might not have worn. Her dress of flowered silk is long waisted, with a Watteau pleat behind, but with the paniers reduced to mere rudiments, as she is too tall for them. It is cut low in the neck, where it is eked out by a creamy fichu. She is fair, with golden brown hair and grey eyes. | | | She enters with the self-possession of a woman accustomed to the privileges of rank and beauty. The innkeeper, who has excellent natural manners, is highly appreciative of her. Napoleon, on whom her eyes first fall, is instantly smitten self-conscious. His color deepens: he becomes stiffer and less at ease than before. She perceives this instantly, and, not to embarrass him, turns in an infinitely well bred manner to pay the respect of a glance to the other gentleman, who is staring at her dress, as at the earth’s final masterpiece of treacherous dissimulation, with feelings altogether inexpressible and indescribable. As she looks at him, she becomes deadly pale. There is no mistaking her expression: a revelation of some fatal error utterly unexpected, has suddenly appalled her in the midst of tranquillity, security and victory. The next moment a wave of color rushes up from beneath the creamy fichu and drowns her whole face. One can see that she is blushing all over her body. Even the lieutenant, ordinarily incapable of observation, and just now lost in the tumult of his wrath, can see a thing when it is painted red for him. Interpreting the blush as the involuntary confession of black deceit confronted with its victim, he points to it with a loud crow of retributive triumph, and then, seizing her by the wrist, pulls her past him into the room as he claps the door to, and plants himself with his back to it. | | Lieutenant | So I’ve got you, my lad. So you’ve disguised yourself, have you? In a voice of thunder. Take off that skirt. | | Giuseppe | Remonstrating. Oh, lieutenant! | | Lady | Affrighted, but highly indignant at his having dared to touch her. Gentlemen: I appeal to you. Giuseppe. Making a movement as if to run to Giuseppe. | | Lieutenant | Interposing, sword in hand. No you don’t. | | Lady | Taking refuge with Napoleon. Ah, sir, you are an officer⁠—a general. You will protect me, will you not? | | Lieutenant | Never you mind him, General. Leave me to deal with him. | | Napoleon | With him! With whom, sir? Why do you treat this lady in such a fashion? | | Lieutenant | Lady! He’s a man! the man I showed my confidence in. Advancing threateningly. Here you⁠— | | Lady | Running behind Napoleon and in her agitation embracing the arm which he instinctively extends before her as a fortification. Oh, thank you, General. Keep him away. | | Napoleon | Nonsense, sir. This is certainly a lady she suddenly drops his arm and blushes again; and you are under arrest. Put down your sword, sir, instantly. | | Lieutenant | General: I tell you he’s an Austrian spy. He passed himself off on me as one of General Massena’s staff this afternoon; and now he’s passing himself off on you as a woman. Am I to believe my own eyes or not? | | Lady | General: it must be my brother. He is on General Massena’s staff. He is very like me. | | Lieutenant | His mind giving way. Do you mean to say that you’re not your brother, but your sister?⁠—the sister who was so like me?⁠—who had my beautiful blue eyes? It was a lie: your eyes are not like mine: they’re exactly like your own. What perfidy! | | Napoleon | Lieutenant: will you obey my orders and leave the room, since you are convinced at last that this is no gentleman? | | Lieutenant | Gentleman! I should think not. No gentleman would have abused my confi⁠— | | Napoleon | Out of all patience. Enough, sir, enough. Will you leave the room. I order you to leave the room. | | Lady | Oh, pray let me go instead. | | Napoleon | Drily. Excuse me, madame. With all respect to your brother, I do not yet understand what an officer on General Massena’s staff wants with my letters. I have some questions to put to you. | | Giuseppe | Discreetly. Come, lieutenant. He opens the door. | | Lieutenant | I’m off. General: take warning by me: be on your guard against the better side of your nature. To the lady. Madame: my apologies. I thought you were the same person, only of the opposite sex; and that naturally misled me. | | Lady | Sweetly. It was not your fault, was it? I’m so glad you’re not angry with me any longer, lieutenant. She offers her hand. | | Lieutenant | Bending gallantly to kiss it. Oh, madam, not the lea⁠—Checking himself and looking at it. You have your brother’s hand. And the same sort of ring. | | Lady | Sweetly. We are twins. | | Lieutenant | That accounts for it. He kisses her hand. A thousand pardons. I didn’t mind about the despatches at all: that’s more the General’s affair than mine: it was the abuse of my confidence through the better side of my nature. Taking his cap, gloves, and whip from the table and going. You’ll excuse my leaving you, General, I hope. Very sorry, I’m sure. He talks himself out of the room. Giuseppe follows him and shuts the door. | | Napoleon | Looking after them with concentrated irritation. Idiot! The Strange Lady smiles sympathetically. He comes frowning down the room between the table and the fireplace, all his awkwardness gone now that he is alone with her. | | Lady | How can I thank you, General, for your protection? | | Napoleon | Turning on her suddenly. My despatches: come! He puts out his hand for them. | | Lady | General! She involuntarily puts her hands on her fichu as if to protect something there. | | Napoleon | You tricked that blockhead out of them. You disguised yourself as a man. I want my despatches. They are there in the bosom of your dress, under your hands. | | Lady | Quickly removing her hands. Oh, how unkindly you are speaking to me! She takes her handkerchief from her fichu. You frighten me. She touches her eyes as if to wipe away a tear. | | Napoleon | I see you don’t know me madam, or you would save yourself the trouble of pretending to cry. | | Lady | Producing an effect of smiling through her tears. Yes, I do know you. You are the famous General Buonaparte. She gives the name a marked Italian pronunciation Bwaw-na-parr-te. | | Napoleon | Angrily, with the French pronunciation. Bonaparte, madame, Bonaparte. The papers, if you please. | | Lady | But I assure you⁠—He snatches the handkerchief rudely from her. General! Indignantly. | | Napoleon | Taking the other handkerchief from his breast. You were good enough to lend one of your handkerchiefs to my lieutenant when you robbed him. He looks at the two handkerchiefs. They match one another. He smells them. The same scent. He flings them down on the table. I am waiting for the despatches. I shall take them, if necessary, with as little ceremony as the handkerchief. This historical incident was used eighty years later, by M. Victorien Sardou, in his drama entitled Dora. | | Lady | In dignified reproof. General: do you threaten women? | | Napoleon | Bluntly. Yes. | | Lady | Disconcerted, trying to gain time. But I don’t understand. I⁠— | | Napoleon | You understand perfectly. You came here because your Austrian employers calculated that I was six leagues away. I am always to be found where my enemies don’t expect me. You have walked into the lion’s den. Come: you are a brave woman. Be a sensible one: I have no time to waste. The papers. He advances a step ominously. | | Lady | *Breaking down in the childish rage of impotence, and throwing herself in tears on the chair left beside the table by the lieutenant*. I brave! How little you know! I have spent the day in an agony of fear. I have a pain here from the tightening of my heart at every suspicious look, every threatening movement. Do you think everyone is as brave as you? Oh, why will not you brave people do the brave things? Why do you leave them to us, who have no courage at all? I’m not brave: I shrink from violence: danger makes me miserable. | | Napoleon | Interested. Then why have you thrust yourself into danger? | | Lady | Because there is no other way: I can trust nobody else. And now it is all useless⁠—all because of you, who have no fear, because you have no heart, no feeling, no⁠—She breaks off, and throws herself on her knees. Ah, General, let me go: let me go without asking any questions. You shall have your despatches and letters: I swear it. | | Napoleon | Holding out his hand. Yes: I am waiting for them. She gasps, daunted by his ruthless promptitude into despair of moving him by cajolery; but as she looks up perplexedly at him, it is plain that she is racking her brains for some device to outwit him. He meets her regard inflexibly. | | Lady | Rising at last with a quiet little sigh. I will get them for you. They are in my room. She turns to the door. | | Napoleon | I shall accompany you, madame. | | Lady | Drawing herself up with a noble air of offended delicacy. I cannot permit you, General, to enter my chamber. | | Napoleon | Then you shall stay here, madame, whilst I have your chamber searched for my papers. | | Lady | Spitefully, openly giving up her plan. You may save yourself the trouble. They are not there. | | Napoleon | No: I have already told you where they are. Pointing to her breast. | | Lady | With pretty piteousness. General: I only want to keep one little private letter. Only one. Let me have it. | | Napoleon | Cold and stern. Is that a reasonable demand, madam? | | Lady | Encouraged by his not refusing point blank. No; but that is why you must grant it. Are your own demands reasonable? thousands of lives for the sake of your victories, your ambitions, your destiny! And what I ask is such a little thing. And I am only a weak woman, and you a brave man. She looks at him with her eyes full of tender pleading and is about to kneel to him again. | | Napoleon | Brusquely. Get up, get up. He turns moodily away and takes a turn across the room, pausing for a moment to say, over his shoulder, You’re talking nonsense; and you know it. She gets up and sits down in almost listless despair on the couch. When he turns and sees her there, he feels that his victory is complete, and that he may now indulge in a little play with his victim. He comes back and sits beside her. She looks alarmed and moves a little away from him; but a ray of rallying hope beams from her eye. He begins like a man enjoying some secret joke. How do you know I am a brave man? | | Lady | Amazed. You! General Buonaparte. Italian pronunciation. | | Napoleon | Yes, I, General Bonaparte. Emphasizing the French pronunciation. | | Lady | Oh, how can you ask such a question? you! who stood only two days ago at the bridge at Lodi, with the air full of death, fighting a duel with cannons across the river! Shuddering. Oh, you do brave things. | | Napoleon | So do you. | | Lady | I! With a sudden odd thought. Oh! Are you a coward? | | Napoleon | Laughing grimly and pinching her cheek. That is the one question you must never ask a soldier. The sergeant asks after the recruit’s height, his age, his wind, his limb, but never after his courage. He gets up and walks about with his hands behind him and his head bowed, chuckling to himself. | | Lady | As if she had found it no laughing matter. Ah, you can laugh at fear. Then you don’t know what fear is. | | Napoleon | Coming behind the couch. Tell me this. Suppose you could have got that letter by coming to me over the bridge at Lodi the day before yesterday! Suppose there had been no other way, and that this was a sure way⁠—if only you escaped the cannon! She shudders and covers her eyes for a moment with her hands. Would you have been afraid? | | Lady | Oh, horribly afraid, agonizingly afraid. She presses her hands on her heart. It hurts only to imagine it. | | Napoleon | Inflexibly. Would you have come for the despatches? | | Lady | Overcome by the imagined horror. Don’t ask me. I must have come. | | Napoleon | Why? | | Lady | Because I must. Because there would have been no other way. | | Napoleon | With conviction. Because you would have wanted my letter enough to bear your fear. There is only one universal passion: fear. Of all the thousand qualities a man may have, the only one you will find as certainly in the youngest drummer boy in my army as in me, is fear. It is fear that makes men fight: it is indifference that makes them run away: fear is the mainspring of war. Fear! I know fear well, better than you, better than any woman. I once saw a regiment of good Swiss soldiers massacred by a mob in Paris because I was afraid to interfere: I felt myself a coward to the tips of my toes as I looked on at it. Seven months ago I revenged my shame by pounding that mob to death with cannon balls. Well, what of that? Has fear ever held a man back from anything he really wanted⁠—or a woman either? Never. Come with me; and I will show you twenty thousand cowards who will risk death every day for the price of a glass of brandy. And do you think there are no women in the army, braver than the men, because their lives are worth less? Psha! I think nothing of your fear or your bravery. If you had had to come across to me at Lodi, you would not have been afraid: once on the bridge, every other feeling would have gone down before the necessity⁠—the necessity⁠—for making your way to my side and getting what you wanted. And now, suppose you had done all this⁠—suppose you had come safely out with that letter in your hand, knowing that when the hour came, your fear had tightened, not your heart, but your grip of your own purpose⁠—that it had ceased to be fear, and had become strength, penetration, vigilance, iron resolution⁠—how would you answer then if you were asked whether you were a coward? | | Lady | Rising. Ah, you are a hero, a real hero. |