"Everything that you have told me hitherto, my good M. Fourier, concerns His Majesty and the security of his throne. I cannot help wondering how much of this news has reached him by now."

"All of it at this hour, I should say. For already on Friday the Prince d'Essling sent a despatch to His Majesty--by courier as far as Lyons and thence by aerial telegraph to Paris. The King--may G.o.d preserve him!"

added the ex-Bonapartist fervently, "knows as much of the Corsican's movements at the present moment as we do; and G.o.d alone knows what he will decide to do."

"Whatever happens," interjected the Comte de Cambray solemnly, "Louis de Bourbon, XVIIIth of his name, by the Grace of G.o.d, will act like a king and a gentleman."

"Amen to that," retorted the prefet. "And now let me come to my point, M. le Comte, and the chief object of my visit to you."

"I am at your service, my dear M. Fourier."

"You will remember, M. le Comte, that directly you were installed at Brestalou and I was confirmed in my position as prefet of this department, I thought it was my duty to tell you of the secret funds which are kept in the cellars of our Hotel de Ville by order of M. de Talleyrand."

"Yes, of course I remember that perfectly. French money, which the unfortunate wife of that brigand Bonaparte was taking out of the country."

"Quite so," a.s.sented Fourier. "The funds are in a convenient and portable form, being chiefly notes and bankers' drafts to bearer, but the amount is considerable, namely, twenty-five millions of francs."

"A comfortable sum," interposed Mme. la d.u.c.h.esse drily. "I did not know that Gren.o.ble sheltered so vast a treasure."

"The money was seized," said the Comte, "from Marie Louise when she was fleeing the country. Talleyrand did it all, and it was his idea to keep the money in this part of the country against likely emergencies."

"But the emergency has arisen," exclaimed M. Fourier excitedly, "and the money at Gren.o.ble is useless to His Majesty in Paris. Nay! it is worse than useless, it is in danger of spoliation," he added with unconscious _naivete_. "If the Corsican marches into Gren.o.ble, if the garrison and the townspeople rally to him, he will of a truth occupy the Hotel de Ville and the brigand will seize the King's treasure which lies now in one of its cellars."

"True," mused the Comte, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well!" exclaimed Madame with light sarcasm, "seeing that the money was originally taken from his wife, the brigand will not be committing an altogether unlikely act, I imagine, by taking what was originally his."

"His, my good Sophie?" exclaimed the Comte, highly shocked. "Money robbed by that usurper from France--his?"

"We won't argue, Andre," said Madame sharply, "let us hear what M. le prefet proposes."

"Propose, Mme. la d.u.c.h.esse," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the unfortunate prefet, "I have nothing to propose! I am at my wits' end what to do! I came to M. le Comte for advice."

"And you were quite right, my dear M. Fourier," said the Comte affably.

He paused for a few seconds in order to collect his thoughts, then continued: "Now let us consider this question from every side, and then see to what conclusion we can arrive that will be for the best. Firstly, of course, there is the possibility of your following the example of the prefet of the Ba.s.ses-Alpes and taking yourself and the money to a convenient place outside Gren.o.ble."

But at this suggestion M. Fourier was ready to burst into tears.

"Impossible, M. le Comte," he cried pitiably, "I could not do it. . . .

Where could I go? . . . The existence of the money is known . . . known to the Bonapartists, I am convinced. . . . There's Dumoulin, the glovemaker, he knows everything that goes on in Gren.o.ble . . . and his friend Emery, who is an army surgeon in the pay of Bonaparte . . . both these men have been to and from Elba incessantly these past few months . . . then there's the Bonapartist club in Gren.o.ble . . . with a membership of over two thousand . . . the members have friends and spies everywhere . . . even inside the Hotel de Ville . . . why! the other day I had to dismiss a servant who . . ."

"Easy, easy, M. le prefet," broke in M. le Comte impatiently, "the long and the short of it is that you would not feel safe with the money anywhere outside Gren.o.ble."

"Or inside it, M. le Comte."

"Very well, then, the money must be deposited there, where it will be safe. Now what do you think of Dupont's Bank?"

"Oh, M. le Comte! an avowed Bonapartist! . . . M. de Talleyrand would not trust him with the money last year."

"That is so . . . but . . ."

"It seems to me," here interposed Mme. la d.u.c.h.esse abruptly, "that by far the best plan--since this district seems to be a hot-bed of disloyalty--would be to convey the money straightway to Paris, and then the King or M. de Talleyrand can dispose of it as best they like."

"Ah, Mme. la d.u.c.h.esse," sighed M. Fourier ecstatically as he clasped his podgy little hands together and looked on Madame with eyes full of admiration for her wisdom, "how cleverly that was spoken! If only I could be relieved from that awful responsibility . . . five and twenty millions under my charge and that Corsican ogre at our gates! . . ."

"That is all very well!" quoth the Comte with marked impatience, "but how is it going to be done? 'Convey the money to Paris' is easily said.

But who is going to do it? M. le prefet here says that the Bonapartists have spies everywhere round Gren.o.ble, and . . ."

"Ah, M. le Comte!" exclaimed the prefet eagerly. "I have already thought of such a beautiful plan! If only you would consent . . ."

M. le Comte's thin lips curled in a sarcastic smile.

"Oh! you have thought it all out already, M. le prefet?" he said. "Well!

let me hear your plan, but I warn you that I will not have the money brought here. I don't half trust the peasantry of the neighbourhood, and I won't have a fight or an outrage committed in my house!"

M. le prefet was ready with a protest:

"No, no, M. le Comte!" he said, "I wouldn't suggest such a thing for the world. If the Corsican brigand is successful in capturing Gren.o.ble, no place would be sacred to him. No! My idea was if you, M. le Comte--who have oft before journeyed to Paris and back--would do it now . . .

before Bonaparte gets any nearer to Gren.o.ble . . . and take the money with you . . ."

"I?" exclaimed the Comte. "But, man, if--as you say--Gren.o.ble is full of Bonapartist spies, my movements are no doubt just as closely watched as your own."

"No, no, M. le Comte, not quite so closely, I am sure."

The insinuating manner of the worthy man, however, was apparently getting on M. le Comte's nerves.

"Ah, ca, M. le prefet," he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed abruptly, "but meseems that the splendid plan you thought on merely consists in transferring responsibility from your shoulders to mine own."

And M. le Comte cast such a wrathful look on poor M. Fourier that the unfortunate man was stricken dumb with confusion.

"Moreover," concluded the Comte, "I don't know that you, M. le prefet, have the right to dispose of this money which was entrusted to you by M.

de Talleyrand in the King's behalf without consulting His Majesty's wishes in the matter."

"Bah, Andre," broke in the d.u.c.h.esse in her incisive way, "you are talking nonsense, and you know it. There is no time for red-tapeism now with that ogre at our gates. How are you going to consult His Majesty's wishes--who is in Paris--between now and Tuesday, I would like to know?"

she added with a shrug of the shoulders.

Whereupon M. le Comte waxed politely sarcastic.

"Perhaps," he said, "you would prefer us to consult yours."

"You might do worse," she retorted imperturbably. "The question is one which is very easily solved. Ought His Majesty the King to have that money, or should M. le prefet here take the risk of its falling in Bonaparte's hands? Answer me that," she said decisively, "and then I will tell you how best to succeed in carrying out your own wishes."

"What a question, my good Sophie!" said the Comte stiffly. "Of course we desire His Majesty to have what is rightfully his."

"You mean he ought to have the twenty-five millions which the Prince de Benevant stole from Marie Louise. Very well then, obviously that money ought to be taken to Paris before Bonaparte gets much nearer to Gren.o.ble--but it should not be taken by you, my good Andre, nor yet by M. le prefet."

"By whom then?" queried the Comte irritably.