On the day of the a.s.sessment the boys who had been selected for testing waited in the library to be called in turn. Napoleon had never doubted that he would be put forward for this moment and while some of the others fretted and talked nervously, he sat quite still with his arms folded, until at last his name was called.

The visiting Inspector of Military Schools was a veteran officer, Monsieur Keralio. Slender and stiff, he wore a powdered wig and gave Napoleon a long, searching look with sharp blue eyes before he indicated the chair opposite the director's desk. He had a folder open on the desk in front of him containing a sheaf of notes.

'Cadet Buona Parte, isn't it?'

'Yes, sir.'

The inspector tapped the notes in front of him. 'You have an interesting background. A Corsican Frenchman must be something of a rare breed in a place like this.'

Napoleon smiled. 'Yes, sir.'

The inspector looked at him keenly. 'So which are you? Corsican or French?'

'Both, sir.' Napoleon replied directly. 'Just as another man might be a Norman, or French Burgundian.'

'But those regions have long been part of France, unlike Corsica. They have no Paoli to agitate for their independence. Your father fought with Paoli, did he not?'

'Yes, sir.That was many years ago.Today he is in the service of the Comte de Marbeuf in Ajaccio, and a loyal Frenchman. As am I, sir.'

'Good. I am satisfied with that,' the inspector said quietly.'Now then, young man, why do you want to serve in His Majesty's forces?'

The inevitable question Napoleon had been expecting, and like every other aspirant he had worked hard at preparing his answer. 'It's a man's life, sir. A chance for adventure, perhaps some glory, and I love my country well enough to want to protect her with my life.'

'And which country would that be, Cadet Buona Parte? You seem to avoid being specific.'

'Why, France, sir.'

The inspector looked at him a moment before he chuckled. 'Fair enough. A careful answer, Cadet Buona Parte.You have the guile to go far in this world.'

'Guile?' Napoleon coloured.

'Guile, perhaps. But, it seems, not patience nor complete self-control. '

Napoleon bowed his head, ashamed that he had fallen into the trap so easily.

The inspector leaned back and shuffled the papers into a neat stack. 'You may go.'

'Go, sir? Is that all?'

'Yes.'

Napoleon swallowed nervously. Most of the other cadets had had far longer interviews than this. How dare the inspector dismiss him after such a short and superficial interrogation?

'Did I pa.s.s the a.s.sessment, sir?'

'That is for me to know and for you to find out in due course, Cadet Buona Parte. Please send for the next candidate, Cadet Poilieaux.'

Napoleon returned to the library and, having pa.s.sed on the summons, he took his seat again and waited for the a.s.sessment procedure to be concluded.The last interviewee came back to the library just as the beams of the late afternoon sun angled through the window.

Footsteps approached down the corridor and the door opened as Father Dupuy entered the library.

'Gentlemen, the director will see the following cadets. Boureillon, Pardedieu, Buona Parte, Salicere and Bresson.The rest of you are dismissed.'

While the other cadets filed out of the room Napoleon felt a surge of joy course through his veins. He had been accepted. He must have been. Unless it was those who were quitting the room who had pa.s.sed and now the director was about to break the bad news to the rejects. Once the five named boys remained, Father Dupuy held the door open and waved the boys out into the corridor.

As he pa.s.sed by Napoleon whispered, 'Did I pa.s.s?'

'All in good time,' Father Dupuy replied flatly. 'The director will inform you of the result.'

They made their way to the director's office in a silence that belied their nervousness. As they approached the door, it swung open and the inspector stepped out into the hall.

'Thank you, once again, sir,' he bowed. 'It is always a pleasure to visit Brienne.'

'The pleasure is ours, Monsieur Keralio,' the director replied from within.

The inspector turned at the sound of footsteps and nodded to them as the cadets took their places on a bench outside the room and Father Dupuy disappeared into the director's study. 'Gentlemen, I look forward to meeting you again some day.'

'Thank you, sir,' Napoleon replied.

The inspector smiled, then turned away and marched down the corridor towards the main entrance. Father Dupuy emerged through the door and looked down at Napoleon. 'You first.'

Napoleon rose quickly, took a deep breath and marched inside. The director looked up as the cadet stood to attention in front of his desk.

'It seems you have made something of an impression upon my friend the inspector.' He lifted a sheet of paper from the desk and began to read. '"Cadet Buona Parte's const.i.tution and health are excellent; his character is obedient, amenable, honest, grateful; his conduct is perfectly regular. He is good academically but his fencing and dancing are very poor."'The director smiled. 'Not all good news then.'

Napoleon shrugged. He'd just have to avoid sword-fighting and social foreplay if he was to have a successful career.

'Of course, the inspector was basing most of his a.s.sessment on the reports of your teachers and could not know your, ah, quality as well as I do. So, he has pa.s.sed you. You have been awarded a place at the Military School of Paris commencing next autumn. That is, a.s.suming you wish to accept the place?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Very well, Cadet Buona Parte. That will be all. You are dismissed.'

Outside the office, as the next cadet entered for his debriefing, Napoleon shook hands with Father Dupuy, a huge smile splitting his thin face.

'I take it you were successful, then?' Father Dupuy teased him. 'I'm proud of you, Buona Parte.You've come a long way. Further than you think.'

Chapter 26.

There was further congratulation from Ajaccio and Autun as the news of Napoleon's success reached the rest of the family. Joseph replied first, overwhelmed with joy and pride in his brother's achievement. So much so that he now had his heart set on a military life too. From home, his father wrote to say that he expected great things of his son. Carlos added that he would be paying a visit to a specialist doctor in Montpellier concerning a persistent pain in his stomach. He would visit his sons at the same time.

When he read his father's letter, Napoleon felt a welter of feelings swell up in his breast. It was over five years since he had last seen his father - longer since he had seen the rest of the family in Ajaccio - and all the ties to home and blood that had been suppressed for so long at last overwhelmed him. That night he cried long and hard into his pillow, his bony chest racked with m.u.f.fled sobs.

The knowledge that his father was visiting Brienne in spring filled Napoleon's mind in the months that followed.Time seemed to pa.s.s more slowly than ever.

At long last, spring came. One afternoon, early in May, Napoleon was called from his maths lesson and summoned to the director's study.There, seated opposite the director, was his father.

Carlos rose slowly from his chair and Napoleon was shocked to see how thin and old he looked, but his eyes twinkled in lively disavowal of his frail state and he smiled as he opened his arms. 'My son . . . Come here.'

Napoleon crossed the room. Then, conscious of the director's gaze upon him, he extended his arm and shook his father's hand, with a polite bow. 'Father. It's good to see you again.'

'Yes.' Carlos frowned, as he contemplated the changes that the years had wrought upon his son. The boy had gone, and in his place was a pale teenager. He already knew from the letters he and Letizia had received that Napoleon was highly intelligent and had developed a breadth of mind that already exceeded his own. Carlos turned to the director.

'Might we be given a moment alone, sir?'

'Of course.' The director gestured towards the window. 'You might wish to have a stroll in the orchard. It's quite beautiful at this time of year.'

Carlos shook his head. 'I'm afraid that I no longer have the strength for such excursions. I don't want to impose on you, but could we remain here?'

The director stared at him for an instant before he nodded. 'Of course, Monsieur Buona Parte. Please be my guest. Although I have some work I need to complete by suppertime. I'm sure you understand.'

Carlos bowed gratefully. 'You're too kind, sir. I'm sure we won't keep you from your work for long.'

'Then I won't disturb you a moment longer,' the director replied.

The door closed and Carlos turned towards his son with a smile, and held out his arms. 'Show an old man, who has travelled a long way, some affection.'

Napoleon laughed and rushed forward into his father's embrace, pressing his cheek into his father's chest. Carlos laughed out loud, and then stopped suddenly, his face twisted with pain.

'What's the matter?' Napoleon asked in alarm. 'Father?'

Carlos held up a hand. 'It's all right. It will pa.s.s.'

He sat down in the chair and closed his eyes, breathing calmly as he kept hold of one of his son's hands. Napoleon glanced at the hand and noted the waxy pallor of the skin and the way it hung on the bones like old cheesecloth. Through the skin and wasted muscle he felt a tremor and for the first time sensed the terror of death. His father, whom Napoleon had taken for granted all his life, was perilously mortal. It had never really crossed his mind that his father would die. Death had simply been a fact, at several removes from experience. Until now. The fragile creature that looked up to him still held the essence of Carlos Buona Parte, but now his body was a brittle cage, no longer the solid monument to good and hearty living that it had once been. Napoleon felt sick and afraid.

'You're dying . . .'

'No. Not yet,' Carlos smiled. 'I'm ill, Napoleon.Very ill. That's why I've come to France for treatment.' He patted his son's hand. 'And to see you, of course. I'm hoping I can be treated and made well again. After all, I'm not yet forty - still young enough to box your ears when I get better!'

Napoleon smiled. 'I'd even look forward to that.'

'Of course, I couldn't do as good a job as your mother.'

'How is she?'

'She's well. The rest of the family is well. But she misses you most of all.'

Napoleon swallowed. 'I'll come back and see her, as soon as I can.'

'Good boy. Now then, I need to talk to you. Sit down.'

Napoleon pulled up a chair and sat close to Carlos, trying not to show the grief he felt for his father's condition. 'What do we need to talk about, Father?'

'It's Joseph.'

'What about him?'

'He says he wants to be a soldier.' Carlos looked into his son's eyes. 'Tell me, do you think he should become a soldier?'

'No,' Napoleon replied at once. 'He hasn't the temperament for it. Father, I love him - he's my big brother - but he's just too gentle, too thoughtful for such a career. I thought he wanted to join the Church.'

'He did. Now I think all the letters you wrote to him have changed his mind.' Carlos smiled. 'He wants to be like you.'

'Like me?' Napoleon was astonished. He had put up with so much hostility from most of the other cadets at Brienne over the years that the thought that anyone should want to be like him was a surprise. He was flattered by the idea that Joseph wanted to emulate him. But his brother would be a disaster as an army officer, Napoleon realised in a cold flash of reason. Joseph must be dissuaded.

'Napoleon, you may not be aware of this, but he has looked up to you from the time you could walk. He adores you, and he has the rare quality of never having resented you for being better than him. We must be careful how we speak to Joseph. I will visit him again in Autun before I go to Montpellier. I ask you to write to him. Persuade him to stay there and study for the Church. Failing that, he can always study law. He could make a success of that, I'm sure of it.'

'Yes, Father.'

Carlos placed a wavering hand on his son's shoulder. 'You're a good boy. But it pleases me that I can speak to you as an adult.'

'Thank you, Father.'

Carlos sagged back into his chair and sighed. 'Now, I'm tired. I need to rest before tomorrow's journey. Would you help an old man to his carriage? I have one waiting in the courtyard.'

'You're leaving?' Napoleon felt a stab of betrayal. 'So soon? I thought you might spend a few days here.'

Carlos looked down into his lap. 'I'm sorry. I can't stay. I must get treatment as soon as possible . . .'His eyes twinkled at his son. 'But when I have, when I've recovered, I'll come back to Brienne and take you up to Paris myself. Nothing would make me more proud than to watch you, in your fine new uniform, march in through the gates of the Royal Military School.'

'I'll look forward to it.'

'Now, help me up.'

Napoleon supported his father's arm as they walked down the corridor towards the courtyard and the boy felt how light the man had become - little more than a child, it seemed. At the carriage he helped his father up the steps. He slumped on to the seat, breathing heavily and perspiring.

'There! Thank you, son. I'll not keep you from your lessons a moment longer. Off you go.'

'In a moment.' Napoleon closed the door and fastened the catch. 'Let me wave.'

Carlos smiled. 'All right then. Driver! Move on.'

With a crack of the reins and a shout, the driver urged the horses into a walk. The carriage trundled down the side of the stables as Napoleon stood and watched.Then it turned and he saw his father at the window, waving to him. Napoleon quickly raised his arm and waved back, before the coach pa.s.sed round the end of the stable building and was gone.

Chapter 27.

It was late in October when Napoleon and the other four cadets from Brienne arrived at the Royal Military School of Paris. The school was situated in an elegant building off the Champ de Mars. As at Brienne, the student body was a mixture of fee-paying aristocrats and the holders of royal scholarships, living together under the same regime. Napoleon and his companions from Brienne were given a brief interview with the captain-commandant, an elegant man who had recently retired from a long career in the army. He congratulated them on winning places at the school and encouraged them to study hard, earn their commissions in the army and serve their King and country honourably. While they were at the school they would be treated as equals, whatever their origins, the captain-commandant stressed. The school was there to prepare them for life in the army. It was not some fancy gentleman's academy. They would be tested on their ability, and not their pedigree. Napoleon nodded with satisfaction at this. At last he would be able to demonstrate his innate talents and not be held back, or made to feel ashamed of his origins.