himself out from amongst the dead ... It’s unimaginable that he would not have made a connection between his resurrection and that of Christ. So the question is: what sort of connection exactly? Did he just see it as a coincidence? Or a sign from God? Did it tip him into religious fanaticism as well?’
‘One should never mix religion and politics ...’
‘How right you are.’
‘Alas, not right enough, obviously. How did you find all those passages in the Bible? You couldn’t have read it all.’
‘I spent part of my nights reading it. But I was able to find the parts I wanted quite easily because I know it well. My years of apprenticeship in the monastery have proved very useful.’
As far as Lefine was concerned, Margont’s religious training constituted a useless episode from his past, a splinter he had given up trying to remove from Margont’s soul. Margont, on the other hand, drew great strength from it, more than he would have liked to admit.
‘I’m sure we haven’t explored the fire connection sufficiently,’ concluded Margont. ‘We’re going to have to find another way of approaching this investigation ...’
They agreed to meet the next day and Lefine left.
He had not been gone many minutes when there was a knock at the door. Margont grabbed a pistol and pointed it straight in front of him.
‘It’s me again,’ Lefine called.
Margont opened the door and Lefine crashed into him, pushed from behind by several people. The little room was suddenly overcrowded. There was Louis de Leaume, Jean-Baptiste de Chatel and Honoré de Nolant, as well as two other men whom Margont did not know. They were all armed and Margont’s pistol was immediately seized, much to Vicomte de Leaume’s delight.
Lefine declared: ‘I brought a few friends ...’
CHAPTER 20
LOUIS de Leaume was exultant, as if he and Margont were playing a game of chess and he had just checked his adversary. ‘Who is this man?’ he asked Margont, pointing at Lefine.
‘My name is Fernand Lami, Monsieur le Vicomte,’ the latter replied. ‘I know everything and I’m one of you.’
Jean-Baptiste de Chatel smiled ironically. ‘Oh, but you don’t know everything ...’
Margont noticed that this comment annoyed Louis de Leaume, and took it as another sign that the group was preparing a third plan, which he had not been told about. Lefine kept his cool.
‘I’ve known Monsieur le Chevalier de Langes for many years. We served in the same regiments, the 18th and then the 84th. Facing death together inevitably forges bonds ... You want a return to the monarchy? So do l! Not for the same reasons, but so what?’
‘And what are your reasons?’
‘I want an end to war so that I can leave the army and work for
Monsieur de Langes, as he’s promised me. I’m going to look after the forests on his future lands! A well-paid but not too taxing job. Perhaps my ambitions are small, but that is my dream.’
‘You hid him from us,’ Louis de Leaume told Margont.
He seemed unwilling to address someone of the lower classes. That irritated Margont but he knew he had to take it in his stride and pretend to find it normal.
‘But Monsieur le Vicomte, you hid those men from me.’ He indicated the two unknown men who had started to search the room. They lifted up the mattress, turned the pages of the books, moved things around, emptied the trunk ...
‘They’re other members of our group—’ began Louis de Leaume. ‘We haven’t time for that!’ interrupted Jean-Baptiste de Chatel. Margont felt that Chatel was playing a tactical game. He continually provoked Vicomte de Leaume. If the latter should lose his temper he would discredit himself - who would want a leader incapable of controlling himself? But if he did not react, he would gradually lose his authority because it would look as if he were
unable to oppose Chatel. The Swords of the King were not a homogenous group, but a fragile coalition, perpetually on the verge of splitting apart.
Honoré de Nolant searched Lefine. He found a knife and a pistol, which he placed on the floor. As he patted Lefine down, he felt something in a pocket. He pulled out the gold button and looked at it, but put it back without comment. Margont was searched by Chatel, who then said to him, ‘Chevalier, you won’t mind if we go straight away to your print works?’
They set off, leaving behind the two members Margont did not know, to continue their search. Margont was not worried, though: apart from fleas and cockroaches, there was nothing to find ... But Joseph had been right to forbid him to have the police reports himself. As for Joseph’s letter, they would have to be very clever to flush that out...
When they got outside, five more people surged out of the shadows of the adjacent streets - determined-looking men in the prime of life. Two of them returned to the shadows to keep watch to protect their accomplices inside the inn. The three others fell in behind the group, but at some distance, forming a rearguard, ready to close in, in case of danger.
Margont watched and memorised everything. He was witnessing a display of force on the part of his adversaries. They were better organised than he had previously thought. They were apparently capable of leading a little troop into combat. Were they aiming for some spectacular show offeree? In October 1812, during the retreat from Russia, while the Grande Armée was in complete disarray, General Malet, a republican officer imprisoned for his hostility to the Emperor, had launched a mad attempt to overthrow him. Wanting to restore the republic, he had escaped from the madhouse where he was being held, and embarked on an audacious series of escapades. He pretended to be General Lamotte and had gone to a barracks and announced that the Emperor had been killed in Russia. His aplomb and assurance had convinced the loth cohort of the National Guard. Then he had liberated two other republican generals and arrested Pasquier, the Prefect of
Police, and Savary, the Minister of Civilian Police. But the Governor of Paris, General Hulin, had refused to support Malet, who responded by shooting him in the jaw. Eventually Malet had been arrested, then shot after a brief trial, but he had well and truly shaken the imperial throne. If Louis de Leaume were as daring as Malet, he would have a much greater chance of success, since he had more resources and the Emperor’s situation was much worse than in October 1812. It all depended what plans he was pursuing. On the other hand, the fact that the Swords of the King had sought to intimidate Margont was also a good sign. They would not have bothered had they not needed him and perhaps feared him.
The streets, cold enough to make their teeth chatter, were lit by the moon, which resembled a block of ice floating in black water. But Margont was burning inside, heated by the passion of his thoughts. Varencourt was notable by his absence. Was that proof that the group did not trust him? Or was he off leading another operation?
The little printing press came into sight. How Margont loved it!
But he was seized by a sudden fear. What if Joseph had asked his police to keep watch on the place? If a guard spotted them and told his superiors that several of the people they were searching for had just appeared, the place would soon be alive with the sound of gunfire ... Margont was annoyed with himself for dragging Lefine into danger with him.
In a little lane nearby a man stepped out from under a porch. He nodded to Vicomte de Leaume, who had stopped, but now went on again.
CHAPTER 21
THEY swarmed into the room. The cold air intensified the smell of ink. Honoré de Nolant lit as few candles as necessary. The unaccustomed nocturnal activity might attract the attention of the police, especially since printing presses were kept under close watch.