' Then it seems things have come to a stalemate.'
' Yes. Four precious days have already been lost, and his refusal to meet either Sieyes or Fouche is deplorable. Somehow I must bring him and Sieyes together. In the meantime, I pray you do your utmost to nurse Fouche and prevent him from getting the idea that he has been cold-shouldered.'
'I wrote to him yesterday and took a gamble on saying that " our friend was eager to meet him ", etc., then asked on what days next week he would be free to take breakfast in some place where the meeting was unlikely to be observed and reported.'
' Good! Good! Somehow we will get Bonaparte there, even if we have to drag him by the coat-tails.'
* Ah, but where? I can think of only one suitable place, if it is available. Have you still your little house out at Passy? '
Talleyrand smiled, ' Why, yes. The Velots still look after it for me and occasionally I use it as a rendezvous to ascertain the colour of some pretty creature's garters. It is an admirable choice. You have only to let me know the day and I will arrange matters. Within recent months, Fouche and I have become upon quite tolerable terms and he will be more inclined to come in with us when he realizes that I am giving Bonaparte my support. As host, I can serve as the oil between the wheels; but, later, you and I must leave them alone together.'
' So be it then. I only pray that our little man will not bring about his own ruin by too lengthy a hesitation. Fouche feared that, if he failed to act promptly, he might be denounced in the Assembly as a conspirator, and that would prove the end of him.'
' That is my own fear, but I have taken a precaution against it. Today, unless matters go very wrong, as an honour to the General his brother Lucien is to be elected President for the month of the Five Hundred. He is a most revolting young firebrand, but he has a good head on his shoulders and is devoted to his brother. For his term as President we can count on him to quash any measure likely to thwart the ambitions of our formidable nursling.'
When they had finished breakfast, Talleyrand gave Roger a lift to his tailor's then drove on to Bonaparte's. After trying on his new uniforms, Roger followed him there. By then Talleyrand had left, but there were half a dozen officers in the drawing room, gathered round the General, among them Admiral Bruix who, since Breuy's death, had been the senior Commander in the French Navy. Having talked for a while with some of those present, Roger slipped away to the little cabinet where, as he expected, he found Bourrienne at work.
He confided to his old friend the situation regarding Fouche and asked his help, but the Chef de Cabinet shook his head. '1 do not feel that it is for me to attempt to influence our master in these matters. Talleyrand has been at him this morning urging him to call on Sieyes, and he has made a half-promise to do so; but I doubt if any good will come of it. The temperaments of the two men are so utterly at variance. If he does ally himself with one of the Directors it is much more likely to be his old patron, Barras. Although he despises him they have much more in common.'
' Including Josephine,' remarked Roger with a smile.
Bourrienne gave him a reproving look. 'Mon vieux, you should not say such things. What is past is past.'
' But is it? Rumour says that, before our return, she was from time to time still being kind to him for old acquaintance's sake; although Gohier appears to have been her latest interest.'
' You would be more correct in saying that Gohier is in love with her and that, by encouraging him without going too far, she is preventing him from joining her husband's enemies.'
' Bless you, Bourrienne, for a dear, kindly fellow,' Roger laughed. ' All I pray is that she will be discreet. Our little man is in no mood to stand for further infidelities, and she is so good-hearted a creature it would be a tragedy if some scheming harridan were put in her place.'
The next morning Roger witnessed a fine flare-up in the Bona-partes' drawing room. The General had been prevailed upon by Talleyrand and had sent an aide-de-camp to Sieyes to say that he proposed to call on him the following morning. Evidently the inordinately vain Sieyes considered himself insulted because Bonaparte had already been a week in Paris without troubling to present himself officially to him as one of the heads of the Government; so he had sent back a message saying that the hour proposed would be inconvenient.
Thereupon, Bonaparte flew into one of his passions. He declared that the aide-de-camp had acted without orders and had not been sent by him. Then he raved to those around him that he paid calls on nobody. He was the glory of the nation and if people wished to see him they must call on him.
Much perturbed, Roger slipped away, signalled a coach and drove hell-for-leather to the Rue Taitbout. On hearing Roger's news, Talleyrand was equally furious but controlled his temper better. Roger had retained the coach and they drove back to the Rue de la Victoire together. By then, Bonaparte had calmed down a little and let Talleyrand lead him out into the small garden. They remained there, wrangling heatedly, for half an hour. Later, when Talleyrand left the house, Roger accompanied him. When they were out in the street, the statesman exclaimed:
1 God preserve me from such conceited fools. The two of them have come within an ace of wrecking all my labours to give France a stable Government and peace. But I stood no nonsense. I told him that he was behaving like a petulant schoolboy and understood no more about politics than a kitchenmaid. Apparently, he has been toying with the idea of allying himself with Barras. To do so would be suicidal. Barras is now a washed-out rag and hated by one and all for his corruption and incompetence; whereas Siey£s is the new broom at the Directory and people expect great things of him. In the end, I got my way. He has given me his firm promise to call on Sieyes tomorrow. At the same time, I took the opportunity to force his hand about Fouche.'
'You did! Thank God for that. I have been on tenterhooks lest he should refuse a meeting.'
' You need worry no more. It was Sieyes who got Fouche made Minister of Police; so I pointed out to our man that the two run in double harness and to become on terms with one but not the other would be invidious. I pray you now, lose no time in fixing a day for them to breakfast with us out at Passy.'
Roger went straight to the Ministry of Police, saw Fouche, told him that Bonaparte was now eager to meet him, and provisionally arranged for the meeting to be on the 25th. That afternoon he again saw Bonaparte who agreed to the date.
Next day, the 23rd, Bonaparte paid his call on Sieyes, but the meeting was far from a success. The ex-Abb^ was frightened by the General's forthright manner and obvious determination, in the event of a successful coup, to have a big say in the Government. The General scarcely veiled his contempt for the ex-Abba's timidity and Utopian ideas. Nevertheless the ice had been broken and, on the 2'th, Sieyes accompanied by Roger Ducos, returned Bonaparte's call.
On the morning of the 25th, Talleyrand and Roger drove out to the former's charming little house in the garden suburb of Passy. Old Antoine Velot and his wife Marie, who for many years had lived there as butler and cook, were overjoyed to see Roger again. He had supported them all through Talleyrand's exile and they had looked after him while he had lived in hiding there during some of the darkest weeks of the Terror. The house brought back to him many memories of those desperate days, but also fond ones of his dead wife, Amanda, who had lived there with him for a while, and of the shock he had received on going out there unexpectedly one night to find his beautiful mistress, Athenai's de Rochambeau, occupying his wife's bed.