The following evening he was able to report that the lady's name was Marguerite Pauline Foures, and that she was the wife of a Lieutenant in the 22nd Infantry of the Line. They had married only just before the expedition had sailed for Egypt and were so loath to part that, disguised in the uniform of a soldier, she had accompanied her husband on the voyage. Bonaparte then told Roger to arrange a little dinner party, at which the lady would be present.
Using General Dupuy, who was then Commander of the Cairo garrison, as his willing stalking horse, Roger arranged for the party to be held at the General's house. He then got together half a dozen other senior officers whose wives had, in one way or another, succeeded in reaching Cairo, and had an invitation sent to Madame Foures, which did not include her husband. In spite of that the lady, doubtless flattered by this attention from the High Command and even, perhaps, hoping to advance her husband's prospects, accepted.
After dinner the General-in-Chief dropped in. With his usual directness he stared at Marguerite Pauline as though he meant to eat her, and nobody could deny that she was worth staring at. She was small, had a lovely figure, big violet eyes and such an abundance of fair, golden hair that it was said that it would make a cloak for her whole body. To these personal charms were added great vitality, a bubbling sense of humour, a silvery laugh and a voice which would have enabled her to earn her living as a professional singer.
That evening Bonaparte attempted nothing, but told Roger that he must arrange another dinner party, and soon. Roger obliged and, before hand, received his master's instructions. This time the General-in-Chief attended the dinner, sitting on one side of Pauline while Roger sat on the other. The meal had hardly started when Roger, carrying out his orders, clumsily spilt his soup into Pauline's lap. His master jumped to his feet, abused him roundly and, taking Pauline by the arm, hurried her off into another room to help her repair the damage. To the considerable embarrassment of the rest of the party they were away for two hours.
The next move was to get rid of Pauline's husband. Bonaparte sent for him and said that he had heard such excellent reports of him that he had decided to do him a signal honour. Handing him a bulky despatch, he told him to return to France and deliver it to the Directory. The astonished Lieutenant, believing that his fortune was made, hurried off to Alexandria and went aboard a merchant ship. As the wily Corsican had expected, the ship and Lieutenant Four&s were promptly captured by the English.
By then, Bonaparte had installed the gay and charming La Belilotte, as Pauline was nicknamed, in his own palace and, with the utmost cheerfulness, was parading her about Cairo openly as his mistress. The British had many spies in Cairo and the Commodore in charge of the blockade had learned of the French General-in-Chief's infatuation; so he decided to play him a scurvy trick. He told the gullible Foures that his ship had been ordered to the Pacific and that it would be inconvenient to have a prisoner on board for many months. Then he courteously put him ashore.
Foures hurried back to Cairo, was amazed to find his wife absent from their lodging and, after receiving many evasive replies from people whom he questioned, at last learned what had happened. Against everyone's advice he forced his way into her apartment and a stormy scene followed. But Pauline was far too honest and much too pleased with her good fortune to beat about the bush. She sent him packing. Next day, on the orders of the General-in-Chief, the Commissary-General of the Army pronounced the Foures divorced, and the Lieutenant passed from the pages of history.
Glamorous, amusing, kind-hearted Pauline then settled down to enjoy herself thoroughly. She was beloved by everyone and in the afternoons, when she drove round the city in a carriage and pair, always escorted by two of her lover's aides-de-camp, the troops all greeted her with cries of ' Good luck to you, Cleopatra! ' and 'Long live the little General! '
The only person who disapproved of the arrangement was seventeen-year-old Eugene de Beauharnais who, much as he admired his step-father, had the boldness to protest at this infidelity to his mother. But the young man had not a leg to stand on, and the only satisfaction he got was to be relieved of his turns at escorting La Belilotte on her afternoon drives.
Throughout September, in all else things went no better for Bonaparte. He was still doing his utmost to persuade the Turks that he had taken over Egypt in the interests of their master the Sultan. In the hope of furthering this policy he despatched a letter in most cordial terms to Djezzar, the Pasha of Acre. This Pasha had a most unpleasant reputation for craft and extreme cruelty; but he ruled all Syria and, although nominally the Sultan's Viceroy, had made himself virtually independent, so he would have proved a powerful ally. But he contemptuously ignored Bonaparte's overture.
In mid-October good news came in from the south. Desaix had been despatched, with some three thousand men, up the Nile to deal with about the same number of Mamelukes, who were still under arms with Murad Bey and continued to menace the peaceful settlement of the country. On the 7th Desaix had inflicted a severe defeat upon them, which rendered them incapable of doing further serious harm.
But Cairo was growing ever more restless and, unrealized by the French, the Imams who went up to the minarets every evening to call the Faithful to prayer had begun instead to call upon the whole country to revolt and massacre the invader. Bands of armed men were being secretly organized in the city, Bedouin Sheiks were mustering their forces outside it, and the Turks were turning a blind eye to these preparations for a Holy War.
The signal for the outbreak was the massacre of a convoy of French wounded who were being brought up from Salahiyeh. When news of it was received on the night of October 20th the word was given by the Muslim ringleaders for the revolt. In the early hours of the 21st, thousands of turbaned fanatics streamed out into the streets and set about killing every Frenchman they could find.
Roused by the clamour, Roger and Marbois hastily pulled on their clothes and ran outside. At the entrance to the main street a group of half a dozen Muslims rushed at them, screaming ' Death to the Unbelievers.' Roger halted, took careful aim with his pistol, fired and dropped their leader dead in his tracks. The others, being no braver than the average slum rat out for easy plunder, halted, gave back and took refuge under an archway. But the shouting from nearby streets, and that such a rabble should have dared to attack him, was quite sufficient warning for Roger. Turning, he grabbed Marbois by the arm and together they ran at the best pace they could make to headquarters.
Bonaparte had just come downstairs. No one knew what was happening. News came in that General Dupuy had been killed in the street by a lance, then that a company of Bedouin Arabs were endeavouring to force their way into the city by the Bab-el-Nasser gate. Bonaparte told Sulkowsky to take half a company of Guides and reinforce it. Sulkowsky was a good friend of Roger's; so when Roger heard this he went to the General-in-Chief and reminded him that Sulkowsky had only just recovered from a wound he had received in August in the battle at Salahiyeh. Then he asked to be allowed to relieve his brother aide-de-camp.
' Very well,' said Bonaparte. ' Take another fifteen Guides, follow and send him back with an escort, then take charge of the gate yourself.'
When Roger reached the gate it had already been broken open and, to his great distress, he found Sulkowsky dead. But his men had poured a murderous fire into the Arabs and they had fled.
Suddenly it dawned on Roger that this great disturbance in the city was the very thing he had unconsciously been waiting for. Swiftly he had the gate firmly secured, then, placed a Lieutenant of Guides in charge of it, leaving him sixty men. Ordering the rest to follow him, he set off for the Pasha's palace.