Next morning the mission set off on its return journey to Isfahan. Hoping that he might find a despatch awaiting him there, Gardane forced the pace, so they reached the capital late on the night of August 9th. A courier had arrived, bringing further details of the victory at Friedland. As usual in his bulletins, the Emperor greatly minimised the French losses and gave scant praise to his Marshals. But it was clear that Lannes had once more displayed his brilliant leadership and tenacity, by holding forty thousand Russians at bay for the greater part of the day, with only ten thousand French, until the corps of Mortier, Ney and Victor had come up to his assistance and overwhelmed the enemy.
The despatch also contained the news that on May 20th the great Prussian stronghold of Danzig—which Napoleon, with some foolhardiness, had left in his rear still occupied by a considerable enemy army—had, at last capitulated to Lefebvre, who had been rewarded by the tide of Duke of Danzig.
Roger and Gardane were much amused by this, as they guessed the reason that lay behind the honour. Lefebvre was more fitted for his earlier rank of Sergeant-Major than that of Marshal of the Empire, and totally unfitted to command an army corps. But he had been given one for this operation because Napoleon was meeting with opposition from the diehard Republicans in the creation of his new nobility. Madame Lefebvre had been a washer-woman and, when the Emperor had been a penniless subaltern, she had laundered his smallclothes for nothing. Making her a Duchess would, he had cynically decided, cut the ground from under the feet of the old Revolutionaries who resented his giving titles to returned emigres now forming part of his Court. But Lefebvre could not be given a Dukedom unless he at least appeared to have made a valuable contribution to the campaign. To guard against the risk of his being defeated, Napoleon had assigned to support him Lannes with his lighting devils and Oudinot with his formidable Grenadiers; but both had been given strict injunctions that they were neither to advise nor assist Lefebvre except in an emergency. As the old ex-N.C.O. had been provided with ample troops and a formidable siege train of artillery, they had done the job for him, thus enabling the Emperor to pull off his political coup aimed at the Jacobins.
The earlier distribution of these Dukedoms to the Marshals had created furious jealousies, as the majority had been Italian territorial titles, such as Mortier, Duke of Treviso; Bessieres, Duke of Istria; Duroc, Duke of Friuli, and the War Minister, General Clarke, Duke of Feltre; whereas others were given titles commemorating battles in which they had played a prominent role: Lannes, Duke of Montebello; Augereau, Duke of Castiglione; Ney, Duke of Elchingen; Davoust, Duke of Auerstadt; and those not given battle honours had intensely resented the fact, so old Lefebvre was doubly lucky in having been created Duke of Danzig.
Gardane eagerly enquired of the courier whether he had seen anything of the caravan, a pan of which consisted of transport bringing the presents for the Shah. Much to his relief, the man replied that he had passed it at only two days' march from Isfahan, so it could be expected very shortly.
Next afternoon, the two-thousand-strong caravan of laden camels, horses and asses arrived in the city. For over two hours that part of it destined for the French blocked the street in which the mission was housed, before the beasts were all unloaded. Colonel Couthon and the junior officers who had travelled with him had had an uneventful but dreary journey, and that evening joyfully celebrated the reunion with their comrades in agreeable surroundings.
Gardane had lost no time in despatching Mesrop to inform the Peskis Nuviez that the presents had arrived and, on the following day, that functionary came to inspect them. Having by this time had ample evidence of the avarice of the Persians, the General was now able to congratulate himself on having kept back a certain number of the presents, intended as bribes for the Sultan's Ministers should the negotiations in Constantinople not be proceeding favourably; and these he put aside as a valuable reserve to win the goodwill of the Persian courtiers.
After carefully examining the gifts originally intended for his master, the Peskis Nuviez expressed himself as well satisfied and, having graciously accepted a pair of silver-mounted pistols for himself, said that he would consult the Court Astrologer about a day when the auspices would be favourable for the presentation to be made to His Majesty.
Meanwhile, Roger had bought up all the tuberoses that he could find in the flower market, had them loaded on an ass and despatched to Lisala de Pombal. Then, late in the afternoon, he presented himself at the Portuguese Embassy. After a brief wait, he was ushered into an interior courtyard where, to his disappointment, he found, seated beside a fountain, only the Senhora Arahna and another elderly lady.
Seeing his face drop, Lisala's aunt laughed, as she extended her hand for him to kiss, and said, 'Do not look so unhappy, Colonel. Lisala has not been suffocated by the heady perfume of that great load of flowers you sent her. On hearing you announced, she ran upstairs to beautify herself, and she will rejoin us shortly.'
'Then, Senhora,' Roger smiled, 'she is wasting her time; for it is pointless to gild the lily.' He was then presented to the other lady—Dona Christina de Jahlo—who, he later learned, was Lisala's duenna.
For some ten minutes they exchanged platitudes about their visit to Shiraz and their return journeys. Then Lisala appeared. When at Persepolis she had been wearing riding clothes, and had her hair pinned up under a scarf against the dust. Now she was dressed in flowing, bright-hued Persian silks and her glorious Titian hair fell in ringlets round her shoulders. Her broad, smooth forehead, widely-spaced tawny eyes and full mouth with its enchanting smile were even more ravishing than the mental pictures Roger had been conjuring up for her.
Coffee, sweet cakes and wine were brought, and for twenty minutes Roger forced himself to devote most of the time to making himself agreeable to the two older ladies. The prescribed time for a first visit then having expired, he stood up and said to Lisala's aunt:
'Senhora, there are many interesting sights to be seen in Isfahan. Would you be so gracious as to allow me to offer to take the Senhorita Lisala to see some of them?'
After a moment's hesitation, she replied. 'To permit my niece to go into the city attended by a gentleman of your attractions would be somewhat unusual, but poor Lisala has such a dull time here that I feel I must indulge her; she will, of course, be accompanied by Dona Christina.'
It was then agreed that Roger should call for them at nine o'clock the following morning. More intoxicated than ever by the smiling glances Lisala had bestowed upon him, and well satisfied with the progress he had made, Roger took his leave.
Next day he arrived with four sedan chairs of a form used by the Persians, the fourth being for the Armenian, Mesrop, whom he had pressed into service as their guide. Each sedan was borne by bearers in front and behind, but instead of the enclosed structure between them usual in Europe, they had a pole at the back of the seat which curved over and supported a sunshade. When the two ladies appeared, they were both heavily veiled in deference to Persian custom. Mesrop was duly introduced; then they set off.
First Mesrop took them to see the Masjid-el-Jum'a, or Friday Mosque, the oldest and largest in Persia. It dated from the tenth century, and the greater pan of it had been built before the introduction of tiles. Instead, the pillars and ceilings of its many early chapels were of painted bricks, artistically laid in a variety of patterns. Unlike the majority of chapels, which could be entered through a number of archways on two or three sides, there was one specially designed for worship in very cold weather. It had only one entrance, contained a big stove and was lit through very thick slabs of glass inserted here and there in the ceiling.