Roger had no means of knowing if the corpse-like man opposite him was really in desperate straits, or simply playing a part in the hope that he might get something for nothing. He had, however, come prepared to offer Fouché a heavy bribe, if that had seemed the most likely way to achieve his end, so he had several purses of gold distributed about him. Now he decided that it would be worth while to part with one, so that if Fouché was in fact near destitute, he would be the more likely to remain at least temporarily trustworthy, in the hope of receiving others. Standing up, Roger put a silk net purse on the table, and said:
"There is a hundred louis. That should keep you from want for the time being." And, knowing that he who appears to give willingly gives twice, he added: "You are welcome to it.
Fouché too stood up. Even now, his dull eyes showed no flicker of delight; but his voice did hold a warmer note that sounded like gratitude, as he picked up the purse and chinked the coins in it. "I shall not forget this. It means a lot to me. Perhaps a time will come when I may be able to repay you with some service that you could not buy for ten times this sum."
Having diplomatically smiled an acknowledgment, Roger said: "One thing more. After my disappearance, many other people besides Barras must have wondered what had become of me. What form did their speculation take?"
"That was attended to. Both Barras and I were anxious that no rumour should get around that the boy in the Temple was not the King; so the last thing we wished to do was to give people grounds for supposing that you had gone off in pursuit of the real one. The two of us put it about that you had been sent on a secret mission."
That was all Roger wished to know; so he pocketed his pistol and prepared to take his departure. At the door Fouché asked him casually: Where can I get in touch with you?" But with a guile that matched Fouché's own, he replied:
"For the time being I think it wisest to spend no two nights in one place, and to disappear from each without leaving an address, so I cannot give you one. But as soon as events develop in a manner satisfactory to our plan, I will communicate with you."
As Roger walked back through the dimly-lit streets he knew that
Fouché might be already running to the nearest police office to betray him, give a description of his new appearance, and have him hunted down. The ex-Terrorist was entirely capable of having played a part from the start to the finish of their long interview. On the other hand, he had been led to believe that by holding his tongue a wonderful prize was to be gained; so if he really had kept what he knew of Roger to himself so far, he now had the best possible reason for continuing to do so.
That he had. in the main, been telling the truth seemed to Roger more than likely and, if so, no set of circumstances could have been more favourable to himself; for, if the explanations given about his disappearance were to be believed, it meant that he had very nearly a clean bill for reappearing in Paris as Citizen Commissioner Breuc.
One fence, and a stiff one, still had to be got over. He had to explain his long disappearance to Barras, and give him some plausible account of what had happened to the little Capet If he could succeed in that he would be free to set about forming a secret camarilla pledged to collaborate with Pichegru in bringing about a Restoration.
But Barras was one of the men who would have no truck with that, and to even hint at it to him would mean immediate arrest Yet, unless he could lie his way back into Barras's confidence, his apparent success with Fouché would be completely worthless. Barras, too, was too rich to bribe and too courageous to bully. Moreover, unlike Fouché, he was still one of the most powerful men in France; so to set about tackling him was an undertaking bristling with even greater dangers.
After recrossing the Seine, in spite of the lateness of the hour, Roger found the central Sections of the city still restless. By dropping into conversation with a group on a street corner he learned that the electors of the Section Lepelletier, which was in the forefront of the agitation, had held a meeting in the Theatre Francais, and that all the evening the Place de l'Odeon outside it had been packed with sympathizers from other Sections. In alarm, the Convention had passed an emergency decree declaring the meeting to be illegal, then despatched police and dragoons to disperse it; but the mob in the Palace had driven them off and the meeting had passed a resolution declaring that the Convention no longer represented the Sovereign People.
Next morning Roger had a horse saddled for him in the stable of La Belle Etoile and rode out from the city to the pleasant village of Passy. He was technically the owner of a charming little house there, as his friend M. de Talleyrand-Perigord, the wily Bishop of Autun, had made it and its contents over to him when he had had to fly from Paris in order to protect his property from being sold by the revolutionaries as that of an emigre. Roger had used it on numerous occasions since as a safe hide-out and when last there had left with a couple named Velot, who had been de Talleyrand's butler and cook, a considerable sum for their support until either he or their real master could come to the house again.
He found old Antoine Velot working in the garden, and was both relieved and delighted because he was genuinely fond of the dear old man. Marie Velot returned soon afterwards from shopping in the village, and the couple could not have done more to make Roger welcome. All through the months, knowing that he never announced his coming, they had kept the best bedroom ready for him, and they both expressed the hope that he had come for a long stay.
He told them that he might return late that night, or the next, and lie low there for a while, but as yet could not be certain; so, in case his return should be prevented, he made them a further liberal payment which would keep them in comfort for at least another year. They gave him an excellent early dinner, then he rode back to Paris, approaching the centre of the city late in the afternoon.
As he did so he could hear the roll of drums from several directions, which could be taken as an indication that the National Guards were being summoned to their respective Section headquarters. All work had ceased, and processions were marching through the streets carrying banners and shouting such slogans as 'Down with the Two-Thirds' and 'End the Tyranny of the Convention'. Among the marchers there was a high proportion of respectably dressed men. Many of them wore grey great-coats with black collars and green cravats, thus openly displaying the colours which had been adopted by the Royalists, while others in woollen caps with bobbles were obviously Breton Chouans, who had been brought into Paris to aid in a rising.
On arriving at the Belle Etoile Roger got hold of Maitre Blanchard, who was always a good source of news owing to his many customers, and from him learned the latest rumours.
The Convention had declared itself in perpetual session and, it was said, had sent for General Menou, who commanded the Army of the Interior, to bring troops from his camp at Sablons. In the meantime it had only the fifteen hundred men of its own special guard at its disposal; so, for its further protection, an emergency measure had been passed permitting the rearming of the 'patriots', as the sans-culottes were termed; and the weapons which had been taken from them after the quelling of the riots in the previous May had been reissued to many hundreds of them that morning.