The expedition had sailed the previous December under the command of Pauline's husband, General Leclerc. Fouché, who rarely laughed, sniggered into his handkerchief as he told Roger of Pauline's fury when her brother had ordered her to accompany her husband. She adored the gaieties of Paris, visualized life in the West Indies as exile among savages, and believed it to be a plot hatched by her enemy, Josephine, to get her out of the way. But Bonaparte had proved adamant, so she had had to pack her many dresses and Paris had lost the most beautiful of all her beautiful girls.
In May Bonaparte had shown his complete contempt for the doctrine that 'All men are equal' by a decree that slavery should be re-introduced in San Domingo. In June the unlucky Toussaint had been lured aboard a French ship, treacherously arrested and sent back to France as a prisoner.
In European affairs the First Consul had been equally active. Having drafted a new Constitution for the Cisalpine
Republic, early in the year he had summoned four hundred and fifty representatives from it to meet him in Lyons and there settle which of them should be appointed to the most important offices. Count Melzi was proposed for President and, as he was both the most important person in Lombardy and strongly pro-French, the Deputies naturally expected that this choice would please their overlord. To their surprise he had angrily refused to sanction the appointment. Thereupon, before the next session of the conference, Talleyrand had dropped a hint to a few of the right people that the First Consul was very hurt that no one had thought of proposing him for this honour. In consequence, next day he had been elected unanimously and with acclaim, President of the Republic, now to be styled that of Italy.
In the summer, the British having withdrawn from Elba, he had promptly put a French garrison on the island, with the excuse that France was the Protecting Power of Italy. He had then annexed Piedmont and the Duchy of Parma.
During the autumn he had busied himself mightily in negotiations for the redistribution of the German territories to various petty Princes who had been dispossessed during the war. And here he had been able to offset the annoyance of the Czar about his annexation of Piedmont and Parma by favouring several Princes who were relatives of Alexander's through his German wife and mother.
He had, however, run into trouble over Switzerland. Although the independence of that country was supposed to be restored by the provisions of the Peace, he had demanded of the Swiss the cession of the Valais so that he could carry out one of his pet schemes; the building of a military road across the Simplon Pass. The Swiss had refused him the Canton and the English were encouraging them to stand firm.
In fact, from Bonaparte's point of view the English were behaving altogether badly. They were seeking to wriggle out of numerous clauses in the Peace Treaty they had signed because, they now declared, they had been tricked over them. They had refused to restore Pondichcrry, the sphere of French influence in India, and were delaying the withdrawal of their garrisons from both the Cape and Malta on the pretext that Bonaparte had broken his word by interfering in the affairs of Switzerland.
Roger knew well enough that Cornwallis had been made a complete fool of at Amiens but, however idiotic the concessions made there, it seemed that, affairs in Switzerland apart, the British Government had ample grounds for the attitude they were taking as retaliation for Bonaparte's seizure of Elba, Piedmont and Parma. But Fouche, his long bony fingers picking at a bunch of grapes, was going on:
'So there, mon cher Colonel, matters rest at the moment. It has been another wonderful year for France and 'tis my opinion that "Napoleon" will go even further than has "Bonaparte". But now that I have put you au courant with great affairs, pray tell me about yourself, and how you have spent these past many months?'
Roger was ready for the question and replied quietly, 'I spent a good part of them in prison.'
'Prison!' Fouche exclaimed, his fish-like eyes for once meeting Roger's. 'You astound me. What can possibly have so bemused your mind that you failed to call on my good offices? Whatever you had done, I would have found a pretext to get you out.'
'I thank you for your good intent,' Roger smiled, 'but it was beyond even your powers to do so, for 'twas in England that I was in gaol. On the signing of the peace I decided that I would go over there and visit some of my less unpleasant relatives.’
Fouché nodded his long, thin, skull-like head, 'I recall now that you long since quarrelled bitterly with your immediate family. But what was the trouble in which you landed yourself?'
'A duel was forced upon me, and in regard to such affairs the attitude of the English is still barbarous. Here in France, from time to time, the monarchs issued Edicts forbidding duelling, but they were sufficiently civilized to appreciate that there are occasions on which a man has no alternative but to defend his honour. Provided the accepted code of duelling was observed, no serious action was ever taken. The treatment I received in the country of my forebears made me more than ever disgusted with it; so as soon as I was freed I returned to France.' 'And what do you plan to do now?'
'Remain here, I think, at least for some months. Now that France is at peace Bonaparte, or Napoleon as we must now call him, can have little use for me. And I'm told that Paris swarms with Englishmen. So incensed am I about their having imprisoned me, did I get into an argument with one of them I'd like as not have another duel on my hands.'
With a shrug of his lean shoulders Fouche remarked, ' 'Tis true that throughout the summer and autumn there were thousands of them in Paris, but now the winter has come all but a few are gone home. As for remaining here, this is a charming retreat you have but, if you would permit me to advise, I would advocate your return to Paris.'
'Why so?' Roger asked.
'Upon two counts. With Peace France is prospering as never before, so 'tis my view that everything possible should be done to maintain this happy state of things. But there is a grave danger that it will not last. Napoleon is so disgusted with the English that he is already contemplating again making war on them. Should he do so, now that Italy is completely ours and we have naught to fear from Austria, Prussia or Russia, 'tis certain that he will revive his long-cherished plan for invading England. I am of the opinion that such a venture would prove a great disaster. You are one of the few people who might persuade him of that, and so stay his hand.'
'He may well refuse to give me back my place,' Roger demurred. ‘I should have reported to him again last Spring, or at least have asked his leave before proceeding to England. My failure to do so may have angered him exceedingly and cost me his good will.'
Fouche shook his narrow head, 'Nay. He has ever a soft spot for his old friends and will forgive them much. In spite of your long, unauthorized absence I feel confident that he will take you back into his good graces. Then, if you regained his ear, your knowledge of England and the dangers involved in a cross-Channel expedition might prove the fly on the chariot wheel.'
Putting his bloodless lips to his glass Fouché drank a little wine, then went on, 'The other side of the picture is that, should his ambition overrule sane judgment, you would again be one of his immediate entourage and so be in a position to promote the career that you told me, upon our settling our old differences, you meant to make for yourself in France.'
For a moment Roger studied the lean, corpse-like man seated opposite him. He could see no trap in the advice offered and recalled Fouché's having once said to him that his policy was, whenever possible, to have friends rather than enemies. It could, therefore, be assumed that his present object was to induce Roger to return to Paris for their mutual good, in the belief that Roger would himself benefit and, at the same time, prove a friend for him near Napoleon.