For years past he had endeavoured to persuade Georgina to marry him, but his hopes in that direction had, alas, been finally shattered by her betrayal of him. So why should he not make a bid to become the husband of the sweet-natured and dazzling Pauline, the most beautiful woman in France?
Carefully he thought over the strategy he must adopt. He felt sure that to approach Napoleon direct could only result in a peremptory refusal. The fortress must be mined before he attacked it.
Josephine had always been his good friend. Although Napoleon was not faithful to her she retained great influence over him. At times he still slept with her and quite frequently she read him to sleep. The violent hostility of his family to her had failed to undermine her position, because as First Lady of France she did him great credit. The fact that she had never been presented at the Court of Versailles did not detract from her ability to assume the role of a great lady in a way that none of the Bonaparte women could ever have done. Her taste was admirable, the new decor of the Palaces in which they held court had been designed by her and was faultless, the clothes she wore were beyond reproach and, with great charm and tact, she had gained for her husband the goodwill of ex-Revolutionaries, returned emigres and foreign Ambassadors alike.
Having decided that in securing Josephine's aid lay his best hope of succeeding in this hazardous but tremendous coup, the following afternoon Roger secured a private audience with her. For a while they talked of times past and the extraordinary rise to supreme power that Napoleon had achieved in so short a time. Then Roger divulged his personal problem.
Josephine reacted as he had hoped she would. As she considered the matter, he could almost see her mind working. She had pushed her own daughter Hortense, against the girl's will, into marrying Louis Bonaparte solely with the object of detaching him from the hostile camp. Of all the Bonaparte sisters Pauline was the bitterest enemy because, in spite of her dazzling beauty, at great receptions Josephine's savoir faire always showed up the Corsican girl's gaucheries and put her in the second place. But Roger had long been a devoted friend. Had it not been for him her contemplated marriage to Napoleon would never have taken place. It was, too, owing to his advice to her children that they should appeal to Napoleon's affection for them that he had refrained from casting her off when, on his return from Egypt, he had received proof of her infidelity to him. If, therefore, Roger married Pauline, he would become another friend in the enemy camp and could be counted on to induce his wife to adopt a less hostile attitude.
After a few minutes' thought, Josephine nodded gravely and, although she did not disguise her feeling that it would be a far from easy task to persuade Napoleon to agree to the match, she promised to do her best.
Two days later Roger was summoned to the presence. Napoleon was not only a stickler for personal cleanliness; he so enjoyed his morning bath that quite often he lay in it for two hours or more, meanwhile dictating to his secretary or transacting business. This happened to be such an occasion. Meneval brought Roger into the bathroom, poured a can of hot water into the bath to keep up the temperature, then left them together.
Napoleon, having sat up for a moment, without the least embarrassment lay down again at full length in the big marble bath. Looking down on him Roger observed that his once spare body had filled out and, unless he took much more exercise, might soon become fat.
'You wished to sec me, First Consul,' he asked, in a voice that betrayed no emotion. But he knew that in the next few minutes his whole future would be decided. It was possible that he would become the brother-in-law of the most powerful man in Europe, with a wife that every man would envy him. On the other hand, Napoleon might place him under temporary arrest as a precaution against his marrying Pauline in secret then, on some trumped-up charge, get him out of the way for good by shipping him off to a fever-ridden French penal settlement, such as Devil's Island.
18
Sold Down the River
To Roger's relief Napoleon said quite quietly, 'Madame Bonaparte tells me that you wish to marry Madame Leclerc.'
'That is so, First Consul,' Roger replied. Then, having given a slight cough he added, 'You—er—may recall that early this year circumstances provided Madame Leclerc and myself with an exceptional opportunity to get to know one another, and ....'
'Circumstances!' chuckled Napoleon. 'What a way to put it. You mean that Pauline, having tired of playing the widow, the two of you planned to go off on this jaunt together. As for "getting to know one another," I'd take a wager that by now she knows the exact number of hairs on your chest.'
Anxious to encourage the mood of good humour that his master was in, Roger smiled and said quickly, 'She might; for it happens that I have very few.' Then, realizing the admission he had made, he added hurriedly, 'That is, if she has a good memory. We picnicked once, outside Aix I think it was, and on a lovely day. That I might enjoy the sun she permitted me to take off my shirt.'
'How gracious of her. And is that all you take off when she visits you in your room at La Belle Etoile. As Roger's jaw dropped, Napoleon laughed, 'My dear Breuc, for what do you think I pay my police if not to know what goes on in the city? But you have conducted your affaire with admirable discretion, so I let you be. Had she not been whoring with you it would have been with some other muscular young gallant.'
Roger reddened, 'First Consul, I protest.'
'Don't be a fool, man. As I told you before, I know my sister better than you will ever do. And though my word is now law to some forty million people, I cannot stop her from jumping into bed with any man she fancies. But her marrying again is quite another thing. How do you propose to keep her?’
'I have my pay and, owing to your generosity in allowing it to continue during my long absences on account of ill health and other matters, I have spent little while away from Paris; so I have quite a tidy sum put by.'
'Bah! It would not keep Pauline in the nightshifts that she is always taking off. She has no sense of money whatever, and is the most extravagant woman in France with only one exception—my wife. Mon Dieu, you should see the bills I am called on to pay for Madame Bonaparte. Dressmakers, silk merchants, modistes, jewellers form a queue here every morning, and her ante-chamber is piled as high as a haystack with their wares. She can resist buying nothing that they show her; and as she cannot remember from day to day what she has bought, they fail to deliver half the goods then charge her double the price they have asked on the rest. I've found a way, though, to deal with these rogues. When, every few months, she finds herself in difficulties and comes to me for a million francs or more, I take her bills, send these vultures a quarter of the amount they claim and scrawl "In full settlement" across them. But Madame Josephine is the First Lady of half Europe and may yet be of the whole. Madame Lcclerc is but a widow with a pension, and when she marries again her pension will cease.'
Roger smiled, Mon General, in spite of your known generosity to all the members of your family, I had not counted on its continuing. Neither do I ask that you should dower her; only that you should appoint me to a post in which I can earn enough money to make her happy.'
'I did that for poor Leclerc, and see what became of him. Rochambeau now commands in San Domingo. Would you like me to send you out to relieve him?'
In spite of the money that might be made as Captain-General there, it was a far from pleasant prospect; but Roger replied, 'I am ready to go wherever you may decide, provided only that Pauline is willing to accompany me.'