Davoust was completely merciless, and even took pleasure in signing death warrants for wrongdoers. He spent half his time having British spies, with whom the coast swarmed, hunted down and hanged; and any deserter from his army who was caught could be certain of facing a firing squad. Regardless of the fact that he was risking his life, Roger walked out to the stables, went straight to the stall in which stood the best officer's charger and saddled, bridled and mounted her. He could stand no more. Come hell or high water he meant to confront in Paris the brother and sister who had used him so ill and call them to account.
19
Blackmail
The officers on the course were allowed only one pass a week to spend an evening in the town; so as Roger rode through the gate the picket on duty shouted at him, asking where he was going on horseback. With the resource that had become second nature to him, he forced a grin and replied:
'To Paris, of course. I've a young woman there who is expecting me. ‘Twill make a pleasant evening's ride.'
Paris being some hundred and eighty miles distant, the young officer doing picket duty that night thought it a huge joke, gave a loud guffaw and waved him on.
By midnight Roger was in Lille, where he slept, and next night at Estrees-St. Denis. On the second afternoon after leaving Bruges he entered Paris. At La Belle Etoile he enjoyed his first bath for two months and rid himself of the lice and bedbugs that had been a torment to him.
Dressed in civilian clothes he went out that evening and, regardless of consequences, called at the Hotel de Charost, where he enquired for Aimee. The footman on the door fetched a haughty major-domo who regarded Roger with surprise but, judging from his clothes and manner that he was a man to be obeyed, he despatched the footman to the rear ofthe house. A few minutes later he returned with Pauline's plump, pretty little maid.
At the sight of Roger her eyes went round with apprehension and she gave a little gasp. But he smiled at her, led her to the far end of the great empty hall, where they were well out of earshot of the footman and slipped two gold pieces into her hand. Then he said in a low voice:
'Aimee, I am anxious to congratulate your mistress on having become a Princess; but you will understand that I would prefer to do so in private. Can you suggest a time that would be suitable for you to take me to her?'
For a moment Aimee hesitated, then she replied, 'There'll be no better opportunity than the present, Monsieur Le Colonel, as His Highness is out dining with some gentlemen. But I dare not. I dare not. 'Twould lose me my place.'
Roger first pressed into her now unwilling palm two more gold pieces, then he produced from the top of his breeches a short, sharp knife, and said with a smile, 'Be not afraid. You have been a good friend and I would not harm you for the world. But you can tell your mistress that I threatened to cut your throat with this, if you refused to take me to her.'
The girl gave a sudden half-hysterical laugh, 'Grace Dieu, you are the very devil of a man. I've always thought so, and that you'd stick at nothing to gain your ends. I'll do it then; but first you must swear to me that you will not harm her.'
'No, I mean to do no more than lash her with my tongue for her infidelity to mc.’
Aimee shook her head, 'She has deserved that, and to my mind has made herself a poor bargain. I suppose it means a lot to her to be called "Your Highness," but I wouldn't let her weakling of a Prince share my bed, however much he offered me. Come then, mon Colonel, I'll take you to her; but point your dagger at my back as we go into her room.'
She led him up the broad pillared staircase, across a lofty landing and into a blue and gold boudoir. Pauline was sitting at the far end clothed in filmy draperies. The only light in the room came from a wall bracket holding candles beneath which she was sitting reading.
Turning her head she asked, 'What is it, Aimee?" Then in the dim light she recognized Roger, dropped her book and came to her feet.
At the same moment Roger flashed his knife, so that Pauline caught the glint of steel, and snapped at Aimee, 'You may leave us now. Should you rouse the house I'll seek you out, and I've told you what will happen to you.'
Aimee backed away and swiftly closed the door behind her. Most women in Pauline's situation would have been seized with fear that Roger, having forced his way in, intended to inflict a bloody vengeance on them. But a smile suddenly dawned on her lovely face and she cried, 'Oh, Roje, what a joy it is to sec you."
Taken aback by her greeting, he put up his dagger, frowned and replied, 'I am surprised to hear you say so, after your treatment of me.'
She shrugged, 'You mean my marriage. But you abandoned me; so you cannot blame me for that.'
'Abandoned you! Nom d'un nom! I've served two months in prison and was ready to serve two more, so that we might be permanently reunited in November. And what do I find? In August, before even your twelve months of mourning were up, you have married another.'
‘I heard only that you had left Paris, and that without a word to me. I assure you that for some weeks I was utterly disconsolate.'
'Did you not get my letter?'
'No; to whom did you give it?'
'To my landlord at La Belle Etoile, for Aimee. I wrote to let you know that Napoleon had as good as promised me your hand, but decreed that I must spend the time of waiting experiencing what the troops go through; so that when I had married you I should be fitted for a post as Governor-General.'
She shrugged. 'I never received your letter. And you must be aware of the duplicity of which Napoleon is capable at times. Clearly he never intended us to marry and adopted these means of getting rid of you. It seems, too, that he had you watched and, somehow, intercepted your letter to me.'
Roger could not believe that cither Maitre Blanchard or Aimee had betrayed him; but the landlord was a busy man, so it was possible that he had given the note to a potman to hand to Aimee and that, before Aimee had come to the inn, some police spy had bought it from the potman.
'Whether or not you received my note,' he cried angrily, 'you could have gone to your brother, enquired my whereabouts and communicated with me.'
Pauline stamped her foot, ‘Roje, you are unjust. You left me stranded and with the impression that you had run away because you were too frightened of Napoleon to ask him for my hand. I am not made to live like a nun and Borghese pressed his suit with all the ardour of an Italian.'
'So you fell in love with him?'
'No, oh no! It was the emeralds he offered me. They are the finest in Europe. I must show them to you. I simply could not resist them. But that bitch Josephine! Would you believe it, she had the walls of a room specially repainted turquoise in which to receive me on the first occasion that she knew I would wear them on going to Court. The colour killed that of the stones utterly. I was so furious that I could have scratched her eyes out.'
Roger sighed. What was he to do with this magnificently-beautiful but utterly inconsequent creature? After a moment he asked, 'And Borghese. What sort of a husband does he make?'
'Oh, terrible! I've been an utter fool. I don't think he is attracted by men, but he is practically a neuter. I am as starved of love as when we first met in Bordeaux.'
Suddenly she advanced on Roger and threw her arms round his neck. As he felt her warm, thinly clad body pressed against his own he was conscious of a swift upsurge of passion and clasped her to him.
With a low laugh she murmured in his car, 'Borghese will not be back for hours yet; and when he does return it is certain that he'll go straight to his own room. Oh Roj6, how good it is to feel your strong arms about me again. I want you. Roje. I want you desperately.'