Questioned about his visits to Strassburg, he did not deny having made them but disclosed their reason only with reluctance when impressed with the seriousness of his situation. It then emerged that he was in love with the Princesse Charlotte de Rohan who lived in that city. His visits had been to see her and, occasionally, to take her to the theatre.
Roger was greatly impressed by the young Duke's open countenance and frank manner; so he formed the opinion that Real's agents had stumbled on a mare's nest and that d'Enghien was in danger of becoming their innocent victim. After the interrogation he said so to Real, but the Police Chief and Ordener replied that it was not their business to act as judges in the matter. They had orders to convey the Duke to Paris and consign him to the fortress of Vincennes; so must carry them out.
Much troubled, when the calvacade set off next morning for the capital, Roger decided to remain behind and carry out a further investigation. First he waited upon the Princess de Rohan whom, having heard of her lover's arrest, he found in great distress. Crossing herself, she assured him on oath that, to the best of her belief, the Duke was not the least interested in politics, that his visits to Strassburg had been only to see her and she felt certain that within recent months he had never been to Paris.
That night Roger again crossed the Rhine. His German was sufficiently good to pass muster in that area that had so often changed Sovereigns and a great part of the population was of mixed Franco-German descent. During the following day he made cautious enquiries which confirmed d'Enghien's statement that the friend who had stayed with him was a Colonel Schmidt and that a Marquis dc Thumery had a small property near the little town.
Convinced now that the young Prince was innocent, he returned to Strasburg, secured a fresh mount and rode all out for Paris, arriving on the morning of March 20th. At the Tuilerics he learned that Napoleon was at Malmaison so, after a meal and freshening himself up, he went on there.
To his request for an audience the reply was returned that the First Consul was heavily engaged, but was leaving for St. Cloud that evening and would receive him there the following day. An instinct telling him that the matter was urgent, he asked for Josephine and she had him brought to her in a small closet where she often spent an hour or more arranging the flowers in which she so greatly delighted.
Swiftly, Roger informed her of the matter that was worrying him so much. Putting down the loose flowers she held, she turned to him and he saw that her big brown eyes were gravely troubled as she said:
'I believe you right. Even Real now admits that his agents may have been mistaken. But the First Consul is adamant. He insists that d'Enghien must be tried; and by a court martial in secret. Yesterday he ordered Murat, as Governor of Paris, to convene a Court. I am told Murat was furious and declared that to bring the Duke to trial on such slender evidence would be a stain upon his uniform. Napoleon replied that he would do as he was ordered or forfeit his post. In the park here I pleaded with him myself to give up this wicked idea of making d'Enghien a scapegoat for the malice of the other Bourbon Princes; but he would not listen to me. He brushed my appeal aside, replying only, "Go away. You are a child; you do not understand public duties."'
After another futile attempt to get a hearing from the First Consul, Roger rode to St. Cloud with the object of getting Talleyrand to intervene; but the Foreign Minister was not there. He was spending the night at his mansion in the Rue du Bac. There, in the evening, Roger saw him and told him of his absolute conviction that d'Enghien was innocent.
Rising from his chair, the elegant, impeccably-dressed aristocrat laid a hand gently on Roger's shoulder and said in his deep voice, 'Cher ami, I pray you concern yourself no further in this matter. It is no business of yours.'
'But it is!' Roger protested hotly. 'It was I who found out for you when in London that a Bourbon Prince was to enter France and act as Regent until Louis XVIII could be brought to Paris. How can I now stand by and sec an innocent young man condemned to spend years of his life in prison? For I've no doubt that, if he is court-martialled,
Napoleon will have given orders that he is to be found guilty.'
Talleyrand sighed, 'Of course. And guilt in this case, as he will be charged with treason, would result in a sentence of death.'
'Death!' cried Roger. 'No! You cannot mean it. 'Twould be the most atrocious crime.'
'True,' the Minister nodded. 'Yet I pray you remember that during the past ten years several million people have had their lives brought to a premature end for no good reason at all. That this young man should lose his is unfortunate; but the interests of the State must override all other considerations. Forfeiting his life may preserve civil peace and save many other people from losing theirs in abortive attempts to overthrow our present government.'
To execute a handful of trouble-makers, even if one or two of them had become involved by accident, rather than allow them to continue at liberty until a movement developed leading to riots in which scores of innocent people lost their lives, were wounded or had their property destroyed, was a policy to which Roger had always subscribed; but he would not accept it in this instance. For a further ten minutes he pleaded with Talleyrand to intervene; then, finding him firmly resolved to take no action, took his leave.
His next resolve was to ride to Vinccnnes and learn what was actually happening there. He arrived a little before eleven o'clock to find Savary in charge and that the Duke had just been put through a preliminary examination. To his horror he learned that the trial was to take place at one o'clock that morning and that d'Enghien's grave had already been dug in the dry moat of the castle.
Old General Hulin, a veteran revolutionary who had been one of the leaders in the mob's attack on the Bastille in '89, had been nominated as President of the Court; so there could be little doubt that against a Bourbon Prince a verdict of 'Guilty' would be brought in.
Savary was an old acquaintance of Roger's. It was he and Rapp, Desaix's other A.D.C., who had found him naked and wounded on the field of Marengo while searching for the body of their dead General; so, in a sense, Roger owed his life to him. But that was the only bond between them; for Roger had found him a hard, unfeeling man. That, he supposed, was the reason why Napoleon had made him Chief of Police. Nevertheless Roger now did his utmost to persuade Savary, in the event of the verdict being 'guilty,' to postpone d'Enghien's execution till the following day. But Savary refused to depart from normal procedure, which was that after a sentence had been passed it should be carried out within a few hours.
Tired as Roger was, in desperation he remounted his horse and rode back to St. Cloud. The fact that he was an A.D.C. enabled him to enter the Palace unchallenged. Although it was well after midnight he thought it probable that Napoleon would still be at work, so went straight to the Orangery, that the First Consul had made his office. There he found Rustem, the faithful Mameluke that Napoleon had brought back from Egypt. He was sitting on the stairs that led to an upper room with his scimitar across his knees and obviously on guard.
Assuming that the First Consul was up there Roger demanded to sec him. Ruslem shook his turbaned head. 'That is not possible, Monsieur le Colonel. He is amusing himself upstairs with a lady, and has given imperative orders that he is not to be disturbed.'