SCENE III
LA MURE, NEAR GRENOBLE
[A lonely road between a lake and some hills, two or three miles
outside the village of la Mure, is discovered. A battalion of
the Fifth French royalist regiment of the line under COMMANDANT
LESSARD, is drawn up in the middle of the road with a company of
sappers and miners, comprising altogether about eight hundred men.
Enter to them from the south a small detachment of lancers with
an aide-de-camp at their head. They ride up to within speaking
distance.]
LESSARD
They are from Bonaparte. Present your arms!
AIDE [calling]
We’d parley on Napoléon’s behalf,
And fain would ask you join him.
LESSARD
Al parole
With rebel bands the Government forbids.
Come five steps further and we fire!
AIDE
To France,
And to posterity through fineless time,
Must you then answer for so foul a blow
Against the common weal!
[NAPOLÉON’S aide-de-camp and the lancers turn about and ride
back out of sight. The royalist troops wait. Presently there
reappears from the same direction a small column of soldiery,
representing the whole of NAPOLÉON’S little army shipped from
Elba. It is divided into an advance-guard under COLONEL MALLET,
and two bodies behind, a troop of Polish lancers under COLONEL
JERMANWSKI on the right side of the road, and some officers
without troops on the left, under MAJOR PACCONI.
NAPOLÉON rides in the midst of the advance-guard, in the old
familiar “redingote grise,” cocked hat, and tricolor cockade,
his well-known profile keen against the hills. He is attended
by GENERALS BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE. When they get within
gun-shot of the royalists the men are halted. NAPOLÉON dismounts
and steps forward.]
NAPOLÉON
Direct the men
To lodge their weapons underneath the arm,
Points downward. I shall not require them here.
COLONEL MALLET
Sire, is it not a needless jeopardy
To meet them thus? The sentiments of these
We do not know, and the first trigger pressed
May end you.
NAPOLÉON
I have thought it out, my friend,
And value not my life as in itself,
But as to France, severed from whose embrace]
I am dead already.
[He repeats the order, which is carried out. There is a breathless
silence, and people from the village gather round with tragic
expectations. NAPOLÉON walks on alone towards the Fifth battalion,
Throwing open his great-coat and revealing his uniform and the
ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Raising his hand to his hat he
salutes.]
LESSARD
Present arms!
[The firelocks of the royalist battalion are levelled at NAPOLÉON.]
NAPOLÉON [still advancing]
Men of the Fifth,
See—here I am!... Old friends, do you not know me?
If there be one among you who would slay
His Chief of proud past years, let him come on
And do it now! [A pause.]
LESSARD [to his next officer]
They are death-white at his words!
They’ll fire not on this man. And I am helpless.
SOLDIERS [suddenly]
Why yes! We know you, father. Glad to see ye!
The Emperor for ever! Ha! Huzza!
[They throw their arms upon the ground, and, rushing forward,
sink down and seize NAPOLÉON’S knees and kiss his hands. Those
who cannot get near him wave their shakos and acclaim him
passionately. BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE come up.]
NAPOLÉON [privately]
All is accomplished, Bertrand! Ten days more,
And we are snug within the Tuileries.
[The soldiers tear out their white cockades and trample on them,
and disinter from the bottom of their knapsacks tricolors, which
they set up.
NAPOLÉON’S own men now arrive, and fraternize with and embrace
the soldiers of the Fifth. When the emotion has subsided,
NAPOLÉON forms the whole body into a square and addresses them.]
Soldiers, I came with these few faithful ones
To save you from the Bourbons,—treasons, tricks,
Ancient abuses, feudal tyranny—
From which I once of old delivered you.
The Bourbon throne is illegitimate
Because not founded on the nation’s will,
But propped up for the profit of a few.
Comrades, is this not so?
A GRENADIER
Yes, verily, sire.
You are the Angel of the Lord to us;
We’ll march with you to death or victory! [Shouts.]
[At this moment a howling dog crosses in front of them with a
cockade tied to its tail. The soldiery of both sides laugh
loudly.
NAPOLÉON forms both bodies of troops into one column. Peasantry
run up with buckets of sour wine and a single glass; NAPOLÉON
takes his turn with the rank and file in drinking from it. He
bids the whole column follow him to Grenoble and Paris. Exeunt
soldiers headed by NAPOLÉON. The scene shuts.]