Bonaparte bit his lips. “And will you say, after that, that you have not a personal enmity to me?”
“A personal enmity to you, general?” replied Bernadotte. “Why should I have? We have always gone together, almost in the same stride; I was even made general before you. While my campaigns on the Rhine were less brilliant than yours on the Adige, they were not less profitable for the Republic; and when I had the honor to serve under you, you found in me, I hope, a subordinate devoted, if not to the man, at least to the country which he served. It is true that since your departure, general, I have been more fortunate than you in not having the responsibility of a great army, which, if one may believe Kléber’s despatches, you have left in a disastrous position.”
“What do you mean? Kléber’s last despatches? Has Kléber written?”
“Are you ignorant of that, general? Has the Directory not informed you of the complaints of your successor? That would be a great weakness on their part, and I congratulate myself to have come here, not only to correct in your mind what has been said of me, but to tell you what is being said of you.”
Bonaparte fixed an eye, darkling as an eagle’s, on Bernadotte. “And what are they saying of me?” he asked.
“They say that, as you must come back, you should have brought the army with you.”
“Had I a fleet? Are you unaware that De Brueys allowed his to be burned?”
“They also say, general, that, being unable to bring back the army, it would have been better for your renown had you remained with it.”
“That is what I should have done, monsieur, if events had not recalled me to France.”
“What events, general?”