“You think you can count on Moreau, Beurnonville, and Lefebvre,” resumed Bonaparte. “Just look out of that window. Who do you see there, and there? Moreau and Beurnonville. As for Lefebvre, I do not see him, but I am certain I shall not go a hundred steps before meeting him. Now will you decide?”
“General,” replied Bernadotte, “I am not a man to be swayed by example, least of all when that example is bad. Moreau, Beurnonville, and Lefebvre may do as they wish. I shall do as I ought!”
“So you definitively refuse to accompany me to the Tuileries?”
“I do not wish to take part in a rebellion.”
“A rebellion! A rebellion! Against whom? Against a parcel of imbeciles who are pettifogging from morning till night in their hovels.”
“These imbeciles, general, are for the moment the representatives of the law. The Constitution protects them; they are sacred to me.”
“At least promise me one thing, iron rod that you are.”
“What is it?”
“To keep quiet.”
“I will keep quiet as a citizen, but—”