“I’ll help you, citizen,” said Roland.
“I did not venture to ask for your assistance,” said the minister.
“Yes, but I offer it; don’t do anything that we have not planned together.”
The minister looked at Bonaparte.
“Quite right,” said Bonaparte; “you can go. Roland will follow you to the ministry.”
Fouché bowed and left the room.
“Now,” continued the First Consul, “your honor depends upon your exterminating these bandits, Roland. In the first place, the thing is being carried on in your department; and next, they seem to have some particular grudge against you and your family.”
“On the contrary,” said Roland, “that’s what makes me so furious; they spare me and my family.”
“Let’s go over it again, Roland. Every detail is of importance; it’s a war of Bedouins over again.”
“Just notice this, general. I spend a night in the Chartreuse of Seillon, because I have been told that it was haunted by ghosts. Sure enough, a ghost appears, but a perfectly inoffensive one. I fire at it twice, and it doesn’t even turn around. My mother is in a diligence that is stopped, and faints away. One of the robbers pays her the most delicate attentions, bathes her temples with vinegar, and gives her smelling-salts. My brother Edouard fights them as best he can; they take him in their arms, kiss him, and make him all sorts of compliments on his courage; a little more and they would have given him sugar-plums as a reward for his gallant conduct. Now, just the reverse; my friend Sir John follows my example, goes where I have been; he is treated as a spy and stabbed, as they thought, to death.”