“Will you deliver a letter for me?”
“To whom?”
“King George III.”
“I shall be greatly honored.”
“Will you undertake to say to your uncle that which cannot be written in a letter?”
“Without changing a syllable; the words of General Bonaparte are history.”
“Well, tell him—” but, interrupting himself, he turned to Bourrienne, saying: “Bourrienne, find me the last letter from the Emperor of Russia.”
Bourrienne opened a box, and, without searching, laid his hand on a letter that he handed to Bonaparte.
The First Consul cast his eye over the paper and then gave it to Lord Tanlay.
“Tell him,” said he, “first and before all, that you have read this letter.”