“Yes. Does that astonish you?”
“I had no idea you had ever thought of doing me that honor.”
“Either you are ungrateful, Roland, or you are saying what you do not mean. You know that I love you.”
“Oh! my general!”
He took the First Consul’s two hands and pressed them with the deepest gratitude.
“Yes, I should have liked you for my brother-in-law.”
“Your sister and Murat love each other, general,” said Roland. “It is much better that the plan should have gone no further. Besides,” he added, in muffled tones, “I thought I told you that I did not care to marry.”
Bonaparte smiled. “Why don’t you say offhand that you intend becoming a Trappist father?”
“Faith, general, re-establish the cloisters and remove these opportunities for me to try to get myself killed, which, thank God! are not lacking, and you have guessed what my end will be.”
“Are you in love? Is this the result of some woman’s faithlessness?”