“As you please; so pay attention for one moment, while I read: 'Captain Burke of the Eighth, will proceed by extra post to Mayence, visiting the following garrisons en route '(here come the names, which you can copy), where his attention will be specially directed to the points marked A. B. and—'”
“Forgive my interrupting you; but really I am unaware of what you are alluding to. You are not here on the part of the Chevalier Duchesne?”
“The Chevalier Duchesne? Duchesne? No; this is a war despatch from the minister. You must set out in two hours. I thought you said you were prepared.”
“Hem! there has been a mistake here,” said I, endeavoring to remember how far I might have committed myself by any unguarded expression.
“All my fault, Captain Burke,” said he, frankly. “I should have been more explicit at first. But I really thought from something—I forget precisely what now—that you knew of the movement on the frontier, and were, in fact, prepared for your orders. Heaven knows how far our mystification might have gone on; for when you spoke of Duchesne—the ex-captain of the Imperial Guard, I suppose—
“Yes! what of him?”
“Why, it so chanced that he was closeted with the minister this morning, and only left five minutes before your orders were made out. But come, neither of us can well spare more time. This is your despatch for the commandant of the troops at Mayence, to whom you will report verbally on the equipment of the smaller bodies of men visited en route. I shall give you my note, which, though hurriedly written, will assist your memory. Above all things, get speedily on the road, and reach Mayence by Wednesday. Half an hour's speed in times like these is worth a whole year in one's way to promotion. And so, now, good-by!”
I stood for several minutes after he left the room so confused and astonished, that had not the huge envelope, with its great seal of office, confirmed the fact, I could have believed the whole a mere trick of my imagination.
The jingle of the postilion's equipment in the court beneath now informed me that a Government calèche stood awaiting me, and I speedily began my preparations for the road.
One thought filled my mind to the exclusion of all others. It was Duchesne's influence on which my fortune now rested. The last few words he uttered as I left the salon were ringing in my ears, and here was their explanation. This rapid journey was planned by him to remove me from Paris, where possibly he supposed my knowledge of him might be inconvenient, and where in my absence his designs might be prosecuted with more success. Happy as I felt to think that a personal rencontre was not to occur between us, my self-love was deeply wounded at the thought of how much I was in this man's power, and how arbitrarily he decided on the whole question of my destiny. If my pride were gratified on the one hand by my having excited the chevalier's vengeance, it was offended on the other by feeling how feeble would my efforts prove to oppose the will of an antagonist who worked with such secret and such powerful means. The same philosophy which so often stood my part in life here came to my aid,—to act well my own part, and leave the result to time. And so, with this patient resolve, I mentally bade defiance to my adversary, and set out from Paris.