"That is splendid, that is marvelous," cried her father. "Leonore, this time we shall really attain our goal. We shall be rich. The emperor is generous; he loves life. I will set a high price upon it. By heaven, the Cæsar's head is well worth four hundred thousand francs! I will ask them, and I shall receive. We shall be rich enough to do without and be independent of men."
"And I shall be free," murmured Leonore, with a flash of enthusiasm upon her beautiful face. "You will not forget, father, that you promised to give me my liberty if I helped you to become rich. You will not forget that you are to permit me to escape, with the man I love, from this false, pitiful world, and fly with him to some remote, secluded nook, where no one knows me—no one can betray to him the shame and sin of my past life. And above all, father, you will not forget that you have solemnly sworn to reveal nothing of my former existence, not to let him suspect who I am, and—"
"Who and what your father is, you wanted to say," he interrupted. "Yes, I will remember and not disclose our little secrets to him. The virtuous Baron von Kolbielsky would certainly be very much astonished if he made the discovery that your major-domo has the honor of being your father, and that the father of the proud baroness is no other than the well-known spy Schulmeister, who has rendered the Emperor Napoleon so many useful services, and whose name Kolbielsky has so often mentioned in my presence with scornful execration. No, he must not learn all this. We will conceal our past, we will begin a new life, and since we shall then be rich enough, it will not be difficult for us to remain noble and virtuous. But now, my Leonore, tell me exactly and in detail everything you know. Come, let us sit down on this divan and allow me to note at once the most important points in your story, and especially the names."
"Then listen, father! Thursday next the emperor is to be carried away by force."
"Carried away—where?" asked Schulmeister, smiling.
"To some desolate island in the ocean. But do not interrupt me; don't let me anticipate, but relate everything in regular order. So listen and note what is necessary. There is a conspiracy which has its members in the French army, in the garrison now in Vienna, nay, even among those who are in the closest attendance upon the emperor, and which unites all the malcontents in France with the foes of Napoleon throughout all Europe. Heligoland is the meeting-place for the envoys of the conspirators throughout Europe; there the central committee always assembles at certain times, and from there by confidential messengers and fellow conspirators issues its commands and directions to the members in all places; there is the depot of the arms, ammunition, and other military stores. Thither England has sent General Bathurst; Spain, General Bandari, for consultation and agreement with the Austrian General Nugent, the Russian General Demidoff, and a certain Baron von Moudenfels, who has apparently played a prominent part in all these negotiations, and in whose hands all the single threads of this many-branched conspiracy meet. There was devised and arranged the plan which is now to be executed and in which Baron von Moudenfels plays the most important part."
"Do you know this Baron von Moudenfels?" asked Schulmeister. "Was he at your entertainment this evening? I saw several gentlemen who were strangers to me, and whose names I was going to ask you, when I was called away. Was Baron von Moudenfels among them?"
"No, father, he was not among them, and I do not know Baron von Moudenfels at all. According to the descriptions which I heard of him this evening, he is a man already advanced in years, but whose youthful vigor and energy were extravagantly praised and admired. Baron von Moudenfels has been the originator and director of the whole plan, and has been engaged for months in making preparations for its execution. Listen to the rest of my story! On Thursday the plot must be put into action. On that day the emperor will take a ride in the afternoon, as he always does. If, by chance, he should show no disposition to do so, they will induce him by some means, and will persuade him to go to the woods near Schönbrunn. The emperor likes to dismount there and stroll along the lovely, shady paths, talking with his generals. To his surprise he will find a most charming little hut which he has not seen before—for the very good reason that it was erected only the previous day. The emperor, as is well-known, is curious, and he will go to it. The conspirators—and his entire suite is composed of them—the conspirators will propose going in. A French song, the signal that everything is ready, will be heard within. The emperor will enter, his companions will follow. Inside the hut armed conspirators will be stationed, who, as soon as the emperor enters, will seize and gag him, bind him hand and foot, and thus render him harmless. Then one of the party who entered with the emperor, Colonel Lejeune, whose figure is exactly like his, will put on a suit of clothes made precisely like the emperor's, and, donning Napoleon's three-cornered hat, will leave the hut. Meanwhile twilight will have gathered, and the conspirators, with the emperor—that is Colonel Lejeune—at their head, will return to Schönbrunn. The guards will salute as soon as they see the emperor dash into the courtyard. The chief equerry will hold his stirrup, and help him to dismount. The emperor, followed by his suite, will enter the castle, and silently, according to his custom, ascend the stairs and go to the hall where he receives his marshals; there, as he so frequently does, he will dismiss all who are present with a wave of his hand and pass on into his study, which adjoins his sleeping-room."
"Well, it must be admitted that so far the affair has a glimmer of feasibility and probability," said her father, smiling. "But I should be very anxious about the continuation. Would Roustan, who undresses the emperor every evening, also be deceived by the masquerade, or would the conspirators attempt to abduct him also? And then—has it been forgotten that before going to rest the emperor now works an hour every evening with his private secretary, Bourrienne?"
"Bourrienne is one of the conspirators. He will enter the room with his portfolio and remain there an hour, after first bringing to the anteroom the order, in the emperor's name, to make no further reports to him that evening, as he was wearied and therefore wished to go to rest early. The Mameluke Roustan could not be bribed, and therefore the attempt was relinquished. But the day before, through a dose of arsenic which will be administered to him, Roustan will be so dangerously ill that he cannot attend upon the emperor, and Constant will take his place."