The marshal’s adjutant received her, and asked her what she wanted.
“I must see the marshal himself, for I shall read in his mien whether he will pardon or annihilate my husband,” said Anna. “I beseech you, sir, have mercy on the grief of a wife, trembling for the father of her children. Induce the marshal to grant me an audience.”
“I will see what can be done,” said the adjutant, touched by the despair depicted on the pale face of the poor lady. But he returned in a few minutes after he had left her.
“Madame,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “I am sorry, but your wish cannot be fulfilled. The marshal will have nothing whatever to do with this affair, and declines interfering in it. For this reason, too, he did not admit Mr. Palm, who yesterday, like you, applied for an interview with the marshal, and I had to receive him in the place of the marshal, as I have now the honor to receive you.”
“Oh, you have seen my husband?” asked Anna, almost joyfully. “You have spoken to him?”
“I have told him in the name of the marshal what I am now telling you, madame. The marshal is unable to do any thing whatever for your husband. The order for his arrest came directly from Paris, from the emperor’s cabinet, and the marshal, therefore, has not the power to revoke it and to prevent the law from taking its course. Moreover, Mr. Palm is no longer in Anspach, as he was sent to another place last night.”
“Whither? Oh, sir, you will have mercy on me, and tell me whither my unfortunate husband has been sent.”
“Madame,” said the adjutant, timidly looking around as if he were afraid of being overheard by an eavesdropper, “he has been sent to Braunau.”
Anna uttered a cry of horror. “To Braunau!” she said, breathlessly. “To Braunau, that is to say, out of the country. You do not wish to try a citizen and subject of Bavaria, for a crime which he is said to have committed in his own country, according to the laws of Bavaria, but according to those of a foreign and hostile state? My husband has been sent to Austria!”
“Pardon me, madame,” said the adjutant, smiling, “the city of Braunau does not yet again belong to Austria; up to the present hour it is still French territory, for we took and occupied it during the war and have not yet given it back to Austria; hence, Mr. Palm will be tried in Braunau according to the laws of France.”