COLONEL MALLET
Sire, is it not a needless jeopardy
To meet them thus? The sentiments of these
We do not know, and the first trigger pressed
May end you.
NAPOLÉON
I have thought it out, my friend,
And value not my life as in itself,
But as to France, severed from whose embrace]
I am dead already.
[He repeats the order, which is carried out. There is a breathless
silence, and people from the village gather round with tragic
expectations. NAPOLÉON walks on alone towards the Fifth battalion,
Throwing open his great-coat and revealing his uniform and the
ribbon of the Legion of Honour. Raising his hand to his hat he
salutes.]
LESSARD
Present arms!
[The firelocks of the royalist battalion are levelled at NAPOLÉON.]
NAPOLÉON [still advancing]
Men of the Fifth,
See—here I am!... Old friends, do you not know me?
If there be one among you who would slay
His Chief of proud past years, let him come on
And do it now! [A pause.]
LESSARD [to his next officer]
They are death-white at his words!
They’ll fire not on this man. And I am helpless.
SOLDIERS [suddenly]
Why yes! We know you, father. Glad to see ye!
The Emperor for ever! Ha! Huzza!
[They throw their arms upon the ground, and, rushing forward,
sink down and seize NAPOLÉON’S knees and kiss his hands. Those
who cannot get near him wave their shakos and acclaim him
passionately. BERTRAND, DROUOT, and CAMBRONNE come up.]
NAPOLÉON [privately]
All is accomplished, Bertrand! Ten days more,
And we are snug within the Tuileries.
[The soldiers tear out their white cockades and trample on them,
and disinter from the bottom of their knapsacks tricolors, which
they set up.
NAPOLÉON’S own men now arrive, and fraternize with and embrace
the soldiers of the Fifth. When the emotion has subsided,
NAPOLÉON forms the whole body into a square and addresses them.]
Soldiers, I came with these few faithful ones
To save you from the Bourbons,—treasons, tricks,
Ancient abuses, feudal tyranny—
From which I once of old delivered you.
The Bourbon throne is illegitimate
Because not founded on the nation’s will,
But propped up for the profit of a few.
Comrades, is this not so?
A GRENADIER
Yes, verily, sire.
You are the Angel of the Lord to us;
We’ll march with you to death or victory! [Shouts.]
[At this moment a howling dog crosses in front of them with a
cockade tied to its tail. The soldiery of both sides laugh
loudly.
NAPOLÉON forms both bodies of troops into one column. Peasantry
run up with buckets of sour wine and a single glass; NAPOLÉON
takes his turn with the rank and file in drinking from it. He
bids the whole column follow him to Grenoble and Paris. Exeunt
soldiers headed by NAPOLÉON. The scene shuts.]
SCENE IV
SCHONBRUNN
[The gardens of the Palace. Fountains and statuary are seen
around, and the Gloriette colonnade rising against the sky on
a hill behind.
The ex-EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE is discovered walking up and down.
Accompanying her is the KING OF ROME—now a blue-eye, fair-haired
child—in the charge of the COUNTESS OF MONTESQUIOU. Close by is
COUNT NEIPPERG, and at a little distance MÉNEVAL, her attendant
and Napoléon’s adherent.
The EMPEROR FRANCIS and METTERNICH enter at the other end of the
parterre.]