"On returning to Prague, I found M. de Montbel's carriage standing ready harnessed before my door. He was waiting for my return to set out for Florence, where we were to join the Duchess. He purposed to pass through Vienna, where he had to supply himself with certain papers which he thought useful. I intended to go straight to Tuscany. Nevertheless, in spite of all the haste that I made, I did not arrive until twenty-four hours after him.
"I immediately called at his hotel; it was six o'clock in the morning. Soon, Montbel joined me in a little sitting-room next to his bed-room:
"'We have made an useless journey,' he said to me at once; 'I much regret having undertaken it. I saw the Duchesse de Berry yesterday, one hour after my arrival. I found her more excited, more irritated against the King than ever. She is firmly decided to yield on no point and to risk all the consequences of a rupture by arriving in Prague, in spite of the measures taken to close the road to her. All my arguments, all my entreaties were useless. She ended by flying out against what she calls the partiality of my conduct. I can do no more. As for you, she expects you with impatience. She is persuaded that the letter which you are bringing her from the Emperor will give her the liberty to continue her journey. That letter, so different from what she expects, will increase her irritation two-fold. You will have a painful scene and it appears to me impossible that you should succeed in making her listen to reason.'"
As the Duchesse de Berry was not to receive M. de La Ferronnays until eleven o'clock, the latter, on leaving M. de Montbel, went to the Comte de Saint-Priest. M. de Saint-Priest was the Princess's most authorized adviser. The reception was perfect, but nevertheless wrapped up in every imaginable kind of reserve.
"At bottom, the question remains the same," said M. de Saint-Priest. "However affectionate the letter which M. de Montbel brought from the King may be, it makes no alteration in the first demands, nor, consequently, in the reasons which the Duchess has for rejecting them. The mere fact," concluded M. de Saint-Priest, "of handing over the marriage-deed, as Madame is asked to do, would be enough to deprive her of her rights as a mother, a princess of the Blood and Regent She refuses and will always refuse to hand it over."
This was brusquely broaching a question which M. de La Ferronnays meant to discuss only with the Duchess herself. He therefore left M. de Saint-Priest, not, however, without obtaining from him a promise of complete neutrality.
"At the appointed hour," he continues, in his narrative, "I called at the Poggio Imperiale, where Madame was staying. When I was announced, she was alone, in a small drawing-room, with Count Lucchesi, who at once withdrew.
"Her Royal Highness' first sentence was one of thanks. The second was to ask me for the Emperor's letter. She read it with ever-increasing excitement:
"'I see,' she at last said, angrily, 'that the party against me is firmly united. This letter of the Emperor's is evidently dictated by the King. They want to drive me to extremities. They want to be able to say to France and to my children that there is no Duchesse de Berry now, that there is only a foreigner entitled to neither protection nor pity! They are erecting a pillory and they want me to fasten myself to it.... They know me very little, if they think me capable of so mean-spirited an act. They who employ such lofty language to me have a false appreciation of their position and mine. They do not know the strength which public opinion can give me against them. They shall learn to know, for, as they want war, I accept it. I shall have everything printed, everything published. I shall prove that it is for me to impose conditions and not for me to accept any. I shall force the King to respect my rights and at last to give me back my children.'
"Madame la Duchesse de Berry's utterance was loud and short, her gestures abrupt; and, but for her extreme agitation, I might have thought that she was repeating a part which she had studied. I expected this outburst; I was also prepared with the language which I should have to hold; but I did not hurry to reply.
"Astonished at my silence:
"'But, after all,' she asked, 'don't you think that I am right?'
"'I shall dare to tell you everything, Madame, because my reasons for being absolutely sincere will justify the harshness of my words. All that Your Highness has just told me makes me fear that you are ill-informed, ill-advised or ill-inspired. I have listened to Madame with great attention and I am obliged to tell her that she is mistaken as to the King's intentions, but that she is also unfortunately mistaken as to her own position. The King, Madame, does not believe in Your Highness' marriage. He does not believe in it, because you refuse to give him the proof of it and because your friends continue to protest against the reality of this marriage. And yet it is important that the truth about this should be known. Too much has been said about it, or not enough. M. le Comte Lucchesi's presence about Your Highness is no longer to be explained. As long as this remains so, I am not afraid to say that the King, having his grand-children with him, cannot admit you into the interior of his family. Right, justice and reason are on His Majesty's side.'
"Here the Duchesse de Berry, whose agitation was extreme, was unable to contain herself any longer and cried:
"'But, monsieur, I give you my word of honour that I am married. The marriage-deed, which is perfectly regular, exists. It is deposited in safe hands, and I shall certainly not take it from them to place it in those of Charles X. and M. de Metternich.'
"'I beg Your Highness to observe that this is the first time that you have deigned to speak to me with such confidence. One declaration of this kind made to me in Naples with that accent of truth would, I dare to think, have been enough to enable me to fulfil in an entirely satisfactory manner the mission with which Your Royal Highness was pleased to entrust me. But what had I to oppose to the King's doubts? What could I tell him to reassure his conscience? Nothing, Madame, for you had told me nothing. My personal conviction could carry no weight Your friends, moreover, reproached me with it. To admit that one believed in Your Highness' marriage seemed to them almost an act of treachery. I could therefore say nothing and I was obliged to leave the King in the fulness of his doubts. Do not believe, Madame, that it is to Charles X.'s interest to stigmatize the widow of his son and the mother of his grandson. No, he shows himself only jealous of your honour as a widow and a mother, believe me. The King may have disapproved of a marriage contracted without his knowledge, he may even have become irritated at it; but to-day he asks only to set his conscience at rest and to shelter your honour. Your Royal Highness speaks of the strength which public opinion will give you. You seem to threaten the King and the Powers with your anger. Alas, all those outbursts would only be new and great misfortunes. It is very painful for me to be reduced to give utterance only to cruel words. But it is necessary that Madame should at last know the truth, so that she may resolve upon a necessary sacrifice. No, Madame is no longer in a situation to dictate terms or impose conditions: she still judges her position from the height of the pedestal upon which public opinion for some time placed her. No doubt, if Your Royal Highness had remained there; if, after the admiration inspired by her sublime courage, constancy, devotion, we had had to bemoan only her reverses and her captivity, not only would Madame have lost none of her spell, but she would have left Blaye even greater than when she entered it. She would not have had to dictate conditions, for she would have found none but submissive wills before her. But, unhappily for Madame and for France, the declaration made in the month of February has completely and cruelly changed all that. Believe, Madame, the voice of a friend who will never be able to give you a greater proof of his devotion than he is doing at this moment; or rather, listen only to your reason. It will make you understand why and to what extent your position is changed. You will admit how guilty is the want of reflection of those who advise you to resort to resistance and even threats. Everyone pities you, Madame, but no one is any longer afraid of you. The struggle which you are being urged to maintain is henceforth too unequal. Its prolongation can henceforth have fatal consequences for you alone.'
"While speaking, I saw the unhappy Princess turn red, then pale; tears poured down her cheeks, but she did not try to interrupt me. I was able to fulfil my sad duty to the end. She then looked at me with an indefinable expression of face:
"'If all that you have just told me is true, they are deceiving me and I am very unhappy. What do you want me to do? Can I send that original document which, before the courts, would be my condemnation?'
"'No, Madame, I am the first to tell Your Highness that you must in no case part with it. Only, the King's conscience desires to be reassured; there is no other motive in his demand. If the King could obtain the certainty of Your Highness' marriage, without your parting with the original, without your even giving a copy of it, should you see any danger, for yourself or your interests, in satisfying Charles X.?'
"The Princess tried to guess my thought.
"'But what means can you contrive that would satisfy the King, since he refuses to believe my word?'
"'The King does not believe it, because you have not given it him.'
"'But I tell you again that I am married. The deed is in Rome, in the Pope's hands.'
"'Well then, Madame, if a man honoured by your confidence and the King's, if M. de Montbel were to go to Rome, would you refuse to allow the holder of your marriage-deed to give him cognizance of it, or at least to certify its existence to him? I am certain that M. de Montbel's declaration would be immediately followed by the dispatch of the passports which Your Highness so impatiently desires.'
"Madame la Duchesse de Berry, at last conquered, came up to me and said, with a sad smile:
"'I see no harm in trying the method which you propose, but you understand that I cannot decide alone. Count Lucchesi's consent is as necessary as my own.'
"M. le Comte Lucchesi was in a neighbouring room, with Messieurs de Montbel and de Saint-Priest; I called him in. Madame herself repeated to him the proposal which I had just made. He did not hesitate to accept.
"I then asked that the two other gentlemen might be brought in. We all sat round a little table before which Madame la Duchesse de Berry was herself seated and, at her bidding, I gave an account of the explanation which I had just had with her. As I was finishing, I addressed the Comte de Montbel:
"'And now, monsieur, it is for you alone, who know the King's mind and who, so to speak, represent him here, to judge and declare if the method which I propose will be able to satisfy His Majesty and put an end to his opposition to Madame's journey to Prague.'
"'I give a formal undertaking to that effect,' cried M. de Montbel, with deep emotion. I Madame, how great is the gratitude that we owe you and how happy I shall be, if I can have contributed a little towards a reconciliation for which I long with all my soul!'
"I proposed to M. de Montbel himself to draw up, then and there, the rough draft of a letter to the Cardinal Vicar, which would then be copied out and signed by Madame and by Count Lucchesi. A few moments were enough to prepare this draft, which was approved of.
"It was arranged that the letter should be written during the day, and Madame invited us to meet again there at noon the next day; she added that M. de Montbel could then, set out for Rome and that she herself would leave Florence two days later to go to Bologna, where M. de Montbel would join her again.
"The next day, as arranged, we met, at the appointed time, at the Poggio Imperiale. Her Highness received us with an air of contentment which I, for my part, had not yet seen her display.
"'I have,' she said, 'done all that you asked. I hope that they will be pleased at last.'
"At the same time, she showed us her letter to the Cardinal Vicar; this letter agreed exactly with the copy as given by M. de Montbel. Madame's signature and Count Lucchesi's were at foot, and the signatures had been witnessed by the Grand-duke of Tuscany and his minister, Fossombroni[458]. M. de Montbel set out the same evening for Rome, and I left Florence two days later.
"At a stage at Viterbo, I met M. de Montbel, who had already fulfilled his mission; he had stayed only half a day in Rome. He had seen no one but the Cardinal Vicar, who, after taking the Pope's instructions, had hastened not only to give him a declaration in writing of Madame la Duchesse de Berry's marriage to Count Lucchesi, but had shown him the deed itself, which was perfectly regular. M. de Montbel had decided to travel without stopping and was convinced of the definite success of his mission."