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doesn’t want war with her yet. Also he thinks England will get out of Portugal if she sees Austria weakening. Should war come, then he wants an assurance of Russian military assistance against Austria.”
    Alexander poured some more wine into his glass and offered it to Talleyrand.
    â€œWhat do you advise?”
    â€œI advise that you grant him nothing in respect of any marriage or of threatening Austria. Those are the two most important concessions; the others you can afford to make for appearance’s sake. Your recognition of Joseph as King of Spain will have no effect on either the Spaniards or the English, as long as they know Austria is about to go to war. As for the military aid you give the Emperor in event of war, well, that is a matter for Your Majesty’s discretion.”
    â€œI agree, my dear Monsieur Talleyrand, and I shall follow your excellent advice. France is indeed fortunate in possessing such a patriot as yourself,” Alexander said.
    Talleyrand smiled coldly.
    â€œMy patriotism must appear much like treason to you, Sire, but believe me, the infamies I have had to commit in the service of Napoleon Bonaparte have well fitted me for what I am doing now. It is nearly time for the performance. May I bid Your Majesty good night.”
    The conference at Erfurt ended as it had begun, in splendour and apparent amity between the two principals, for the Czar had agreed to most of Napoleon’s proposals. But the credit was really due to Talleyrand, who had succeeded in beguiling Alexander where the Emperor had failed; so said observers who had seen the ruler of France lose his temper and dignity at one meeting to the extent where he threw his cap on the floor and jumped on it, under the cold eye of the Czar, who had snubbed him and prepared to leave the room. It was an unfortunate incident, for it revealed the vulgar spirit of the little parvenu from Corsica, still vulgar and a parvenu in spite of the Royal Purple he had assumed. Alexander noted it, noted that the proud young diplomat of Tilsit, whom he had been forced to admire as an adversary if not as an equal, had become a violent tempered bully, the prey of rages and impulses of savagery. He threatened and abused without restraint, but he was polite, even affectionate to Alexander, which was most significant.
    â€œI leave Erfurt and you, Sire, with great sadness,” he said on their last evening. “I have been happy in the peace and friendship I found here. But I go now to less peaceful duties.”
    â€œTo Spain?” questioned Alexander sympathetically.
    â€œTo Spain,” Napoleon replied. “To scatter the rabble that a parcel of incompetents have allowed to make a noise out of all proportion to their importance.”
    â€œSuccess and God speed, my friend,” Alexander said to him. “Your interests are always mine.”
    The next morning the Imperial carriages drove out of Erfurt with their colourful escorts and the cannons fired their last salvoes of farewell. It was over, and the two sovereigns took their different roads, one to Paris and then embarkation for Spain, the other to St. Petersburg.
    Dispatches had arrived for Alexander regularly, and he re-read the last as he drove out of Erfurt. It assured him that everything in Petersburg was peaceful; rumours had crept back that he had refused Napoleon’s offer of marriage for his sister, the Grand Duchess Catherine, and public opinion was pleased. The Grand Duchess’s reactions were less favourable, but the police and administration had maintained absolute calm in his absence. The dispatch was signed Alexei Araktcheief.
    Peaceful and calm; Alexander leant back in his carriage and thought of those two words in connection with Araktcheief and his Court. They meant that he must have paralysed them all with fear.
    He closed his eyes and immediately thought of Marie Naryshkin; his thoughts were sentimental as well as voluptuous. He had missed her