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Authors: Richard Woodman
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cabin to close the door communicating with the adjacent pantry and waving out the servant who stood discreetly out of sight but within calling. The Prince’s command came as he returned and Blackwood lifted an uncorked bottle of claret from the fiddles atop the sideboard.
‘Sir, you are aware of my former duties in connection with the Secret Department, are you not?’
‘Yes, yes. Barrow told me all about you, so did Sir Joseph Yorke and Blackwood here did the same. Your stock’s pretty damned high, so get on with it, eh? There’s a good fellow’
‘Very well, sir. Last night I received intelligence directly from a source well known to me …’
‘D’you mean a spy?’
‘No, I do not. From a person who has had intimate connections with Talleyrand and’, Drinkwater paused just long enough to encourage the prince to look up from his emptying plate, ‘Napoleon Bonaparte…’
Prince William Henry choked violently and snatched up the glass Blackwood had just filled with claret. Calming himself he wiped his mouth and face with a napkin and rumbled, ‘Bonaparte, d’ye say? Go on, sir, pray do go on.’
‘This person’s attachment to Bonaparte has been severed …’
‘Ah yes! Didn’t I tell you, Blackwood, they’d all come crawling on their damned bellies to save what they’ve made in the Corsican’s service! Didn’t I say as much, Blackwood? Didn’t I, damn it, eh?’
‘You did, sir.’
‘Aye. And I said as much to King Louis and the Duchesse d’Angoulême. Told ‘em not to trust any damned Bonapartist, well, well.’
‘The point is, sir,’ Drinkwater broke in, seizing the brief pause in His Royal Highness’s self-congratulation, ‘we shall have to trust what this person said, because if we don’t, we shall rue it.’
Drinkwater had expected further interjections by the prince, but he seemed content to listen and commanded Drinkwater impatiently to ‘go on, do go on’.
‘I have information that a plot has been matured in Paris that, consequent upon the Emperor Napoleon abdicating …’
‘Emperor? Emperor, sir? The man is no more than a damned general, General Bonaparte!’
‘General Bonaparte, Your Royal Highness, was elected Emperor of the French by plebiscite; he is moreover married to an Austrian Arch-duchess and is therefore still related to the Emperor of Austria. Whatever title he held and whatever title we ascribe to him now matters little, but I lay emphasis upon the point now to’, Drinkwater was about to say ‘remind,’ but the look in the prince’s narrowing eyes, made him change his mind. His sleepless night made him over bold and he came quickly to his senses, ‘to acquaint Your Royal Highness of the significance of what Bonaparte has relinquished by his instrument of abdication.’
‘He was beaten damn it, Drinkwater! Eh, what?’
‘Militarily yes, sir, but his ambition is unbeaten, for he abdicated not in favour of King Louis, but his own son. Moreover, his genius is undiminished.’
‘Very well, very well, but what is this to us? He is to be exiled, under guard, locked up as nearly as maybe, what. Yet you come here blathering of plots.’
‘Would that it were blathering, sir. The fact is a considerable number of his officers are roaming about disaffected and dissatisfied with the turn events have taken. As we sit here a number are already at sea on passage to rescue their Imperial Master in order to spirit him across the Atlantic to Canada.’
‘Canada?’ The Royal Brow furrowed again.
‘To operate with Yankee support, raise the Québecois, and reestablish Napoleon’s dynasty in Canada with a second empire in the Americas.’
‘It ain’t possible … is it?’ The prince wiped his mouth and threw down his napkin. His eyes swivelled in Blackwood’s direction. ‘Well Blackwood? What the devil do you think?’
‘Well sir,’ Blackwood began, ‘I must confess I have my doubts.’ Drinkwater’s heart sank. ‘But I’m afraid ‘tis not at
‘Sir, you are aware of my former duties in connection with the Secret Department, are you not?’
‘Yes, yes. Barrow told me all about you, so did Sir Joseph Yorke and Blackwood here did the same. Your stock’s pretty damned high, so get on with it, eh? There’s a good fellow’
‘Very well, sir. Last night I received intelligence directly from a source well known to me …’
‘D’you mean a spy?’
‘No, I do not. From a person who has had intimate connections with Talleyrand and’, Drinkwater paused just long enough to encourage the prince to look up from his emptying plate, ‘Napoleon Bonaparte…’
Prince William Henry choked violently and snatched up the glass Blackwood had just filled with claret. Calming himself he wiped his mouth and face with a napkin and rumbled, ‘Bonaparte, d’ye say? Go on, sir, pray do go on.’
‘This person’s attachment to Bonaparte has been severed …’
‘Ah yes! Didn’t I tell you, Blackwood, they’d all come crawling on their damned bellies to save what they’ve made in the Corsican’s service! Didn’t I say as much, Blackwood? Didn’t I, damn it, eh?’
‘You did, sir.’
‘Aye. And I said as much to King Louis and the Duchesse d’Angoulême. Told ‘em not to trust any damned Bonapartist, well, well.’
‘The point is, sir,’ Drinkwater broke in, seizing the brief pause in His Royal Highness’s self-congratulation, ‘we shall have to trust what this person said, because if we don’t, we shall rue it.’
Drinkwater had expected further interjections by the prince, but he seemed content to listen and commanded Drinkwater impatiently to ‘go on, do go on’.
‘I have information that a plot has been matured in Paris that, consequent upon the Emperor Napoleon abdicating …’
‘Emperor? Emperor, sir? The man is no more than a damned general, General Bonaparte!’
‘General Bonaparte, Your Royal Highness, was elected Emperor of the French by plebiscite; he is moreover married to an Austrian Arch-duchess and is therefore still related to the Emperor of Austria. Whatever title he held and whatever title we ascribe to him now matters little, but I lay emphasis upon the point now to’, Drinkwater was about to say ‘remind,’ but the look in the prince’s narrowing eyes, made him change his mind. His sleepless night made him over bold and he came quickly to his senses, ‘to acquaint Your Royal Highness of the significance of what Bonaparte has relinquished by his instrument of abdication.’
‘He was beaten damn it, Drinkwater! Eh, what?’
‘Militarily yes, sir, but his ambition is unbeaten, for he abdicated not in favour of King Louis, but his own son. Moreover, his genius is undiminished.’
‘Very well, very well, but what is this to us? He is to be exiled, under guard, locked up as nearly as maybe, what. Yet you come here blathering of plots.’
‘Would that it were blathering, sir. The fact is a considerable number of his officers are roaming about disaffected and dissatisfied with the turn events have taken. As we sit here a number are already at sea on passage to rescue their Imperial Master in order to spirit him across the Atlantic to Canada.’
‘Canada?’ The Royal Brow furrowed again.
‘To operate with Yankee support, raise the Québecois, and reestablish Napoleon’s dynasty in Canada with a second empire in the Americas.’
‘It ain’t possible … is it?’ The prince wiped his mouth and threw down his napkin. His eyes swivelled in Blackwood’s direction. ‘Well Blackwood? What the devil do you think?’
‘Well sir,’ Blackwood began, ‘I must confess I have my doubts.’ Drinkwater’s heart sank. ‘But I’m afraid ‘tis not at
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