he
had just perceived Talleyrand and Bonaparte talking together, he went up
to them.

"Bruix is a very able man!" said Bonaparte, who judged men as much by
little as by great things.

"And above all very cautious, general!" said Talleyrand.

"Yes. We will need a corkscrew to pull anything out of him."

"Oh, no; on the contrary, now that he has joined us, he, will broach the
question frankly."

And, indeed, no sooner had Bruix joined them than he began in words as
clear as they were concise: "I have seen them; they waver!"

"They waver! Cambaceres and Lebrun waver? Lebrun I can understand--a
sort of man of letters, a moderate, a Puritan; but Cambaceres--"

"But it is so."

"But didn't you tell them that I intended to make them each a consul?"

"I didn't get as far as that," replied Bruix, laughing.

"And why not?" inquired Bonaparte.

"Because this is the first word you have told me about your intentions,
Citizen General."

"True," said Bonaparte, biting his lips.

"Am I to repair the omission?" asked Bruix.

"No, no," exclaimed Bonaparte hastily; "they might think I needed them.
I won't have any quibbling. They must decide to-day without any other
conditions than those you have offered them; to-morrow it will be too
late. I feel strong enough to stand alone; and I now have Sieyes and
Barras."

"Barras?" repeated the two negotiators astonished.

"Yes, Barras, who treated me like a little corporal, and wouldn't send
me back to Italy, because, he said, I had made my fortune there, and it
was useless to return. Well, Barras--"

"Barras?"

"Nothing." Then, changing his mind, "Faith! I may as well tell you. Do
you know what Barras said at dinner yesterday before me? That it was
impossible to go on any longer with the Constitution of the year III. He
admitted the necessity of a dictatorship; said he had decided to abandon
the reins of government, and retire; adding that he himself was looked
upon as worn-out, and that the Republic needed new men. Now, guess to
whom he thinks of transferring his power. I give it you, as Madame
de Sevigne says, in a hundred, thousand, ten thousand. No other than
General Hedouville, a worthy man, but I have only to look him in the
face to make him lower his eyes. My glance must have been blasting!
As the result, Barras came to my bedside at eight o'clock, to excuse
himself as best he could for the nonsense he talked the night before,
and admitted that I alone could save th