time, this Corsican scourge of Europe."

One or two of the royalist officers have succeeded in massing together
some two or three hundred men out of several regiments who appear to be
determined to remain loyal.

St. Genis is not among these: his men had been among the first to cry
"Vive l'Empereur!" when ordered to fire on the brigand and his hordes.
They had even gone so far as to threaten their officers' lives.

Now, covered with shame, and boiling with wrath at the defection, St.
Genis asks leave of the General to escort M. le Comte de Cambray and his
party to Paris.

"We shall be better off for extra protection," urges M. le Comte de
Cambray in support of St. Genis' plea for leave. "I shall only have the
coachman and two postillions with me. M. de St. Genis would be of
immense assistance in case of footpads."

"The road to Paris is quite safe, I believe," says General Marchand,
"and at Lyons you will meet the army of M. le Comte d'Artois. But
perhaps M. de St. Genis had better accompany you as far as there, at any
rate. He can then report himself at Lyons. Twenty-five millions is a
large sum, of course, but the purpose of your journey has remained a
secret, has it not?"

"Of course," says M. le Comte unhesitatingly, for he has completely
erased Victor de Marmont from his mind.

"Well then, all you need fear is an attack from footpads--and even that
is unlikely," concludes General Marchand, who by now is in a great hurry
to go. "But M. de St. Genis has my permission to escort you."

The General entrusts the keys of the Bonne Gate to Colonel Roussille. He
has barely time to execute his hasty flight, having arranged to escape
out of Grenoble by the St. Laurent Gate on the north of the town. In the
meanwhile a carter from the suburb of St. Joseph outside the Bonne Gate
has harnessed a team of horses to one of his wagons and brought along a
huge joist: twenty pairs of willing and stout arms are already
manipulating this powerful engine for the breaking open of the resisting
gate. Already the doors are giving way, the hinges creak; and while
General Marchand and prefet Fourier with their small body of faithful
soldiers rush precipitately across the deserted streets of the town,
Colonel Roussille makes ready to open the Gate of Bonne to the Emperor
and to his soldiers.

"My regiment was prepared to turn against me," he says to his men, "but
I shall not turn against them."

Then he formally throws open the ga