y and greatly esteemed by
the Comte--else you may be sure that that stiff-necked aristocrat would
never have received a tradesman as a guest in his house. But it was in
Dumoulin's house that I first met Bobby Clyffurde. We took a liking to
one another, and since then have ridden a great deal together. He is a
splendid horseman, and I was very glad to be able to offer him a mount
at different times. But our political conversations have never been
very heated or very serious. Clyffurde maintains a detached impersonal
attitude both to the Bonapartist and the royalist cause. I asked him to
accompany me this morning and he gladly consented, for he dearly loves a
horse. I assure you, you might have said anything before him."

"_Eh bien!_ I'm sorry if I've been obstinate and ungracious," said the
surgeon-captain, but in a tone that obviously belied his words, "though,
frankly, I am very glad that we are alone for the moment."

He paused, and with a wave of his thick, short-fingered hand he
dismissed this less important subject-matter and once more spoke with
his wonted eagerness on that which lay nearest his heart.

"Now listen, my good de Marmont," he said, "do you recollect last April
when the Empress--poor wretched, misguided woman--fled so precipitately
from Paris, abandoning the capital, France and her crown at one and the
same time, and taking away with her all the Crown diamonds and money and
treasure belonging to the Emperor? She was terribly ill-advised, of
course, but . . ."

"Yes, I remember all that perfectly well," broke in de Marmont
impatiently.

"Well, then, you know that that abominable Talleyrand sent one of his
emissaries after the Empress and her suite . . . that this
emissary--Dudon was his name--reached Orleans just before Marie Louise
herself got there. . . ."

"And that he ordered, in Talleyrand's name, the seizure of the Empress'
convoy as soon as it arrived in the city," broke in de Marmont again.
"Yes. I recollect that abominable outrage perfectly. Dudon, backed by
the officers of the gendarmerie, managed to rob the Empress of
everything she had, even to the last knife and fork, even to the last
pocket handkerchief belonging to the Emperor and marked with his
initials. Oh! it was monstrous! hellish! devilish! It makes my blood
boil whenever I think of it . . . whenever I think of those fatuous,
treacherous Bourbons gloating over those treasures at the Tuileries,
while our Empress went her way