with the men. But a general, or even a colonel, may be
any sort of riff-raff if he understands the shop well enough. A
lieutenant is a gentleman: all the rest is chance. Why, who do you
suppose won the battle of Lodi? I'll tell you. My horse did.

NAPOLEON (rising) Your folly is carrying you too far, sir. Take care.

LIEUTENANT. Not a bit of it. You remember all that red-hot cannonade
across the river: the Austrians blazing away at you to keep you from
crossing, and you blazing away at them to keep them from setting the
bridge on fire? Did you notice where I was then?

NAPOLEON (with menacing politeness). I am sorry. I am afraid I was
rather occupied at the moment.

GIUSEPPE (with eager admiration). They say you jumped off your horse
and worked the big guns with your own hands, General.

LIEUTENANT. That was a mistake: an officer should never let himself
down to the level of his men. (Napoleon looks at him dangerously, and
begins to walk tigerishly to and fro.) But you might have been firing
away at the Austrians still, if we cavalry fellows hadn't found the
ford and got across and turned old Beaulieu's flank for you. You know
you daren't have given the order to charge the bridge if you hadn't
seen us on the other side. Consequently, I say that whoever found that
ford won the battle of Lodi. Well, who found it? I was the first man to
cross: and I know. It was my horse that found it. (With conviction, as
he rises from the couch.) That horse is the true conqueror of the
Austrians.

NAPOLEON (passionately). You idiot: I'll have you shot for losing those
despatches: I'll have you blown from the mouth of a cannon: nothing
less could make any impression on you. (Baying at him.) Do you hear? Do
you understand?

A French officer enters unobserved, carrying his sheathed sabre in his
hand.

LIEUTENANT (unabashed). IF I don't capture him, General. Remember the
if.

NAPOLEON. If! If!! Ass: there is no such man.

THE OFFICER (suddenly stepping between them and speaking in the
unmistakable voice of the Strange Lady). Lieutenant: I am your
prisoner. (She offers him her sabre. They are amazed. Napoleon gazes at
her for a moment thunderstruck; then seizes her by the wrist and drags
her roughly to him, looking closely and fiercely at her to satisfy
himself as to her identity; for it now begins to darken rapidly into
night, the red glow over the vineyard giving way to clear starlight.)

NAPOLEON. Pah! (He flings her hand aw