up underneath him. Yet
he would say little about himself, but he sat in the corner of the cafe
watching us all with a wonderfully sharp pair of eyes and listening
intently to our talk.

One night I was leaving the cafe when Captain Fourneau followed me, and
touching me on the arm he led me without saying a word for some distance
until we reached his lodgings. "I wish to have a chat with you," said
he, and so conducted me up the stair to his room. There he lit a lamp
and handed me a sheet of paper which he took from an envelope in his
bureau. It was dated a few months before from the Palace of Schonbrunn
at Vienna. "Captain Fourneau is acting in the highest interests of the
Emperor Napoleon. Those who love the Emperor should obey him without
question.--Marie Louise." That is what I read. I was familiar with the
signature of the Empress, and I could not doubt that this was genuine.

"Well," said he, "are you satisfied as to my credentials?"

"Entirely."

"Are you prepared to take your orders from me?"

"This document leaves me no choice."

"Good! In the first place, I understand from something you said in the
cafe that you can speak English?"

"Yes, I can."

"Let me hear you do so."

I said in English, "Whenever the Emperor needs the help of Etienne
Gerard I am ready night and day to give my life in his service." Captain
Fourneau smiled.

"It is funny English," said he, "but still it is better than no English.
For my own part I speak English like an Englishman. It is all that I
have to show for six years spent in an English prison. Now I will tell
you why I have come to Paris. I have come in order to choose an agent
who will help me in a matter which affects the interests of the Emperor.
I was told that it was at the cafe of the Great Man that I would find
the pick of his old officers, and that I could rely upon every man there
being devoted to his interests. I studied you all, therefore, and I have
come to the conclusion that you are the one who is most suited for my
purpose."

I acknowledged the compliment. "What is it that you wish me to do?" I
asked.

"Merely to keep me company for a few months," said he. "You must know
that after my release in England I settled down there, married an
English wife, and rose to command a small English merchant ship, in
which I have made several voyages from Southampton to the Guinea coast.
They look on me there as an Englishman. You can understand, however,
that with