off that man who had
inconveniently discovered him posturing in a gold-embroidered court
costume before a mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot in the army; it
occurred to him that it would be inconvenient if a well-disposed general
officer, received in audience on the recommendation of one of the
Princes, were to do something rashly scandalous directly after a private
interview with the minister. In a changed tone he put a question to the
point: "Your relation--this Feraud?"

"No. No relation at all."

"Intimate friend?"

"Intimate . . . yes. There is between us an intimate connection of a
nature which makes it a point of honour with me to try . . ."

The minister rang a bell without waiting for the end of the phrase.
When the servant had gone out, after bringing in a pair of heavy silver
candelabra for the writing-desk, the Duke of Otranto rose, his breast
glistening all over with gold in the strong light, and taking a piece of
paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand ostentatiously while he said
with persuasive gentleness: "You must not speak of breaking your sword
across your knee, General. Perhaps you would never get another. The
Emperor will not return this time. . . . Diable d'homme! There was just
a moment, here in Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me.
It looked as though he were ready to begin all over again. Luckily one
never does begin all over again, really. You must not think of breaking
your sword, General."

General D'Hubert, looking on the ground, moved slightly his hand in a
hopeless gesture of renunciation. The Minister of Police turned his eyes
away from him, and scanned deliberately the paper he had been holding up
all the time.

"There are only twenty general officers selected to be made an example
of. Twenty. A round number. And let's see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he's there.
Gabriel Florian. Parfaitement. That's your man. Well, there will be only
nineteen examples made now."

General D'Hubert stood up feeling as though he had gone through an
infectious illness. "I must beg your Excellency to keep my interference
a profound secret. I attach the greatest importance to his never
learning . . ."

"Who is going to inform him, I should like to know?" said Fouche,
raising his eyes curiously to General D'Hubert's tense, set face. "Take
one of these pens, and run it through the name yourself. This is the
only list in existence. If you are careful to take up enough ink no one
will be abl