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Chapter 11 `
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The Corsican Ogre. `
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At the sight of this agitation Louis XVIII. pushed from him `
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violently the table at which he was sitting. `
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"What ails you, baron?" he exclaimed. "You appear quite `
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aghast. Has your uneasiness anything to do with what M. de `
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Blacas has told me, and M. de Villefort has just confirmed?" `
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M. de Blacas moved suddenly towards the baron, but the `
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fright of the courtier pleaded for the forbearance of the `
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statesman; and besides, as matters were, it was much more to `
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his advantage that the prefect of police should triumph over `
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him than that he should humiliate the prefect. `
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"Sire" -- stammered the baron. `
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"Well, what is it?" asked Louis XVIII. The minister of `
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police, giving way to an impulse of despair, was about to `
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throw himself at the feet of Louis XVIII., who retreated a `
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step and frowned. `
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"Will you speak?" he said. `
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"Oh, sire, what a dreadful misfortune! I am, indeed, to be `
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pitied. I can never forgive myself!" `
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"Monsieur," said Louis XVIII., "I command you to speak." `
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"Well, sire, the usurper left Elba on the 26th February, and `
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landed on the 1st of March." `
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"And where? In Italy?" asked the king eagerly. `
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"In France, sire, -- at a small port, near Antibes, in the `
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Gulf of Juan." `
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"The usurper landed in France, near Antibes, in the Gulf of `
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Juan, two hundred and fifty leagues from Paris, on the 1st `
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of March, and you only acquired this information to-day, the `
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4th of March! Well, sir, what you tell me is impossible. You `
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must have received a false report, or you have gone mad." `
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"Alas, sire, it is but too true!" Louis made a gesture of `
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indescribable anger and alarm, and then drew himself up as `
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if this sudden blow had struck him at the same moment in `
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heart and countenance. `
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"In France!" he cried, "the usurper in France! Then they did `
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not watch over this man. Who knows? they were, perhaps, in `
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league with him." `
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"Oh, sire," exclaimed the Duc de Blacas, "M. Dandre is not a `
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man to be accused of treason! Sire, we have all been blind, `
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and the minister of police has shared the general blindness, `
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that is all." `
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"But" -- said Villefort, and then suddenly checking himself, `
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he was silent; then he continued, "Your pardon, sire," he `
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said, bowing, "my zeal carried me away. Will your majesty `
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deign to excuse me?" `
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"Speak, sir, speak boldly," replied Louis. "You alone `
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forewarned us of the evil; now try and aid us with the `
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remedy." `
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"Sire," said Villefort, "the usurper is detested in the `
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south; and it seems to me that if he ventured into the `
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south, it would be easy to raise Languedoc and Provence `
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against him." `
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"Yes, assuredly," replied the minister; "but he is advancing `
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by Gap and Sisteron." `
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"Advancing -- he is advancing!" said Louis XVIII. "Is he `
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then advancing on Paris?" The minister of police maintained `
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a silence which was equivalent to a complete avowal. `
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"And Dauphine, sir?" inquired the king, of Villefort. "Do `
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you think it possible to rouse that as well as Provence?" `
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"Sire, I am sorry to tell your majesty a cruel fact; but the `
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feeling in Dauphine is quite the reverse of that in Provence `
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or Languedoc. The mountaineers are Bonapartists, sire." `
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"Then," murmured Louis, "he was well informed. And how many `
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men had he with him?" `
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"I do not know, sire," answered the minister of police. `
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"What, you do not know! Have you neglected to obtain `
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information on that point? Of course it is of no `
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consequence," he added, with a withering smile. `
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"Sire, it was impossible to learn; the despatch simply `
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stated the fact of the landing and the route taken by the `
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usurper." `
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"And how did this despatch reach you?" inquired the king. `
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The minister bowed his head, and while a deep color `
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overspread his cheeks, he stammered out, -- `
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"By the telegraph, sire." -- Louis XVIII. advanced a step, `
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and folded his arms over his chest as Napoleon would have `
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done. `
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"So then," he exclaimed, turning pale with anger, "seven `
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conjoined and allied armies overthrew that man. A miracle of `
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heaven replaced me on the throne of my fathers after `
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five-and-twenty years of exile. I have, during those `
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five-and-twenty years, spared no pains to understand the `
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people of France and the interests which were confided to `
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me; and now, when I see the fruition of my wishes almost `
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within reach, the power I hold in my hands bursts, and `
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shatters me to atoms!" `
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"Sire, it is fatality!" murmured the minister, feeling that `
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the pressure of circumstances, however light a thing to `
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destiny, was too much for any human strength to endure. `
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"What our enemies say of us is then true. We have learnt `
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nothing, forgotten nothing! If I were betrayed as he was, I `
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would console myself; but to be in the midst of persons `
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elevated by myself to places of honor, who ought to watch `
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over me more carefully than over themselves, -- for my `
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fortune is theirs -- before me they were nothing -- after me `
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they will be nothing, and perish miserably from incapacity `
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-- ineptitude! Oh, yes, sir, you are right -- it is `
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fatality!" `
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The minister quailed before this outburst of sarcasm. M. de `
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Blacas wiped the moisture from his brow. Villefort smiled `
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within himself, for he felt his increased importance. `
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"To fall," continued King Louis, who at the first glance had `
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sounded the abyss on which the monarchy hung suspended, -- `
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"to fall, and learn of that fall by telegraph! Oh, I would `
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rather mount the scaffold of my brother, Louis XVI., than `
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thus descend the staircase at the Tuileries driven away by `
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ridicule. Ridicule, sir -- why, you know not its power in `
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France, and yet you ought to know it!" `
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"Sire, sire," murmured the minister, "for pity's" -- `
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"Approach, M. de Villefort," resumed the king, addressing `
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the young man, who, motionless and breathless, was listening `
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to a conversation on which depended the destiny of a `
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kingdom. "Approach, and tell monsieur that it is possible to `
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know beforehand all that he has not known." `
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"Sire, it was really impossible to learn secrets which that `
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man concealed from all the world." `
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"Really impossible! Yes -- that is a great word, sir. `
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Unfortunately, there are great words, as there are great `
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men; I have measured them. Really impossible for a minister `
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who has an office, agents, spies, and fifteen hundred `
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thousand francs for secret service money, to know what is `
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going on at sixty leagues from the coast of France! Well, `
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then, see, here is a gentleman who had none of these `
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resources at his disposal -- a gentleman, only a simple `
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magistrate, who learned more than you with all your police, `
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and who would have saved my crown, if, like you, he had the `
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power of directing a telegraph." The look of the minister of `
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police was turned with concentrated spite on Villefort, who `
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bent his head in modest triumph. `
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"I do not mean that for you, Blacas," continued Louis `
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XVIII.; "for if you have discovered nothing, at least you `
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have had the good sense to persevere in your suspicions. Any `
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other than yourself would have considered the disclosure of `
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M. de Villefort insignificant, or else dictated by venal `
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ambition," These words were an allusion to the sentiments `
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which the minister of police had uttered with so much `
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confidence an hour before. `
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Villefort understood the king's intent. Any other person `
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would, perhaps, have been overcome by such an intoxicating `
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draught of praise; but he feared to make for himself a `
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mortal enemy of the police minister, although he saw that `
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Dandre was irrevocably lost. In fact, the minister, who, in `
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the plenitude of his power, had been unable to unearth `
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Napoleon's secret, might in despair at his own downfall `
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interrogate Dantes and so lay bare the motives of `
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Villefort's plot. Realizing this, Villefort came to the `
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rescue of the crest-fallen minister, instead of aiding to `
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crush him. `
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"Sire," said Villefort, "the suddenness of this event must `
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prove to your majesty that the issue is in the hands of `
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Providence; what your majesty is pleased to attribute to me `
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as profound perspicacity is simply owing to chance, and I `
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have profited by that chance, like a good and devoted `
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servant -- that's all. Do not attribute to me more than I `
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deserve, sire, that your majesty may never have occasion to `
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recall the first opinion you have been pleased to form of `
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me." The minister of police thanked the young man by an `
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eloquent look, and Villefort understood that he had `
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succeeded in his design; that is to say, that without `
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forfeiting the gratitude of the king, he had made a friend `
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