I ventured at last upon a slight cough to remind him.
"Ah, Monsieur Gerard," said he, "you are very curious, no doubt, as to the meaning of all this?"
"I am quite content, sire, if it is your pleasure not to tell me," I answered.
"Ta, ta, ta," said he impatiently. "These are only words. The moment that you were outside that door you would begin making inquiries about what it means. In two days your brother officers would know about it, in three days it would be all over Fontainebleau, and it would be in Paris on the fourth. Now, if I tell you enough to appease your curiosity, there is some reasonable hope that you may be able to keep the matter to yourself."
He did not understand me, this Emperor, and yet I could only bow and be silent.
"A few words will make it clear to you," said he, speaking very swiftly and pacing up and down the room. "They were Corsicans, these two men. I had known them in my youth. We had belonged to the same society—Brothers of Ajaccio, as we called ourselves. It was founded in the old Paoli days, you understand, and we had some strict rules of our own which were not infringed with impunity."
A very grim look came over his face as he
