The Duellists Page #4

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to claim my acquaintance.

And it is also said

that he fought you...

in defense

of the emperor's honor.

That is impertinent trash!

You have my answer to Marshall Grouchy.

I shall write to confirm it at once.

Good day.

Colonel, do you sometimes

meet with General Feraud?

Now and again.

Ask him what the honor of the emperor

has to do with Madame de Lionne?

Madame de Lionne?

I think that was the lady's name.

He should remember

better than I.

Tell him to drive on.

- Damn his impudence.

- That was the lady's name, sir.

Madame de Lionne.

Yes.

Get your backside off that table.

Fine woman. A cultivated woman.

She had nothing to do with the emperor.

I do not believe

that the general was suggesting...

an illicit acquaintance between

the emperor and this woman.

Then what was he suggesting?

What?

Out with it.

Sir, I took him rather

to imply that this lady...

not the emperor, was the prime

cause of your quarrel.

I have called him out near

to half a dozen times.

The cavalry knows. Would I have

done that for some petty nonsense?

She was a lady I held in high esteem.

Her salon was very well known in...

Strasbourg.

Yes, now I recall something else.

He said to me

in a public street...

I have it burnt in my mind.

He said to me...

For all that I care, they can

spit upon Napoleon Bonaparte.

- Who were they?

- They, they!

When did the emperor

not have enemies?

D'Hubert is a turncoat!

That is a fact!

I say more. I say he never loved

the emperor! Never!

He saw a fair deal of campaigning.

When you meet him again, tell him

I will prove the truth of it...

at the first opportunity.

To the emperor. Good luck to him

and to those that love him.

But in less than 100 days,

Napoleon was defeated.

And I offer you

another toast.

Let us give thanks

for the safe return...

of His Sacred Majesty,

Louis XVIII.

God save the king.

God save the king.

And devil take the ogre...

to St. Helena.

This side of the grave, it seems

a fit and proper place for him.

Come, sir.

You're a royalist now...

like the rest of us.

Where else would you wish him

to be?

One celebration at a time, sir.

Don't you think?

No, I do not.

The boy's a royalist.

And I can give you more good news.

He has been summoned to attend

upon Marshall St. Cyr in Paris.

He will have a command

in the king's army.

So tell us. What fate

would you choose for the ogre?

I believe the emperor

chose his own fate.

It was his habit to do so.

I learned my trade in his service,

as did Marshall St. Cyr.

The king's army will have

more realists than royalists.

I have just agreed to terms

with this lady...

and I'm much too tired

for further questioning.

Well done.

Good day, Colonel.

D'Hubert, isn't it?

That's right.

You took care

to play safe, eh?

Very spruce you look too.

Very tame and spruce.

Found a nice place

with His Majesty, have you?

Now, Gabriel Feraud was right.

Poor devil.

He always said

you were a slippery fellow.

How is General Feraud?

- You don't know?

- It interests me very little.

In fact, I do not know.

Feraud was arrested.

They have him on the butcher's list.

- He's to go before the commission?

- Yes.

Now, there was a man

who would ride straight at anything.

He ends up at the mercy

of that sewer rat.

Fouche.

He's as good as dead.

Come a little closer, please.

I'm all attention.

I believe Your Excellency

has chosen a list of officers...

to be tried for treason

by the special court.

I...

am the president of the commission

that chose them, yes.

I've come to petition that the name

of General Gabriel Feraud...

be removed from that list.

I have letters of introduction...

Marshalls St. Cyr and MacDonald.

Have you indeed?

By all accounts,

he is a rabid Bonapartist.

So is every trooper

and grenadier in the army...

as Your Excellency knows.

General Feraud hasn't the brains

to make himself dangerous to anyone.

Rather, he could not

conceivably hurt the state.

He has a busy tongue.

He talked himself on to our list.

We could not keep him off it.

I am something of a virtuoso

in survival.

You will be aware of that,

I think.

Besides, I despise these nobodies...

who offer their neck

to the block.

At least he's in my control,

because if it were not...

my own men would most certainly

be on it.

Our new masters

and their ladies, bless them...

are out for a deal of blood.

Please be seated.

You have an honest

soldier's face, General...

but you have come here

to intrigue with me.

Is that not so?

Have you not come here

to intrigue with me?

Is this fellow

a relation of yours?

No.

Intimate friend?

No, not exactly.

We've had a... long association.

Mysterious.

Still you have

two marshals at your back.

Yes, there's your man.

Feraud, Gabriel Florian.

He will live in the provinces

under police supervision.

You realize that, of course.

But he will live.

Take a pen, my dear fellow,

and cross out the name.

I can't do everything for you.

Your Excellency, I must beg you

to keep my interference a secret.

Most particularly

from General Feraud.

General Feraud, alive or dead,

is not worth a moment's gossip.

There.

Give me your hand.

Sir, kick for the general.

There.

Perfect discipline.

That's not a grenadier.

Most ladylike, I assure you.

He's not kicking you.

General.

The fellow in the cavalry

you called out several times...

D'Hubert, wasn't it?

General d'Hubert, who's been

on sick leave in the south...

is to take command

of the Fifth Cavalry brigade...

at Reims.

Same fellow, isn't it?

Good day.

Good day.

Good day.

Sir, I wonder,

could you direct us...

to the residence

of General Armand d'Hubert?

What is it

you want with him?

I want a quiet word with him.

Confidential, you understand.

This place is quiet enough.

You aren't the general,

are you, sir, by any chance?

- Yes, sir, I am.

- I thought so.

Met you once after Ratisbon.

Well, sir, all we need for the present

are the names of your friends.

- What friends?

- We are the friends of Gen. Feraud.

We'll need to work pretty sharp.

Police surveillance.

They keep us bottled up

at Vatan.

Damn their eyes.

Slip out, slip back.

No one the wiser.

Risky, of course,

but honor before everything.

Honor first.

I could have you both carted back

where you come from in irons.

I swear to God, I could whisper,

only whisper...

and you'd both be dead

in a ditch before morning.

This is royalist country.

This is my home.

We have proceeded on the assumption

that you were a gentleman.

Yes, damn you.

Damn you, I am!

- Very well, then.

- We'd like to know your friends' names.

I have no friends stupid enough

to take part in such a farce.

I suppose I could act for him.

He could act for you.

Not what you'd call a steady fellow.

Used to take a steady fellow

to command a brigade.

I don't suppose General Feraud

would accept an apology.

Out of the question.

You could declare yourself unfit to

be a soldier and resign your command.

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