E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) THE BRONZE EAGLE by BARONESS ORCZY * * * * * By BARONESS ORCZY THE BRONZE EAGLE A BRIDE OF THE PLAINS THE LAUGHING CAVALIER "UNTO CAESAR" EL DORADO MEADOWSWEET THE NOBLE ROGUE THE HEART OF A WOMAN PETTICOAT RULE GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY NEW YORK * * * * * THE BRONZE EAGLE A Story of the Hundred Days by BARONESS ORCZY Author of "The Laughing Cavalier," "The Scarlet Pimpernel," Etc., Etc. [Illustration] New York George H. Doran Company Copyright, 1915, by Baroness Orczy Copyright, 1915, by George H. Doran Company This novel was published serially, under the title of "Waterloo" CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE THE LANDING AT JOUAN 9 I. THE GLORIOUS NEWS 14 II. THE OLD RÉGIME 49 III. THE RETURN OF THE EMPEROR 85 IV. THE EMPRESS' MILLIONS 138 V. THE RIVALS 196 VI. THE CRIME 221 VII. THE ASCENT OF THE CAPITOL 236 VIII. THE SOUND OF REVELRY BY NIGHT 261 IX. THE TARPEIAN ROCK 285 X. THE LAST THROW 305 XI. THE LOSING HANDS 338 XII. THE WINNING HAND 370 THE BRONZE EAGLE THE LANDING AT JOUAN The perfect calm of an early spring dawn lies over headland and sea--hardly a ripple stirs the blue cheek of the bay. The softness of departing night lies upon the bosom of the Mediterranean like the dew upon the heart of a flower. A silent dawn. Veils of transparent greys and purples and mauves still conceal the distant horizon. Breathless calm rests upon the water and that awed hush which at times descends upon Nature herself when the finger of Destiny marks an eventful hour. But now the grey and the purple veils beyond the headland are lifted one by one; the midst of dawn rises upwards like the smoke of incense from some giant censers swung by unseen, mighty hands. The sky above is of a translucent green, studded with stars that blink and now are slowly extinguished one by one: the green has turned to silver, and the silver to lemon-gold: the veils beyond the upland are flying in the wake of departing Night. The lemon-gold turns to glowing amber, anon to orange and crimson, and far inland the mountain peaks, peeping shyly through the mist, blush a vivid rose to find themselves so fair. And to the south, there where fiery sea blends and merges with fiery sky, a tiny black speck has just come into view. Larger and larger it grows as it draws nearer to the land, now it seems like a bird with wings outspread--an eagle flying swiftly to the shores of France.