“Yes; but he was the elect of destruction; I, of the new era. The grass withered where he stepped; the harvest will ripen where I pass the plow. War? Tell me what has become of those who have made it against me? They lie upon the plains of Piedmont, of Lombardy and Cairo!” “You forget the Vendée; the Vendée is still afoot.” “Afoot, yes! but her leaders? Cathelineau, Lescure, La Rochejaquelin, d’Elbée, Bonchamps, Stoffiet, Charette?” “You are speaking of men only; the men have been mown down, it is true; but the principle is still afoot, and for it are fighting Autichamp, Suzannet, Grignon, Frotté, Châtillon, Cadoudal. The younger may not be worth the elder, but if they die as their elders died, what more can you ask?” “Let them beware! If I determine upon a campaign against the Vendée I shall send neither Santerre nor Rossignol!” “The Convention sent Kléber, and the Directory, Hoche!” “I shall not send; I shall go myself.” “Nothing worse can happen to them than to be killed like Lescure, or shot like Charette.” “It may happen that I pardon them.” “Cato taught us how to escape the pardon of Cæsar.” “Take care; you are quoting a Republican!” “Cato was one of those men whose example can be followed, no matter to what party they belong.” “And suppose I were to tell you that I hold the Vendée in the hollow of my hand?” “You!” “And that within three months, she will lay down her arms if I choose?” The young man shook his head. “You don’t believe me?” “I hesitate to believe you.” “If I affirm to you that what I say is true; if I prove it by telling you the means, or rather the men, by whom I shall bring this about?” “If a man like General Bonaparte affirms a thing, I shall believe it; and if that thing is the pacification of the Vendée, I shall say in my turn: ‘Beware! Better the Vendée fighting than the Vendée conspiring. The Vendée fighting means the sword, the Vendée conspiring means the dagger.’” “Oh! I know your dagger,” said Bonaparte. “Here it is.” And he drew from a drawer the dagger he had taken from Roland and laid it on the table within reach of Morgan’s hand. “But,” he added, “there is some distance between Bonaparte’s breast and an assassin’s dagger. Try.” And he advanced to the young man with a flaming eye. “I did not come here to assassinate you,” said the young man, coldly. “Later, if I consider your death indispensable to the cause, I shall do all in my power, and if I fail it will not be because you are Marius and I the Cimbrian. Have you anything else to say to me, citizen First Consul?” concluded the young man, bowing. “Yes. Tell Cadoudal that when he is ready to fight the enemy, instead of Frenchmen, I have a colonel’s commission ready signed in my desk for him.” “Cadoudal commands, not a regiment, but an army. You were unwilling to retrograde from Bonaparte to Monk; why should you expect him to descend from general to colonel? Have you nothing else to say to me, citizen First Consul?”