“The son of a peasant from Anjou, who may be now about thirty-three or four years of age. Before the insurrection he was curate of Saint-Laud at Angers. He refused to take the oath and sought refuge among the Vendéans. Two or three times the Vendée was pacificated; twice she was thought dead. A mistake! the Vendée was pacificated, but the Abbé Bernier had not signed the peace; the Vendée was dead, but the Abbé Bernier was still alive. One day the Vendée was ungrateful to him. He wished to be appointed general agent to the royalist armies of the interior; Stofflet influenced the decision and got his old master, Comte Colbert de Maulevrier, appointed in Bernier’s stead. When, at two o’clock in the morning, the council broke up, the Abbé Bernier had disappeared. What he did that night, God and he alone can tell; but at four o’clock in the morning a Republican detachment surrounded the farmhouse where Stofflet was sleeping, disarmed and defenceless. At half-past four Stofflet was captured; eight days later he was executed at Angers. The next day Autichamp took command, and, to avoid making the same blunder as Stofflet, he appointed the Abbé Bernier general agent. Now, do you understand?” “Perfectly.” “Well, the Abbé Bernier, general agent of the belligerent forces, and furnished with plenary powers by the Comte d’Artois--the Abbé Bernier has made overtures to me.” “To you, to Bonaparte, to the First Consul he deigns to--? Why, that’s very kind of the Abbé Bernier? Have you accepted them?” “Yes, Roland; if the Vendée will give me peace, I will open her churches and give her back her priests.” “And suppose they chant the _Domine, salvum fac regem?_” “That would be better than not singing at all. God is omnipotent, and he will decide. Does the mission suit you, now that I have explained it?” “Yes, thoroughly.” “Then, here is a letter for General Hédouville. He is to treat with the Abbé Bernier as the general-in-chief of the Army of the West. But you are to be present at all these conferences; he is only my mouthpiece, you are to be my thought. Now, start as soon as possible; the sooner you get back, the sooner Mélas will be defeated.” “General, give me time to write to my mother, that’s all.” “Where will she stop?” “At the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs.” “When do you think she will arrive?” “This is the night of the 21st of January; she will be here the evening of the 23d, or the morning of the 24th.” “And she stops at the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs?” “Yes, general.” “I take it all on myself.” “Take it all on yourself, general?” “Certainly; your mother can’t stay at a hotel.” “Where should she stay?” “With a friend.” “She knows no one in Paris.” “I beg your pardon, Monsieur Roland; she knows citizen Bonaparte, First Consul, and his wife.” “You are not going to lodge my mother at the Luxembourg. I warn you that that would embarrass her very much.” “No; but I shall lodge her in the Rue de la Victoire.” “Oh, general!”