Dennis Wheatley - The wanton princess

For a moment the General remained silent, then he said, 'When last we met I recall that you were acting as the personal emissary of Mr. Pitt. May I ask what is your position now?'

'Mr. Pitt's retirement made no difference to my status,' Roger lied blandly, 'But our present Prime Minister leaves all such matters to my Lord Hawkesbury at the Foreign Office.' Then, to draw Pichegru out, he added, 'But for the past year my master has employed mc mainly in affairs concerning Russia, so I am ill informed on what is passing in Royalist circles here in England.'

Even an astuter man than the simple soldier, having already received from Roger a huge bribe to assist in an attempt to restore the French monarchy, could not have been blamed for trusting him completely; and Pichegru replied at once:

'We already have a plan for kidnapping Bonaparte, but lack of funds has so far prevented us from putting it into execution. Since you are prepared to aid us I would like you to come to the Cercle Francais in Soho Square on Friday next at six o'clock. I and my friends who are concerned in this meet there every Friday, and a room in the club is set apart in which we pretend to play cards but actually hold our conferences.'

Hiding his elation, Roger willingly agreed, and over the remainder of their meal they talked of general matters. As they were about to part Pichegru said, 'You must pardon me. Monsieur, but I have forgotten your name.'

Roger smiled, 'When we met I was using that of Robert McElfic and in this affair 'twill serve as well as any other.'

On Friday 6th, he duly went to the Cercle Francais and found it had previously been a large private mansion. On enquiring for General Pichegru he was taken up a broad staircase and into the principal salon on the first floor at the back of the house, in which a score or more of Frenchmen were either reading news-sheets or talking. Pichegru greeted him warmly and after some minutes of casual conversation, led him back across the landing to a lofty but much smaller room on one side of the staircase with a single tall window looking out on to the street.

Six other Frenchmen were seated round a table at cards, and when the General introduced Roger to them the only names that Roger recognized were those of Baron de Roll and Melee de la Touchc. The latter was a tall gawky man with, Roger decided, a decidedly shifty look. After a few polite exchanges they pushed the cards aside and got down to business.

It emerged that the brave Chouan leader, Georges Cadoudal, was already in Paris and, with a small company of his Breton patriots, was prepared to undertake the kidnap­ping of Napoleon one dark Saturday night when he was on his way from the Palace of St. Cloud to spend Sunday at Malmaison. Other Chouans in relays would rush the prisoner to the coast, but for that many horses would have to be pur­chased and tended in secret stables, for perhaps several weeks, and a ship would have to be held in readiness to transport the captive across the Channel.

Roger conceded in his own mind that Pichcgru, and per­haps several of the others, honestly believed this to be pos­sible; but his own conviction was that it was not. Too many people would have to be involved in it for the plot not to be betrayed or go wrong somewhere; so all the odds were that to make certain of the success of their coup some of the more unscrupulous of the conspirators intended to murder Napo­leon soon after he had been kidnapped.

The next stage in the plan was to seize power before one of the other Consuls, or perhaps Bcrnadotte, could do so. For this a man was required who had the confidence and respect of the French people. As a general who had been denounced and sought refuge in England, Pichegru could not fill the bill; but Moreau could. So it was intended that Pichegru should go secretly to Paris, and persuade his old comrade-in-arms, on a given signal that Bonaparte had been got out of the way, to raise the troops of the Paris garrison, who adored him, and declare for the King. At the same time a Bourbon Prince was to enter France and take over from Morcau as Regent until Louis XVIII could be brought from Mittau on the distant Baltic.

A long discussion followed during which Roger learned that an Abbe David, General Lajolais and a man named Querelle were the principal Royalist agents then in Paris and that one of them would arrange the meeting between Pichegru and Moreau. But when he pressed for further information about these people and the identity of the Prince who was to act as Regent the conspirators refused it. They declared that they could not disclose such matters without the consent of their chief, Monsieur Hyde de Neuville, who had recently been in Paris and caught such a severe cold while recrossing the Channel that he was in bed, which had prevented him from attending the conference that evening.

At that, in order to learn further details of the plot Roger dug his toes in. He said that if he was to finance the operation he must be able to give his master full particulars of it, and especially the name of the Prince, as there were several and the British Government would have greater confidence in some than in others.

In consequence it was agreed that, as by Monday Hyde dc Neuville should be sufficiently recovered, they would meet again with him present. Roger then spent the remainder of the evening drinking and talking with his new friends and left them greatly pleased with the progress he was making.

On the evening of Monday 9th Roger again went to the Cercle Frangais and, this time, on giving his name was shown straight up to the front room on the first floor. As he was a little early only four of the conspirators—de la Touche, the Baron dc Roll, the Chevalier dc Brie and a Colonel Lafont—had assembled, but they greeted him cordially and poured him a glass of wine. A few minutes later Pichegru came in followed by a thick-set middle-aged man. After smiling at Roger the General turned to his companion and said,

'De Neuville, this is Mr. McElfic who, as I have told you, has promised ...'

The rest of his sentence was drowned in a roar from dc Neuville. His eyes starting from his head, he thrust out an accusing finger at Roger and shouted, 'Are you gone mad that you have betrayed our secrets to this man? He is le Colonel Breuc, one of the Corsican's Aides-dc-Camp.'

22

The Grim Affair of the Due d'Enghien

Roger drew a quick breath. He had never before to his know­ledge seen dc Neuville, so was taken completely by surprise.

Pichegru's jaw dropped and for a moment he looked dumbfounded. Then, turning on de Neuville he said sharply, 'You must be mistaken. This is the man who in '95 signed an order for a million francs on the British Treasury with the object of bringing about a Restoration. I'd stake my life on that.'

'In '95,' de Neuville sneered. 'Many a man has changed his coat since then.'

'But damn it man!' protested the General. 'He is prepared to do the same again. To suggest that he is one of Bonaparte's people does not make sense. He was then Mr. Pitt's personal emissary, and now represents my Lord Hawkesbury.'

'Have you proof of that?'

'No,' Pichegru hesitated. 'I've naught but his word.'

'Then you have been fooled. I tell you I know him to be le Colonel Breuc. In Paris, less than a month ago, I stood within fifteen feet of him. It was at I the entrance to the Tuileries and he held Bonaparte's horse as the Corsican dismounted.'

De la Touche, dc Roll and the other two men had come to their feet and were staring at Roger threateningly. For a moment he considered attempting to play his old gambit of mistaken identity. But he was seized with a sudden conviction that they would never believe him if he now protested that he was the English Admiral's son and Colonel Brcuc a cousin who had often been mistaken for him.