nault, Parseval-Grandmaison, Monge,
Berthollet, and two or three other members of the Institute. The third,
which Bonaparte had just joined, counted in its circle Talleyrand,
Barras, Lucien, Admiral Bruix, [Footnote: AUTHOR'S NOTE.--Not to be
confounded with Rear-Admiral de Brueys, who was killed at Aboukir,
August 1, 1798. Admiral Bruix, the negotiator with Talleyrand of
the 18th Brumaire, did not die until 1805.] Roederer, Regnaud de
Saint-Jean-d'Angely, Fouche, Real, and two or three generals, among whom
was Lefebvre.

In the first group they talked of fashions, music, the theatre; in the
second, literature, science, dramatic art; in the third, they talked
of everything except that which was uppermost in their minds. Doubtless
this reserve was not in keeping with Bonaparte's own feeling at the
moment; for after sharing in this commonplace conversation for a short
time, he took the former bishop of Autun by the arm and led him into the
embrasure of the window.

"Well?" he asked.

Talleyrand looked at Bonaparte with that air which belonged to no one
but him.

"What did I tell you of Sieyes, general?"

"You told me to secure the support of those who regarded the friends of
the Republic as Jacobins, and to rely, upon it that Sieyes was at their
head."

"I was not mistaken."

"Then he will yield?"

"Better, he has yielded."

"The man who wanted to shoot me at Frejus for having landed without
being quarantined!"

"Oh, no; not for that."

"But what then?"

"For not having looked at him or spoken to him at Gohier's dinner."

"I must confess that I did it on purpose. I cannot endure that unfrocked
monk."

Bonaparte perceived, too late, that the speech he had just made was
like the sword of the archangel, double-edged; if Sieyes was unfrocked,
Talleyrand was unmitred. He cast a rapid glance at his companion's face;
the ex-bishop of Autun was smiling his sweetest smile.

"Then I can count upon him?"

"I will answer for him."

"And Cambaceres and Lebrun, have you seen them?"

"I took Sieyes in hand as the most recalcitrant. Bruix saw the other
two."

The admiral, from the midst of the group, had never taken his eyes off
of the general and the diplomatist. He suspected that their conversation
had a special importance. Bonaparte made him a sign to join them. A less
able man would have done so at once, but Bruix avoided such a mistake.
He walked about the room with affected indifference, and then, as if