he oath and sought refuge among the
Vendeans. Two or three times the Vendee was pacificated; twice she
was thought dead. A mistake! the Vendee was pacificated, but the Abbe
Bernier had not signed the peace; the Vendee was dead, but the Abbe
Bernier was still alive. One day the Vendee 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 Abbe 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 Abbe Bernier general agent.
Now, do you understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Well, the Abbe Bernier, general agent of the belligerent forces, and
furnished with plenary powers by the Comte d'Artois--the Abbe Bernier
has made overtures to me."

"To you, to Bonaparte, to the First Consul he deigns to--? Why, that's
very kind of the Abbe Bernier? Have you accepted them?"

"Yes, Roland; if the Vendee 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 Hedouville. He is to treat with the
Abbe 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 Melas will be defeated."

"General, give me time to write to my mother, that's all."

"Where will she stop?"

"At the Hotel 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 Hotel des Ambassadeurs?"

"Yes, general."

"I take it all on myself."

"Take it all on yourself, general?"

"Certainly; your mother can't stay at