o much the better?"

"Because there you will be near the men for whom you have fought."

"And then?"

"Then, when you have seen them--"

"What?"

"You will compare them with those against whom you have fought. But,
once out of France, colonel--"

Bonaparte paused.

"I am waiting," said Cadoudal.

"Do not return without warning me, or, if you do, do not be surprised if
I treat you as an enemy."

"That would be an honor, general. By treating me so you will show that
you consider me a man to be feared."

So saying, Georges bowed to the First Consul, and retired.

"Well, general," asked Roland, after the door had closed on the Breton
leader, "is he the man I represented him to be?"

"Yes," responded Bonaparte, thoughtfully; "only he sees things awry. But
the exaggeration of his ideas arises from noble sentiments, which must
give him great influence over his own people." Then he added, in a
low voice, "But we must make an end of him. And now what have you been
doing, Roland?"

"Making an end of my work," replied Roland.

"Ah, ha! Then the Companions of Jehu--"

"No longer exist, general. Three-fourths are dead, the rest prisoners."

"And you are safe and sound?"

"Don't speak of it, general. I do verily believe I have a compact with
the devil."

That same evening Cadoudal, as he said, left Paris for England. On
receiving the news that the Breton leader was in London, Louis XVIII.
wrote him the following letter:

I have learned with the greatest satisfaction, general, that
you have at last _escaped_ from the bands of the tyrant who
misconceived you so far as to offer you service under him. I
deplore the unhappy circumstances which obliged you to treat
with him; but I did not feel the slightest uneasiness; the
heart of my faithful Bretons, and yours in particular, are
too well known to me. To-day you are free, you are near my
brother, all my hopes revive. I need not say more to such a
Frenchman as you.

LOUIS.

To this letter were added a lieutenant-general's commission and the
grand cordon of Saint-Louis.

CHAPTER LI. THE ARMY OF THE RESERVES

The First Consul had reached the point he desired. The Companions of
Jehu were destroyed and the Vendee was pacificated.

When demanding peace from England he had hoped for war. He understood
very well that, born of war, he could exist only by war. He seemed to
foresee that a poet would arise and call him "The Giant of War."