of those mangy old posthorses of yours, while I get my cap and sword
and things. Quick march. Off with you (bustling him).

GIUSEPPE. Instantly, Lieutenant, instantly. (He disappears in the
vineyard, where the light is now reddening with the sunset.)

LIEUTENANT (looking about him on his way to the inner door). By the
way, General, did I give you my sword or did I not? Oh, I remember now.
(Fretfully.) It's all that nonsense about putting a man under arrest:
one never knows where to find-- (Talks himself out of the room.)

LADY (still at the sideboard). What does all this mean, General?

NAPOLEON. He will not find your brother.

LADY. Of course not. There's no such person.

NAPOLEON. The despatches will be irrecoverably lost.

LADY. Nonsense! They are inside your coat.

NAPOLEON. You will find it hard, I think, to prove that wild statement.
(The Lady starts. He adds, with clinching emphasis) Those papers are
lost.

LADY (anxiously, advancing to the corner of the table). And that
unfortunate young man's career will be sacrificed.

NAPOLEON. HIS career! The fellow is not worth the gunpowder it would
cost to have him shot. (He turns contemptuously and goes to the hearth,
where he stands with his back to her.)

LADY (wistfully). You are very hard. Men and women are nothing to you
but things to be used, even if they are broken in the use.

NAPOLEON (turning on her). Which of us has broken this fellow--I or
you? Who tricked him out of the despatches? Did you think of his career
then?

LADY (naively concerned about him). Oh, I never thought of that. It was
brutal of me; but I couldn't help it, could I? How else could I have
got the papers? (Supplicating.) General: you will save him from
disgrace.

NAPOLEON (laughing sourly). Save him yourself, since you are so clever:
it was you who ruined him. (With savage intensity.) I HATE a bad
soldier.

He goes out determinedly through the vineyard. She follows him a few
steps with an appealing gesture, but is interrupted by the return of
the lieutenant, gloved and capped, with his sword on, ready for the
road. He is crossing to the outer door when she intercepts him.

LADY. Lieutenant.

LIEUTENANT (importantly). You mustn't delay me, you know. Duty, madame,
duty.

LADY (imploringly). Oh, sir, what are you going to do to my poor
brother?

LIEUTENANT. Are you very fond of him?

LADY. I should die if anything happened to him. You must spare him.
(The lieutenant s