tre Febre--he
was never tired of talking in confidence about the secret Royalist
Committee, and the near approach of the Restoration. The revolution
which was to bring it about, was to be a very peaceful one, according to
him. Bonaparte, taken prisoner by two of his generals, each at the head
of 40,000 men, was to be handed over to the English and replaced by "a
regency, the members of which were to be chosen from among the senators
who could be trusted." The Comte d'Artois was then to be recalled--or
his son, the Duc de Berry--to take possession of the kingdom as
Lieutenant-General.

Did Le Chevalier believe in this Utopia? It has been said that in
propagating it "he only sought to intoxicate the people and excite them
to acts of pillage, the profits of which would come to him without any
of the danger." This accusation fits in badly with the chivalrous
loyalty of his character. It seems more probable that on one of his
journeys to Paris he fell into the trap set by the spy Perlet who, paid
by the princes to be their chief intelligence agent, sold their
correspondence to Fouche and handed over to the police the royalists who
brought the letters. This Perlet had invented, as a bait for his trap, a
committee of powerful persons who, he boasted, he had won over to the
royal cause, and doubtless Le Chevalier was one of his only too numerous
victims. Whatever it was, Le Chevalier took a pride in his high
commissions, and went to meet d'Ache as an equal, if not a rival.

At the beginning, the conference was more than cold. These two men, so
different in appearance and character, both aspired to play a great part
and were instinctively jealous of each other. Their own personal
feelings divided them. One was the lover of Mme. Acquet de Ferolles, the
other was the friend of Mme. de Combray, and the latter blamed her
daughter for her misconduct, and had forbidden her ever to come back to
Tournebut. Le Chevalier, after the usual civilities, refused to continue
the conversation till he was informed of the exact nature of the powers
conferred by the King on his interlocutor, and the authority with which
he was invested. Now, d'Ache had never had any written authority, and
arrogantly intrenched himself behind the confidence which the princes
had shown in him from the very first days of the revolution. He stated
that he was expecting a regular commission from them. Whereupon Le
Chevalier, seizing the advantage, called him an "agent