"

His courageous pride did not fail him either in the interrogations he
had to submit to, or before the court of justice. His replies to the
President are superb in disdain and abnegation. He assumed all
responsibility for the plot, and denied knowledge of any of his friends.
He carried his generosity so far as to behave with courteous dignity
even to those who had betrayed him; he even tried to excuse the
indifference of the princes whose selfish inertia had been his ruin. He
remained great until he reached the scaffold; eleven faithful Chouans
died with him, among the number being Louis Picot, Joyaut and Burban,
whose names have appeared in this story.

Thus ended the conspiracy. Bonaparte came out of it emperor. Fouche,
minister of police, and his assistants were not going to be useless, for
if in the eyes of the public, Georges' death seemed the climax, it was
in reality but one incident in a desperate struggle. The depths sounded
by the investigation had revealed the existence of an incurable evil.
The whole west of France was cankered with Chouannerie. From Rouen to
Nantes, from Cherbourg to Poitiers, thousands of peasants, bourgeois and
country gentlemen remained faithful to the old order, and if they were
not all willing to take up arms in its cause, they could at least do
much to upset the equilibrium of the new government. And could not
another try to do what Georges Cadoudal had attempted? If some one with
more influence over the princes than he possessed should persuade one of
them to cross the Channel, what would the glory of the parvenu count
for, balanced against the ancient prestige of the name of Bourbon,
magnified and as it were sanctified by the tragedies of the Revolution?
This fear haunted Bonaparte; the knowledge that in France these
Bourbons, exiled, without soldiers or money, were still more the masters
then he, exasperated him. He felt that he was in their home, and their
nonchalance, contrasted with his incessant agitation, indicated both
insolence and disdain.

The police, as a matter of fact, had unearthed only a few of the
conspirators. Many who, like Raoul Gaillard, had played an important
part in the plot, had succeeded in escaping all pursuit; they were
evidently the cleverest, therefore the most dangerous, and among them
might be found a man ambitious of succeeding Cadoudal. The capture to
which Fouche and Real attached the most importance was that of d'Ache,
whose presence at Bivill