e.

Coming back into the kitchen, he found Desiree standing where he had
left her. Glancing at her, he scratched his grey head in a plebeian way,
and gave a little laugh.

"Yes," he said, pointing to the spot where D'Arragon had stood. "That
was a man, that you fetched to help us--a man. It makes a difference
when such as that goes out of the room--eh?"

He busied himself in the kitchen, setting in order that which remained
of the mise en scene of his violent reception of the secret police.
Suddenly he turned in his emphatic manner, and threw out his rugged
forefinger to hold her attention.

"If there had been some like that in Paris, there would have been no
Revolution. Za-za, za-za!" he concluded, imitating effectively the
buzz of many voices in an assembly. "Words and not deeds," Barlasch
protested. Whereas to-night, he clearly showed by two gestures, they had
met a man of deeds.

CHAPTER X. IN DEEP WATER.

Le coeur humain est un abime qui trompe tous les calculs.

It is to be presumed that Colonel de Casimir met friends at the
reception given by Governor Rapp in the great rooms of the Rathhaus.
For there were many Poles present, and not a few officers of other
nationalities.

The army indeed that set forth to conquer Russia was not a
French-speaking army. Less than half of the regiments were of that
nationality, while Italians, Bavarians, Saxons, Wurtembergers,
Westphalians, Prussians, Swiss, and Portuguese went gaily forward on the
great venture. There were soldiers from the numerous petty states of the
German Confederation which acknowledged Napoleon as their protector,
for the good reason that they could not protect themselves against him.
Finally, there were those Poles who had fought in Spain for Napoleon,
hoping that in return he would some day set the ancient kingdom upon its
feet among the nations. Already the whisperers pointed to Davoust as the
future king of the new Poland.

Many present at the farewell reception of the Governor carried a sword,
though they were the merest civilians, plotting, counter-plotting,
and whispering a hundred rumours. Perhaps Rapp himself, speaking bluff
French with a German accent, was as honest as any man in the room,
though he lacked the polish of the Parisian and had not the subtlety of
the Pole. Rapp was not a shining light in these brilliant circles. He
was a Governor not for peace, but for war. His day was yet to come.

Such men as de Casimir shr