The
Marquis noticed it; everybody noticed it. Well, what difference did it
make to the old man? They might cry or they might not cry. Fight they
must, and fight they should. He had something of the old Roman spirit in
him, the Marquis d'Aumenier. Upon him had devolved the conduct of the
critical issue. If he could stop Napoleon then and there his venture
would be a mere escapade and a sorry one. If he could not, then God help
France and the world.

From the window of his prison, which overlooked the parade, Marteau had
seen and heard all. The Emperor was coming and he would not be there to
extend him a welcome. He forgot that if Napoleon had been a day later it
would have made no difference to Marteau if he never came. He would have
given years of his life, if it had been possible, to have marched with
the column.

Orders had been published that morning postponing his execution until the
return of the regiment. Just what was in the Marquis' mind no one could
absolutely say, but he was shrewd enough to recognize the possibility of
an outbreak or an attempted mutiny among the troops, when the sentence of
execution was being carried out. He did not want any difficulties of
that kind then. Not because he feared them or felt unequal to them! Oh,
no. But because such an outbreak would make the regiment more difficult
to control in the greater emergency, and he knew he needed all the
influence and moral power and force he could exercise to keep it in line
for the graver duty and more tremendous responsibility it must now face.
And because he did not wish to leave it with Marteau in Grenoble, he took
the regiment with him. If he could force it to do its duty and arrest
Napoleon, he could deal with Marteau at his leisure. The Emperor was the
greater issue, and Marteau benefited by that fact.

So, with drums beating and flags flying, the Fifth-of-the-Line marched
down the road. With the Colonel and his staff rode Sir Gervaise Yeovil
and his son. They had asked permission and it had been accorded them.
Indeed, the staff was scanty. Young St. Laurent and an orderly, besides
the two Englishmen, alone accompanied the old man. Realizing how
critical the situation was, and how important it was that the town should
be held, he had left every officer and man upon whom he could count with
the cavalry, and with instructions to watch Labedoyere particularly, and
check any disloyalty, if possible. If the Marquis alon