writing; the Italian insisted that the soldier should go to Bonaparte.
The officer stated the rules of the post, and refused to comply with
the order of this singular visitor. Bartolomeo frowned heavily,
casting a terrible look at the captain, as if he made him responsible
for the misfortunes that this refusal might occasion. Then he kept
silence, folded his arms tightly across his breast, and took up his
station under the portico which serves as an avenue of communication
between the garden and the court-yard of the Tuileries. Persons who
will things intensely are very apt to be helped by chance. At the
moment when Bartolomeo di Piombo seated himself on one of the stone
posts which was near the entrance, a carriage drew up, from which
Lucien Bonaparte, minister of the interior, issued.

"Ah, Loucian, it is lucky for me I have met you!" cried the stranger.

These words, said in the Corsican patois, stopped Lucien at the moment
when he was springing under the portico. He looked at his compatriot,
and recognized him. At the first word that Bartolomeo said in his ear,
he took the Corsican away with him.

Murat, Lannes, and Rapp were at that moment in the cabinet of the
First Consul. As Lucien entered, followed by a man so singular in
appearance as Piombo, the conversation ceased. Lucien took Napoleon by
the arm and led him into the recess of a window. After exchanging a
few words with his brother, the First Consul made a sign with his
hand, which Murat and Lannes obeyed by retiring. Rapp pretended not to
have seen it, in order to remain where he was. Bonaparte then spoke to
him sharply, and the aide-de-camp, with evident unwillingness, left
the room. The First Consul, who listened for Rapp's step in the
adjoining salon, opened the door suddenly, and found his aide-de-camp