"Marmont, do you begin!" said Oudet, in his gentle, solemn tones.

The general bent close to Oudet and whispered something into his ear, then
he stepped back and made way for another, who was followed by a third, and
a fourth.

"My brothers," said Oudet, after all had spoken, "my brothers, I see with
pleasure that the same spirit, the same conviction rules among you. You
have all uttered the same name; you have all said that Eugene Beauharnais,
the Viceroy of Italy, would be the fitting and desired successor of
Napoleon. I rejoice in this unanimity, and, in my position as one of the
heads of the great society, I give your choice my approval. The invisible
ones--the heads who are above us all, and from whom I, like the other three
chiefs of the league, receive my orders--the invisible ones have also
chosen Eugene Beauharnais for the future emperor of France. Thereby the
succession would be secured, and as soon as, by the emperor's death or
imprisonment, the throne of France is free, we will summon Eugene de
Beauharnais to be emperor of the French. May God grant His blessing upon
our work and permit us soon to find the hands we need to rid France of her
tyrant."

At that moment the door opening into the emperor's study, which had
remained ajar, was flung open and Napoleon stood on the threshold. His
iron face, which his officers had just seen in the repose of sleep, was now
again instinct with power and energy; his large eyes were fixed upon his
generals with an expression of strange anger, and seemed striving to read
the very depths of their hearts; his thin lips were firmly compressed as if
to force back an outburst of indignation which the gloomy frown on his brow
nevertheless revealed.