There was a flicker of a smile on Napoleon’s face.‘Indeed, it is a rare thing for a tsar to die of natural causes.’

Talleyrand nodded. ‘Quite, sire.’

Napoleon sat down at his desk and clasped his hands together. ‘We are dealing with something of a radical, then. That is good. We might yet bend such a man to our point of view.’

‘Especially as the Tsar has plans to extend the influence of Russia into the Mediterranean and the east.’

Napoleon glanced up. ‘Where he will run foul of British ambitions.’

‘Precisely, sire.’

‘Good. Well then, see to it that Caulaincourt feeds the Tsar a steady diet of information about Britain’s insatiable appetite for empire. As for Prussia,’ he smiled briefly, ‘let’s dangle the prospect of a little reward in front of them. We’ll offer the Prussians Hanover in exchange for neutrality. King Frederick William is no war hero.The man is weak and easily influenced. A bribe should be enough to buy his peace. The Tsar is our real problem. Especially as we are at war with Britain and are likely to be at war with Austria as well in the near future.’

‘Yes, sire,’ Talleyrand assented.

There was something in his manner that caught Napoleon’s attention and he looked closely at his foreign minister for a moment before he spoke again.

‘You have something to say.’

It was a statement of fact and not an enquiry, as the foreign minister recognised at once. He nodded.

‘Then speak.’

‘Yes, sire. It occurs to me that we might yet avoid a war with Austria, and perhaps even achieve a lasting peace with Britain.’

‘Peace with Britain? That treacherous nest of vipers? I think you are deluded, Talleyrand. There is no taste for peace amongst the rulers of that island.You have read what their newspapers have said about me.’ Napoleon stabbed a finger at his breast. ‘Monster, tyrant and dictator. That’s what they call me.’

Talleyrand waved a hand dismissively. ‘A mere foible of their press, sire. British newspapers are renowned for their partiality. As are those of Paris,’ he added with gentle emphasis. ‘It does not make them the mouthpiece of their government.And there are men in high places who would be willing to entertain the prospect of peace with France.’

‘Then why have they not announced their desire more vocally?’

Talleyrand shrugged. ‘It is not always easy to speak up for peace in time of war.Yet the subjects of Britain must be as weary of war as the citizens of France.There must surely be scope for our nations to live in peace, sire. We must break the cycle of hostility, before it ruins us all.We must negotiate.’