The delegates rose and began to file out of the room. Arthur felt a hand touch his shoulder as he reached the door and turned to find the Tsar looking at him gravely.

‘Your majesty?’

‘What will you do, my dear Duke?’

‘I must send word to my family to quit Paris as soon as possible. Then I will conclude our business here as swiftly as I can and make for Brussels to take up my command.’

‘Ah. Then it is for you to save the world again.’

‘That is the burden of us all, your majesty. The great test of our age is upon us.’

‘And if we fail?’

Arthur stared at him for a moment and shook his head.‘We dare not.’

Chapter 54 - Napoleon

Chapter 54

Napoleon

Laffrey, near Grenoble, 7 March 1815

‘Why have your men stopped?’ Napoleon demanded, as his carriage rattled to a halt on the rough track.

General Cambronne, the commander of the company of guardsmen leading the advance, pointed down the track in the direction of Grenoble.‘We ran into a battalion of infantry shortly after we set off this morning, sire.’

‘There was no shooting, I take it?’ Napoleon asked sharply. He had warned Cambronne against spilling any French blood when he had given him his orders to lead the vanguard of the tiny force Napoleon had brought with him from Elba. The former Emperor had landed near Antibes with just over a thousand men, a squadron of lancers and two cannon. It was a minuscule army with which to reclaim his throne, Napoleon mused, but he had advanced from the coast at once. Given the royalist sympathies of the people of Provence, he had chosen to avoid the easiest route towards Paris in favour of the road leading through the hills to Grenoble. So far he had been received with muted enthusiasm in the towns and villages he had passed through. Even though the enthusiasm for the Bourbons had waned, the people were anxious to avoid reprisals if Napoleon’s outrageous gamble failed. So they waited to see the outcome of his latest venture.

General Cambronne shook his head. ‘There was no violence of any kind, sire. As soon as we encountered their leading company I told our men to greet them warmly, and share some wine. Their captain would have none of it, though. He ordered his men to fall in and march back to join the rest of the battalion. I was told not to follow him, or he would order his men to open fire.’

‘Very well,’ Napoleon scratched the bristles on his cheek. This was the moment he had been fearing. So far, no one had stood in his way. Now he was confronted by armed men, whose officers were clearly determined to oppose his progress. The question was, would the men follow their orders when the crisis came?