‘Well? What have you got from him?’

‘Not much, sire.’ Rapp pursed his lips. ‘My boys had to work him over before we began to loosen his tongue.’

‘So I can see.’

‘He says his name is Friedrich Staps. He’s from Saxony.’

‘Who sent him to kill me?’

Rapp shrugged. ‘He says he was acting by himself.’

‘A likely story!’ Napoleon snorted. ‘Someone sent him. Someone who was too cowardly to face me in person. This boy must have had accomplices. I must have their names.’

‘He denied there was anyone else, sire.’

‘Then he’s lying.’

‘I don’t think so, sire. He was questioned for over eight hours. If he was trying to hide anything he would have said something by now that would have given the truth away.’ Rapp paused and regarded the youth frankly. ‘He stuck to his story through it all. He says he acted alone.’

‘I see,’ Napoleon mused. ‘What else did he say?’

‘He is a clerk in a trading company. He believes in a greater union of the German states, and he accuses you of standing in the way of the destiny of the German people.’

‘What about his family? Did he confess any links to the Prussian court?’

‘Hardly, sire. Staps says that his father is a parson.’

‘Then he did a bad job of teaching his son the ten commandments.’ Napoleon stood in front of the youth and shook his head slowly. ‘Whatever happened to “Thou shalt not kill”, eh?’

Staps swallowed the blood in his mouth and raised his head to look squarely at the French Emperor. ‘You tell me, sire. After all, I have attempted to kill one man. You have killed tens of thousands.’

Napoleon was silent for a moment. ‘That is different. That is war. What you tried to do was murder.’

‘That’s a matter of perspective,’ Staps replied.

‘Really?’ Napoleon smiled faintly. His curiosity was aroused by the young Saxon. He turned to Rapp. ‘Is he securely bound?’

‘Yes, sire. I checked his bonds myself.’

‘Then I want your men to wait outside. You stay.’

‘Yes, sire.’

The sergeants picked up their jackets and bowed their heads before marching across the room to the door of the storeroom. Napoleon waited until the door had closed behind them and then took one of the stools and dragged it round and sat directly in front of Staps. General Rapp stood to one side, behind the prisoner, ready to intervene should he try anything, even tightly bound as he was.

Napoleon stretched his shoulders, easing the strain, and then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and clasping his fingers together. ‘Young man, surely you can see that what you attempted was evil. Not only evil, but irrational. You could not hope to escape.’

‘I was not concerned by that,’ Staps replied, licking his lips and wincing at the pain this provoked.‘I merely wanted to kill you. Nothing else mattered.’

‘That is absurd,’ Napoleon countered.‘You were prepared to commit suicide?’