‘I’ve made my decision. I want you to be the first Governor of Mysore.’

‘Me, sir?’ Arthur was too tired to hide his shock and surprise.

‘You. Now get back to your tent and get some sleep.You take charge of the city first thing in the morning.’

Chapter 50 - Napoleon

Chapter 50

Napoleon

Paris, October 1799

Josephine entered the house as quietly as she could and closed the servants’ door behind her. Even though it was early in the evening the house was silent. She knew that Napoleon had already arrived.The coach he had travelled in from Marseilles was in the yard beside the stable at the back of the house, and the horses were quietly munching on their feed. She had instructed the driver of the carriage she had borrowed from Barras to drop her at the end of the street. As soon as word reached Paris that Napoleon had returned from Egypt, Josephine had been thrown into a panic. Enough people in the city already knew of her unfaithfulness for word to have come to the ears of her husband’s family, and it was certain that he would discover the truth soon enough, if he had not already. So Josephine had gone to her old friend Paul Barras and begged him to lend her his best carriage and horses so that she might meet Napoleon on the road to Paris and tell him the truth, before the rest of his family could fill his head with their version of events. She had resolved to find him, seek his forgiveness, promise to be faithful for ever more, and get him into bed. A night of passion would win him over so completely that no amount of sordid scandalmongering from his family would tear him from her. Unfortunately, the damned driver had lost his way on the road from Paris and after two days of confusion Josephine had ordered him to return to the capital.

She stood a moment on the threshold of the hall and listened. The only sound she could hear above the muffled noises from the street was the ticking of a clock. Swallowing nervously, she made her way along the hall, wincing as a floorboard creaked beneath her. A lamp burned above the front door and the warm glow of a fire in the hearth of the sitting room cast its orange hue in a slant across the hall. By the feeble light she noticed a large mass crowding the corner by the door. As she approached, the shape resolved itself into a pile of chests, hatboxes and bags, neatly stacked. With a stab of anxiety Josephine realised that these were her belongings, all of them, packed and ready to go.

‘Oh, no . . .’ she moaned. Then, steeling herself, she glanced into the sitting room. But it was empty, even though the fire had only recently been built up and the wood crackled and hissed as it burned.