Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/329

Rh "But—my mother. Already her heart is torn by the thought of parting with Clémence."

"Why need there be any parting? I think we could make her happy at Nicolofsky or St. Petersburg. I have often thought about this, and what you have said to me now gives me the courage to propose it."

"Do you intend to leave the army?" Henri asked in his turn, perhaps with some desire to change a subject upon which he was conscious of having said more than he intended.

"I do, as soon as peace is thoroughly settled. Of course, until then it cannot be thought of. At the Congress things sometimes looked doubtful enough."

"That affair of the kingdom of Poland seems to be causing a great deal of trouble," said Henri. "More than it is worth, I should say; but the Czar does not seem to think so."

"When did not an old wrong cause an infinity of trouble to the man who tries to repair it? By some strange fatality, it is upon him the punishment generally comes, not upon the man who did it," Ivan answered. "Those 'designs' upon Poland, for which many who ought to know better are now loudly blaming the Czar, simply mean two things—to Russia an assured peace, guaranteed by a strong, well-defended frontier; and to Poland the longed-for 'unity,' with as much of the longed-for 'independence' as she is fit to have and capable of using."

"It seems a strange way of repaying the Poles for having gone away en masse after Napoleon," said Henri.

"It is the way of my Czar," returned Ivan proudly. "Did you ever hear what passed between him and Kosakoski, the most devoted of Napoleon's Polish adherents? 'Is it true that you followed Napoleon to Fontainebleau?' asked the Czar. 'Yes, sire,' returned the Pole who certainly had the courage of his opinions. 'I was with him till he left it; and then, if he had asked me to go with him, I would have done it.' The Czar