Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/340

330 striking a blow—a pusillanimity which made old Royalists like De Sartines and De Cranfort hang their heads with shame. It was natural that Ivan should feel the deepest anxiety about the household at Versailles, and for the sake of those so dear to him he could not be otherwise than thankful that a battle had been avoided, although on more public grounds it grieved him to the heart that Napoleon had succeeded so easily in establishing himself once more in Paris.

During his stay in Prague, Ivan was cheered by a letter from Clémence, bearing the impress of her own true, tender, and courageous spirit. Henri wrote also, giving a more detailed account of public events; and Emile contributed a version of his own, which was by no means unwelcome. The student of the Polytechnique wrote as though the entire glory of bringing back the Emperor belonged to him and his schoolfellows; and he exhorted Prince Ivan not to be in the least uneasy about the family at Versailles, assuring him that they would enjoy his powerful friendship and protection, with a naïve simplicity that gave his correspondent a hearty laugh. "But after all," thought Ivan, "some atonement is due to the vanity of Emile, which used to suffer so often from the keen though polished thrusts of his Legitimist friends."

All this time a burden of pain and apprehension lay heavy on the heart of Ivan. It was probable that by the return of Buonaparte from Elba, the great work of the Czar would be undone; it was already certain that his expectations were frustrated and his predictions falsified. He intended to do good, and the good had become the occasion of evil. Every mouth was opened now to reproach him with the untoward results of his chivalrous kindness to the vanquished. "You see, sire," said Francis of Austria, "what has occurred in consequence of your protection of the Liberals and the Buonapartists." "We are far," said Talleyrand, "from accusing that greatness of soul which treated a conquered Power almost like a conqueror; but