And then suddenly out of the dull hum of the traffic down in
Oxford Street I heard a sound detach itself, and grow louder and louder,
and clearer and clearer with every instant, until two yellow lights came
flashing through the fog, and a light cabriolet whirled up to the door
of the Foreign Minister. It had not stopped before a young fellow
sprang out of it and hurried to the steps, while the driver turned his
horse and rattled off into the fog once more.
"Ah, it is in the moment of action that I am best, monsieur. You, who
only see me when I am drinking my wine in the Cafe de Provence, cannot
conceive the heights to which I rise. At that moment, when I knew that
the fruits of a ten years' war were at stake, I was magnificent. It was
the last French campaign and I the general and army in one.
"'Sir," said I, touching him upon the arm, 'are you the messenger for
Lord Hawkesbury?'
"'Yes,' said he.
"'I have been waiting for you half an hour,' said I. 'You are to follow
me at once. He is with the French Ambassador.'
"I spoke with such assurance that he never hesitated for an instant.
When he entered the hackney coach and I followed him in, my heart gave
such a thrill of joy that I could hardly keep from shouting aloud.
He was a poor little creature, this Foreign Office messenger, not much
bigger than Monsieur Otto, and I--monsieur can see my hands now, and
imagine what they were like when I was seven-and-twenty years of age.
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