Burke and the Pimpernel Affair: An thrilling story of danger and intrigue in Napoleon's Paris by Tom Williams

Author:Tom Williams [Williams, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Big Red
Published: 2022-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15: Another party (but this time with an invitation)

Tonight, Burke had an address and an invitation. He also had a new and subtly more expensive outfit, delivered by William on the dot of ten. William had also arranged the hire of a carriage. It was important to look like a man of means and not an adventurer and James thought that Colonel Gordon would consider carriage hire a sensible use of his money.

This party was further from the centre – out in the Faubourg St Michel near the Luxembourg Palace. As his carriage clattered over the old Pont Neuf, Burke caught a glimpse of the lights of the Conciergerie over on his left and wondered if he would ever be able to bluff his way in.

Tonight he could afford to arrive at a more fashionable hour and the room was crowded as he entered. Josephine and her party, though, had not yet arrived. He exchanged greetings with some of the men he had met the night before and fought off the attentions of two or three determined young ladies. Clearly the revolution had consigned the idea of maidenly modesty firmly to the category of counter-revolutionary behaviour. Burke, though, could not afford to succumb to their charms. He was saving himself for Amelie.

It was not until midnight that the Empress and her entourage arrived at the party. While there was no formal ceremony – no trumpeters, no announcement of her arrival – the room fell briefly silent. Men bowed and women curtsied. Burke, whose own bow was exceptionally deep, marvelled at the degree to which the court of Napoleon had taken on the trappings of the monarchy that had been so bloodily overthrown.

He was pleased to see Amelie looking around, trying to spot him. When she did, her face lit up with a smile and she beckoned him to join her.

He made his way through the crowd which had, after that momentary pause, returned to their conversations and dancing.

As he reached the group around the Empress one gorgeously attired army officer took a pace towards him. “Excuse me, sir, but if you could return –”

Before he could finish his sentence Amelie was at his side explaining that Burke was her guest. The officer bowed his apologies and moved away and Burke found himself following Amelie towards the Empress. To his astonishment, Josephine greeted him by name.

“Ah, M de Burgh. I am so happy to see you here. You have quite turned our Amelie’s head.”

The Empress was well into her forties now, but the beauty that had made her the toast of Paris twenty years earlier still lingered. She was quite tall – probably an inch or two taller than Napoleon, which must, Burke thought, annoy the Corsican tyrant. Her hair was still dark and curled to her head. She was slim, but with magnificent breasts. Burke was relieved to see that, unlike so many of the younger ladies, she was respectably covered but he could well believe that in her younger days her charms were, as so often rumoured in London, enjoyed by many of the men of Paris.

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