"
There was some truth in this, for Napoleon had promised that his
agent's perilous commission in England should be discharged within a
twelvemonth, and that time had elapsed without any renewal. But Carne
was clear-minded enough to know that he was bound in honour to give fair
notice, before throwing up the engagement; and that even then it would
be darkest dishonour to betray his confidence. He had his own sense of
honour still, though warped by the underhand work he had stooped to; and
even while he reasoned with himself so basely, he felt that he could not
do the things he threatened.
To a resolute man it is a misery to waver, as even the most resolute
must do sometimes; for instance, the mighty Napoleon himself. That
great man felt the misery so keenly, and grew so angry with himself for
letting in the mental pain, that he walked about vehemently, as a horse
is walked when cold water upon a hot stomach has made colic--only
there was nobody to hit him in the ribs, as the groom serves the nobler
animal. Carne did not stride about in that style, to cast his wrath out
of his toes, because his body never tingled with the sting-nettling of
his mind--as it is bound to do with all correct Frenchmen--and his
legs being long, he might have fallen down a hole into ancestral vaults
before he knew what he was up to. Being as he was, he sate still, and
thought it out, and resolved to play his own game for a while, as his
master was playing for himself in Paris.
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