"
"Alas! signor general," sighed the abbe, with contrite mien, "I
wanted to do something in the defence of our cause, and what can a
poor clergyman do?--he has no weapons--"
"Mind that in future you procure other weapons!" interrupted
Bonaparte, vehemently. "That will be better for you than to dare use
the Deity for your schemes of wickedness. I order you to receive no
more letters from Paradise, not even from Christ. Correspond with
your equals, and be on your guard, or you will soon find that I can
punish the disobedient!"
The abbe bowed penitently, and with tears in his eyes. Bonaparte
turned his back to him, and ordered him to be taken to Poncino.
From that day, however, much as he hated General Bonaparte, the Abbe
Sergi received no more letters from Paradise.
Nevertheless, the letters of the Abbe Sergi were not those which
gave the most solicitude to Bonaparte; much worse were those he
received from Paris, which gave him an account of the persevering
intrigues of his enemies, and the malicious slanders that were
circulated against him by the Directory, who were envious of his
power and superiority, and which mischievous and poisonous calumnies
were re-echoed in the newspapers.
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