Memory of Flames by Isabel Reid (Translator) Armand Cabasson

to trip him up by asking him about an unfamiliar subject. “‘And he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws.” Daniel ... I can’t remember which chapter...’
    Jean-Baptiste de Chatel was jubilant. ‘Magnificent! A real believer! So, Quentin — I may call you that? - as you know the Holy Scriptures so well, do you not agree that Napoleon is the Antichrist?’ Margont was dumbfounded and wondered if Jean-Baptiste was making fun of him. His reaction caused Jean-Baptiste’s joyous demeanour to falter somewhat.
    ‘But it goes without saying, Monsieur de Langes!’
    Margont was taken aback by such an extreme theory. Jean-Baptiste
    de Chatel took immediate offence and did not address another word to him. Their alliance had lasted all of the time it took to recite a couple of verses of the Bible, and Margont’s clever tactic had been turned against him: far from making a friend of Jean-Baptiste, he had turned him into an enemy.
    ‘Has our zealot finished his sermon?’ demanded Louis de Leaume with such irony that his words were like a slap.
    Clearly it was not permitted for a mere member of the group to monopolise the conversation at the expense of the leader. The Vicomte’s words had been designed to reassert his authority. But far from being called to order, Jean-Baptiste de Chatel gave Leaume a sardonic smile, provoking him even further. He was openly delighted at having roused Leaume’s temper, and his attitude made everyone else ill at ease. Leaume chose to ignore him. Margont wondered if the cause of the animosity between the two men was just rivalry, or if there was not more to it. Jean-Baptiste had a strange way of staring at the Vicomte in an insistent manner. Leaume turned to Margont.
    ‘What do you want in exchange for your help?’
    ‘I want everything. I want to be on the committee of the Swords of the King.’
    ‘To be on the committee, you have to have been a member for more than two months, and have done something to prove your loyalty.’
    ‘Nearly getting my throat cut in order to meet you - doesn’t that prove my loyalty! As for your two months, I don’t have the patience to wait, and in any case, we don’t have two months. The outcome of the war will be decided in the next few weeks. If my offer doesn’t interest you, no matter. There are many other royalist organisations: the Congregation, the Knights of the Faith, the Friends of Order ... The King will reward the men who help him the most and I’m going to become one of those men, with you or without you.’
    ‘We have our regulations, Monsieur.’
    ‘I’m sure you do. But you’re not the kind of man to let regulations stand in your way.’
    Louis de Leaume looked at him with a new eye. ‘How perceptive you are ... Perceptive people are dangerous, because they won’t be appeased by the lies that would satisfy others. Why do you wish to become part of our group? The Knights of the Faith, for example, are better known; why not go to them first?’
    There are too many of them. I would be lost in the mass. I would scarcely be heard and I would be nothing but a second-rate pawn, and I absolutely won’t have that! If you admit me to the top of your organisation, to your committee, my printing press can be heavily influential in your success. It’s up to you. Now it’s time to see if you really are the man of action you claim to be.’
    ‘I accept you as one of us, in effect as a member of our committee. I take full responsibility for the decision.’
    Leaume had not asked the opinion of any of the others before deciding, thus demonstrating that he was in charge. Varencourt and Honoré de Nolant were delighted and shook Margont’s hand in a show of brotherhood. Jean-Baptiste de Chatel merely nodded coldly at him, keeping his distance.
    ‘Now that you are one of us, there is one more person you should meet,’