Napoleon's adjutant, Eugene Merlin, arrived in the morning with an order: Napoleon wanted to see Georgiana.
It was a very formal kind of invitation. Nearly all ministers were notified this way when summoned to see the First Consul. A small squad of the Imperial Guard had come with Merlin as well. She felt that she might not return alive to watch the next morning's sunrise from the tower.
She did not resist and went with them. Fiegel accompanied her. They traveled on foot, and quite a few people gathered along the way to watch their procession.
When they arrived at the Tuileries Palace, she was not taken to the study, but to the Council of State chamber, where the horseshoe-shaped table stood. She did not know whether the other councillors had not arrived or had already left. Napoleon was the only one inside.
He had been reading another document. When he noticed Georgiana's arrival, he closed it. The adjutants all withdrew and shut the door behind them.
Napoleon possessed a strange kind of magic. Those who had never met him imagined him arrogant, overbearing, and utterly full of himself. Yet upon seeing him in person, they would find that he was a very calm man—at least, when he was not angry, he could be quite lenient.
But he was not smiling now. His brow was slightly furrowed as he tossed two documents onto a table near her.
"Take a look," he said coldly.
Georgiana picked up the reports. The upper one was from the Paris Police Department, while the one beneath was an investigation report from local government officials and the Special Tribunal. Both concerned "adulterated bread."
People paid such high prices for bread, naturally hoping to get bread made entirely from refined flour. Adulterated bread had rye, oat flour,