Chapter Summaries

Georgiana and Bonaparte left the village for Montigny after Corneille’s investigation stalled, and she tried to recover from the danger and exhaustion of the past days. She shared a plan to evade the Methuen Treaty with Bonaparte, then fell asleep in the bath while leaning against him.

• Corneille’s investigation ended without a body, and Rouen’s authorities quietly suppressed the prints and records linking the case to Whistling Jack.
• Georgiana and Bonaparte went to Montigny, where she bathed in the Renard family’s house and worried that Maria’s village would be massacred if its Scourers were discovered.
• Bonaparte entered Georgiana’s room and told her not to make herself suffer, while she insisted she was fine and reflected on the dangers facing Maria.
• Georgiana proposed selling wine as liquor mixed with cinchona powder to make French and Portuguese wine tariffs equal without forcing Britain to violate the Methuen Treaty.
• Georgiana thanked Bonaparte for saving her and asked to see fireworks visible across the Channel; she leaned against him in the bath and fell asleep.

Georgiana reflected on the consequences of political and economic systems, then realized that workers’ employment passports connected free trade to travel inland and exposed a hidden scheme. After comforting her companions, she met Chaptal and Archbishop Cambacérès, who said they would wait for the mountain searchers to return.

• Georgiana wrote Napoleon a lengthy paper proposing a stable arrangement linking France, England, Belgium, and Lombardy, while hoping to preserve peace.
• Studying Belgium’s rivers and trade, Georgiana realized that employment passports could control movement from ports into the interior and suspected Henry Petty’s scheme was tied to the Habeas Corpus Act.
• Matilda, Feilier, and Margarita rushed in, worried about Georgiana’s dangerous visit to the School of Athens, and Georgiana comforted them.
• Chaptal and Archbishop Cambacérès arrived, and Chaptal said they would stay a day and wait for the men searching the mountain to return.

Georgiana discussed river transport, French industry, and the University of Rouen with Chaptal and Archbishop Cambacérès. After realizing they were addressing her social and political missteps, she agreed to leave the university to local efforts and heard Cambacérès recommend Leila du Renard while asking when the girls' school would reopen.

• Georgiana considered the challenges of flatboats and concluded that France needed skilled designers, while Chaptal raised the University of Rouen and the need to support French steelmaking.
• Chaptal and Cambacérès pointed out that Georgiana had failed to invite officials to the art-gallery ball and warned her about setting a precedent by excusing a supposed wizard.
• Georgiana understood their advice, thanked them, and explained her belief that medicinal wine could serve as medicine when people believed in its use.
• Georgiana said she had spent little time in Rouen and recalled a soldier with a daughter; Cambacérès said the soldier would be buried and the daughter should stay in Rouen.
• Cambacérès recommended the house owner's daughter, Leila du Renard, to Georgiana and asked when the girls' school would reopen.

Georgiana weighed the risks of Napoleon’s industrial ambitions and financial fervor while reflecting on France’s agricultural needs and the limits of experience. After Bishop Cambacérès left her a record of a seventeenth-century witchcraft interrogation, she closed the book and listened to the sound of porcelain breaking.

• Georgiana realized the Archbishop and Chaptal expected her to accept blame for the university’s situation and Layla’s prospects.
• Georgiana considered how railway speculation, industrial expansion, and Napoleon’s ability to inspire fervor could lead France into financial disaster.
• Georgiana reflected on steel production, trade, and the need to solve France’s food-security problem through better agriculture.
• Bishop Cambacérès left Georgiana a handwritten interrogation record describing accusations against the farmer Michele Zoppe from 1642 to 1647.
• Georgiana closed the record and shut her eyes as she heard cheers followed by porcelain shattering.

Georgiana read Inquisition records about Michele Zope, whose trial ended in his being starved to death, then discussed art and mysticism with Bonaparte. Their tense conversation turned intimate and threatening before Bonaparte suggested making Caprara Bishop of Milan and asked Georgiana to consider her proposed Ministry of Magic.

• The Roman Holy Office retried Michele Zope’s case, questioned physician Francesco Cassiano, and ultimately found Michele guilty without sentencing him to execution.
• Michele was starved to death in prison after leaving his clothes to the poorest prisoner and his last money for a Mass.
• Georgiana told Bonaparte about the Inquisition records and compared Leonardo da Vinci’s work with Bernardino Luini’s Virgin Mary in the Rose Garden.
• Bonaparte kissed Georgiana forcefully, warned that he would kill her if she betrayed him, and questioned her about her interest in Rouen and Josephine.
• Georgiana explained how Luini’s painting differed from the Mona Lisa, and Bonaparte proposed making Caprara Bishop of Milan if he stopped serving as the Pope’s envoy.
• Bonaparte asked Georgiana to develop her idea for a Ministry of Magic and whether she could do handicrafts, while she said she could knit sweaters.

Georgiana reached Yvetot with the First Consul’s convoy, where she learned why Napoleon had become angry and was drawn into disputes over Josephine, the household’s finances, and her own position. The chapter left her stunned by Madame Barillon’s warning that young men were pursuing her and that the First Consul was worried.

• Georgiana arrived in Yvetot and arranged comfortable quarters for the dignitaries at a farmhouse.
• Matilda brought Madame Barillon to Georgiana, who explained that Cardinal Fesch had refused his post in Lyon and that Josephine had redecorated Burgundy Residence.
• Madame Barillon told Georgiana that small household lenders wanted to establish a bank, while bread prices remained manageable and meat had risen to six sous.
• Georgiana questioned who had authorized Josephine’s actions and rejected the suggestion that she appeal to the First Consul or act as his wife.
• Madame Barillon revealed that young men were sending Georgiana flowers and love poems, and said the First Consul was worried about her suitors.

Georgiana reflected on Josephine’s role, France’s economic troubles, and the political risks surrounding Napoleon before Bonaparte confronted her about her feelings for Severus. The chapter ended with Georgiana kissing Bonaparte after he challenged her to forget the man she still loved.

• Georgiana considered Josephine’s support for Bonaparte and the need to protect bakeries and encourage local production.
• Georgiana reviewed her concerns about grain exports, tax revenue, roads, and Napoleon’s plans to review the troops.
• Bonaparte asked Georgiana why she was not crying and accused her of failing to seduce Severus because she still sought him out.
• Georgiana admitted she had feared being abandoned, and Bonaparte urged her to forget Severus.
• Georgiana slapped Bonaparte after he crudely compared their intimacy to her relationship with the dark wizard, then transformed her nightgown and kissed him.

Georgiana received Perrier and Fargeon, who warned that France’s backward textile industry and unchecked investment threatened their businesses unless tariffs on imported steel were restored. After sending them away, she turned to Fargeon for advice on organizing the upcoming ball in Le Havre.

• Georgiana began writing a letter to arrange lodging for a girl, but Madame Barillon interrupted to announce Perrier and Fargeon.
• Perrier presented a blueprint for scraper-haulage equipment for his family’s coal mine and asked Georgiana to support cooperation between universities and businesses.
• Perrier argued that Norman textile factories were backward and that overinvestment and worsening labor conflicts threatened the industry.
• Perrier urged Georgiana to persuade Napoleon to restore customs duties on imported steel, warning that the trade clause could damage French bankers and industry.
• Georgiana invited Perrier to the Le Havre ball and suggested he bring Alice as his dance partner.
• After Perrier left, Fargeon asked Georgiana what she thought of the banker, and she asked him how balls had been organized at court.

Georgiana listened as Fargeon described Marie Antoinette’s court life and his perfume experiments, then reflected on industrialization and the threats it posed to workers. Bonaparte left with Georgiana for dinner, while she kept Périer’s warning to herself.

• Fargeon recounted Marie Antoinette’s dislike of court etiquette, the rumors spread by Madame du Barry, and the extravagance surrounding the French court.
• Fargeon explained how he used Denis Papin’s pressure cooker design and new chemical research to improve perfume production.
• Georgiana focused on the pressure cooker, and Bonaparte asked Fargeon whether its principles could be applied to steam engines.
• Georgiana asked for fish, and Bonaparte promised to have dinner with her before leading her away.
• Georgiana recalled James Hargreaves’s spinning machine and the workers who attacked it, but chose not to raise concerns about industrial unemployment while Bonaparte was in a good mood.

Georgiana considered how Brittany could develop industry and studied a map while Napoleon toured towns in Normandy. The chapter ended with Napoleon delighted by a chain of beacon fires as Georgiana silently recalled how false alarms had helped bring down the Western Zhou.

• Georgiana discussed the need for industries in Brittany and planned to send some of Fargeon's distillation apparatuses there.
• Madame Barillon remarked on Georgiana's differences from Josephine and said the First Consul liked watching her.
• At Bolbec, Colonel Caulaincourt explained the town's location along an ancient Roman road, and Napoleon addressed the residents.
• Napoleon climbed a beacon tower and watched smoke signals pass from tower to tower.
• Georgiana thought of King You of Zhou's false beacon fires and chose not to warn Napoleon while he celebrated with the local garrison.

Georgiana arranged to quietly distribute some of the supplies she had bought and tried to avoid drawing attention to herself. A delayed letter from Toussaint Louverture arrived, and she ordered Feilier to check whether Fargeon’s equipment was available so Sèvres could requisition several machines.

• Georgiana considered how French military requisitions, shortages, and profiteering affected local people and the army’s supplies.
• Georgiana gave Meneval a list of goods to unload discreetly and distribute according to the First Consul’s instructions.
• Georgiana returned to her room and watched Madame Barillon and Matilda chat while the young women around them kept their distance from Feilier.
• Feilier delivered a letter from Toussaint Louverture that had been waiting for several days.
• Georgiana told Feilier to ask whether Fargeon’s equipment was still there and, if so, to tell him that she was requisitioning several machines for Sèvres.

Georgiana greeted Bonaparte after his return and played the pose of the Girl with a Pearl Earring at his request. Bonaparte confessed his love and pressed her to explain what she had been hiding, while Georgiana warned him about Normandy’s growing labor conflict and the bored garrison troops.

• Georgiana put away an unopened letter and warned Matilda not to let Feilier know about it before going to greet Bonaparte.
• Bonaparte criticized Georgiana for not changing clothes and asked her to recreate the Girl with a Pearl Earring.
• Georgiana changed into a brown outfit with a blue head covering and pearl earrings, then posed before Bonaparte.
• Bonaparte accused Georgiana of casting a love spell, kissed her, and declared that he loved her.
• Georgiana told Bonaparte about the tensions in Normandy’s textile industry and the dull lives of the garrison troops.
• Bonaparte asked Georgiana to have a child with him and said he wanted to possess every moment of her days.

Napoleon and Georgiana visited French industries and discussed Britain’s textile advantage, child labor, trade policy, and the prospects for improving cider and apple brandy. Georgiana imagined a regional competition and food festival, then wondered who would receive a golden cider as a reward.

• Chaptal demonstrated his expertise at a textile workshop by identifying unevenly twisted skeins as the cause of uneven dyeing.
• Perrier voiced doubts about the workshop owners, while the chapter described bankers’ reliance on a few major clients and the difficulty of securing long-term industrial loans.
• The chapter recounted British child apprentices’ harsh conditions, their campaign for the Factory Act, and their secret acts of machinery sabotage.
• Napoleon’s trade policies and the dispute over British imports were discussed alongside the threat British yarn and French jacquard cloth posed to textile businesses.
• At dinner, Napoleon discussed selective breeding and aging cider with Georgiana, who considered organizing an apple-brandy competition and food festival.
• Georgiana drank an over-fermented apple brandy and wondered who would receive the golden cider reward.

Georgiana and Leon Sterndale discussed factory reform, political power, and the dangers of imposing change, then considered how transport infrastructure could strengthen France’s influence in Belgium. The chapter ended with Leon proposing a railway from Mechelen to Brussels, and Georgiana recognizing its strategic value.

• Georgiana reflected on the Factory Act, the treatment of child workers, and the mill owners’ campaign against yarn exports.
• Leon Sterndale questioned Georgiana about taking Champagne to her countrymen, and she explained that an MP had urged her to read the Factory Act and watch his actions in India.
• Georgiana and Leon discussed his political opposition, his jealousy of Fargeon, and his fear of losing her.
• Georgiana warned Leon against harmful reforms that neglected farmers, then showed him her paper about Britain conceding inshore fishing rights.
• Leon studied a map of Belgium and proposed building a railway from Mechelen to Brussels; Georgiana explained how it could connect and influence the country’s major cities.

Georgiana considered French and British finance, industry, labor, and plans for railways and canals while Napoleon inspected the troops. She decided to write a letter assigning Feilier a new task, leaving the day’s work just beginning.

• Georgiana read The Times and considered how a treaty could channel orders to British Steel Company and support a railway between Brussels and Mechelen.
• Georgiana reflected on French banking and the risks of financing the provisions company and speculative industrial ventures.
• Georgiana thought about British politics, factory owners, child labor, and the exploitation of low-level workers.
• Georgiana decided that the Scottish engineer receiving a pension from France should design machinery for digging canals.
• Georgiana called Feilier, asked her to prepare sealing wax, and stood to write a letter.

Georgiana reflected on war, industry, diplomacy, and the costs borne by ordinary people while considering how to welcome guests. She chose a handmade silk flower for an invitation, hoping to avoid using flowers to mark social rank, and wondered whether Leon would be pleased.

• Georgiana considered the resentment that would follow suppressing students in Salamanca and favored building French support in Mechelen instead.
• She weighed the effects of mechanization, conscription, and military defeat on workers, farmers, and public morale.
• Georgiana recalled the dangers faced by young people in wartime and the lives disrupted by the Wizarding World's secrecy.
• Margarita showed Georgiana a gauze flower made using Berdan's craft, and Georgiana connected it with Tom Riddle and familial love.
• Georgiana gave the flower to Margarita to attach to an invitation, rejecting Madame Barillon's suggestion to use flower colors to distinguish rank.
• Georgiana asked whether Leon would be pleased, and Madame Barillon told her to do better than Josephine.

Georgiana joined Bonaparte and French officials for a carefully arranged lunch in Saint-Romain, where Bonaparte announced support for a cider competition and discussed industry and history. The meal took an unexpected turn when British student Robert Peel arrived and challenged Bonaparte to talk about Tacitus.

• Georgiana met Leila du Renard, whose father had arranged a banquet and local festivities for the party in Saint-Romain.
• Bonaparte seated Georgiana at his table with senior officials and told her to invite them to future gatherings.
• Bonaparte proposed a cider tasting contest, offering a pot still and wine-like market access as prizes for the winner.
• As the group ate mussels, Bonaparte and Fontanelle discussed Italian literature and Tacitus, prompting a young man to challenge their conversation.
• Robert Peel introduced himself as the son of a British politician and asked Bonaparte to discuss Tacitus, so Bonaparte ordered Georgiana to give up her seat opposite him.

Georgiana considered how trade policy and industrial change might affect France, while Bonaparte’s actions stirred conflict with Britain. At a meal in Saint-Romain, she became distracted by a tense encounter with young Robert Peel and feared the dispute could endanger Le Havre.

• Young Robert Peel quoted Tacitus’s account of Rome’s civil wars while arguing amid the growing dispute over the trade agreement.
• Georgiana weighed the effects of free trade on French workers and considered new industries, including cider production, milk transport, and machinery imports from Italy.
• Georgiana questioned whether Napoleon could persuade Italy to export silk-twisting machines and considered how that might help protect French industry.
• Georgiana reflected on the history of Saint-Romain, Le Havre, and the Roman emperors while the travelers prepared for wine tasting in Brittany.
• Georgiana listened as young Robert Peel and the others exchanged tense remarks over a meal, worrying that the British Navy might bombard Le Havre.

At a banquet, Napoleon debated history with Oxford student Robert Peel, who challenged his arguments about Tacitus and legend. Georgiana invited Peel to a banquet in Le Havre, while Napoleon’s failure to invite her to join him left her finishing lunch in silence.

• Georgiana reflected on Britain’s bombardment of Copenhagen and the political events that had led to it.
• Napoleon questioned Robert Peel about Tacitus’s account of Roman history, and Peel defended the pursuit of freedom from tyrants.
• Napoleon challenged Peel over Tacitus’s use of legends as historical evidence, and Georgiana said the student had met his match.
• Georgiana invited Peel to a banquet in Le Havre, and Napoleon allowed him to bring his friends.
• After Peel left, Georgiana stayed at her seat and silently finished lunch because Napoleon had not invited her to join him.

Georgiana discussed labor, industry, and political strategy with Bonaparte while traveling to a Ministry of Magic summit about the border and Brittany. Their conversation turned to the freedom he had given her and a past trip to Interlaken, before Bonaparte abruptly declared that Aurors would not be allowed in the French Ministry of Magic.

• A French Ministry of Magic official delivered Georgiana a letter summoning her to a summit in Le Havre about the border and Brittany.
• Bonaparte demanded an explanation of Georgiana’s assessment of his debate, and she warned him against alienating Normandy’s mill owners or pushing workers too hard.
• Georgiana argued that Britain’s faster factory profits came at the cost of children and workers, and Bonaparte asked whether that explained why British women avoided marriage.
• Georgiana told Bonaparte that he had given her freedom by making her feel she had a choice, then recalled visiting Interlaken and seeing Jungfrau with someone she had considered a friend.
• Bonaparte announced that Aurors would not be allowed in the French Ministry of Magic, then left the carriage, leaving Georgiana to question his comparison of Aurors to secret police.