On Sunday at noon, just after lunch, Armand took Joseph to a café near the Bishop's Palace. The palace was the private estate of the great noble Duke of Orleans. The old duke's eldest son, His Highness Duke Charles, who also had "Joseph" in his name, had turned all the land along the Bishop's Palace's arcades into shops and cafés. Since these places were the private property of a great noble, the kingdom's police had no authority to enforce the law there. That made them a "lawless land" where ordinary people could come and go freely.
As a result, this became the center of "illegal activities" across all Paris, bar none. Smuggling, the trade in prohibited goods, and meetings of groups plotting against the Church and the king were all often conducted here. It would later become an important gathering place for the famous Jacobins.
Though Duke Charles, who provided all this and would later inherit his father's title to become the new Duke of Orleans, was a relative of the king and one of the greatest feudal lords in France, he was also a staunch liberal and a devoted follower of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He firmly believed in Enlightenment thought and advocated establishing a democratic, secular constitutional monarchy in France. He also believed that the feudal system of fiefs and slavery should be abolished, and was friends with many "conspirators."
Armand led Joseph to a seat by the window in the café. The afternoon sun shone through the window onto a bright red rose in the middle of their table.
"Looks like we beat Mr. Thenardier here," Armand said with a smile.
A waitress came over. "What can I get you, gentlemen?"
"Two coffees, please," Armand said.
The waitress went away, then returned shortly with a tray and placed a cup of coffee in front of each of them.
"Six sous," she said.
Duke Charles charged very little rent for his shops, but he had his own conditions: the goods sold there had to be relatively cheap. Sometimes the duke himself would put on trousers and disguise himself as an ordinary person, wandering around the cafés, bars, and other shops.
Armand put an eight-sou coin in the waitress's tray. She thanked him and turned to leave.
"Joseph, you can't stay cooped up in your room all the time. You should come out here whenever you have a chance. You'll meet all kinds of people and learn a lot more," Armand said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Joseph was about to answer when he saw the café door swing open. A man of about forty walked in, wearing a gray, coarse wool jacket. As soon as he entered, he craned his neck and looked around.
Armand raised an arm and waved at him. Then he said to Joseph, "That's the troupe leader, Thenardier. He's blinder than a brown bear in the Ardennes Forest. He can barely see anything from more than a little way off."
Thenardier had evidently spotted them. He strode over, pulled up a chair, and sat down beside them with a laugh. "Armand, my eyes may be as bad as a bear's, but my ears and nose are just as sharp. I heard everything you said about me. Ha ha... Well, this must be Mr. Bonaparte? I'm Henri Thenardier, leader of the Dragon and Rose Troupe. You can just call me Henri."
As he spoke, Thenardier reached out to Joseph.
Joseph shook his hand. "Joseph Bonaparte. I'm Armand's classmate..."
"His best friend," Armand added.
"You can just call me Joseph, too," Joseph said.
"Ah, Joseph, Armand must have told you why I'm here," Thenardier said. "Our troupe has needed a properly educated playwright for a long time. I'd been trying to get Armand to help, but he's a lazy fellow with too much on his plate. Whenever I ask him for a favor, I have to wait ages.
"The idea you gave us last time was brilliant. The applause at the curtain call nearly lifted the roof off. I've also read some of the plays you translated, and with Armand's recommendation, Joseph, I think you could easily take his place. I just don't know if you'd be interested in working part-time as a playwright for my little troupe."
As they discussed the terms of their collaboration, the café door opened again. That was nothing unusual. Cafés were places where people came and went all the time, and no one even bothered to look up.
A middle-aged man in his thirties walked in. He wore a black hat and trousers, and had green eyes and a light red beard. He looked around, spotted Armand and the others at once, and walked straight over. "Armand, I never expected to run into you here."
"Ah... Mr. Philippe." Armand's words clearly faltered when he saw him.
"Are you not going to introduce your two friends?" Mr. Philippe asked.
"Ah... Mr. Philippe." Armand seemed a little flustered. He hurried to his feet and introduced the other two. "This is my classmate, Joseph Bonaparte. And this is... this is Mr. Thenardier, leader of the Dragon and Rose Troupe..."
Seeing Armand's reaction, Joseph and Thenardier both realized that Mr. Philippe must be someone important. They got up too and greeted him.
"Please, no need for all that. Sit down," Mr. Philippe said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a friend of Mr. Lavoisier, Armand's uncle, so I know Armand. I had some free time today and came here to sit for a while. I happened to see Armand, so I came over. Now, what are you discussing?"
"Mr. Thenardier leads the Dragon and Rose Troupe and is a friend of mine. He needs a playwright with a strong appreciation for the arts, and my classmate Joseph fits the bill. So I introduced them and suggested they meet here," Armand replied hastily.
"The Dragon and Rose Troupe?" Philippe laughed. "Ah, the one that performed The Governor of the Island? It was quite good. I went to see it. Especially at the final curtain call, your Sancho suddenly stood up straight and turned out to be the tallest actor. That was amusing. But best of all was the message: noble people aren't necessarily clever and honest, and even the lowly can be noble. It was a fine play! Who wrote it?"
Though Thenardier didn't know who Mr. Philippe was, Armand's manner and Philippe's claim to be a friend of Armand's uncle, Lavoisier, made him realize that Mr. Philippe wasn't as ordinary as his clothes suggested. He was probably a man of considerable standing. In fact... a suspicion suddenly came to Thenardier's mind.
So he answered respectfully, "Mr. Philippe, I wrote the first draft myself. Then Armand helped me revise it, and it became something completely different. As for casting the tall actor as Sancho, that was Mr. Bonaparte's idea."
"Ah, Armand, I'm glad to hear you've done something truly worthwhile," Philippe said with a smile. "Mr. Thenardier—and Joseph, since you're Armand's classmate, I'll call you Joseph too. Theater is a great art. It can influence and educate many people. I hope to see more fine work from you in the future."
With that, he stood and tipped his hat slightly. "I see a friend of mine has arrived. Please excuse me."
After saying this, he left their table and walked toward the other side of the café.
Once Philippe had gone, Thenardier lowered his voice. "Armand, that Mr. Philippe..."
Armand lowered his voice too. "He's the owner of this place, His Highness Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke Charles. I never expected to run into him here."
"That's Duke Charles?" Joseph was astonished. "He didn't look like a great noble at all."
"The duke is a noble unlike any other. He's the exact opposite of the queen," Armand said quietly.
In his previous life, Joseph hadn't studied history. He knew only a few general things about the coming Revolution and had no idea of the crucial role this duke, later known as "Philippe the Egalitarian," would play in it. The only figures he could recall were the so-called three giants of the Jacobins: Robespierre, Marat, and Danton.
But Joseph didn't want to get too involved with any of them. For a while after the Revolution began, everything would be too chaotic. Today John might cut Luke's head off, and tomorrow Matthew might cut off John's. Being too closely associated with anyone would be dangerous, and could land you at the guillotine. Joseph was even planning to find an excuse to return to Corsica before the Revolution began.
The three of them finalized the terms of their collaboration and the payment, then said their goodbyes.
When Joseph returned to his lodgings, he saw Father Jean-Jacques coming over with a letter. "Ah, Joseph, you're back? Your brother sent you a letter."
Joseph quickly took it, thanked Father Jean-Jacques, and went back to his room. He sat at the table beside his small window, picked up the little table knife, slit open the envelope, and took out the letter to read.
The letter contained news Joseph already knew: Napoleon had successfully obtained the recommendation, and in about a month, around November 20, he would be able to set out for Paris.
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