"Remember me?" The tall man said "Because I remember you." He pushed the sword forward until its point touched Sharpe's neck. "I remember you very well, Major Sharpe, " he said, "very well indeed. Welcome home."

SHARPE sat beside Luciile at his kitchen table. One man stood behind him with a pistol while Sergeant Guy Challon chopped Sharpe's sword into the table's edge. "A clumsy weapon, " he said derisively. "It works better on Frenchmen than on tables, " Sharpe said. "Put the sword down, Sergeant! " the small bespectacled man complained. "Put it on the pile. Someone will pay a few francs for it." He watched as the sergeant added the sword to the pile of silver and other small valuables that was growing beside the kitchen door. The collected loot included Lucille's small stock of jewelry, among which had been a large ruby that had come from Napoleon's own treasure chests and the small man had seized on the stone as evidence of Sharpe's wealth. He had introduced himself as Maitre Henri Lorcet and explained that he was a lawyer. "And I had the honour, " he went on, of drawing up the last will and testament of Major Pierre Ducos. This is it, " he had said, producing a long document that he smoothed on the kitchen table. Now, with the sword safely put away, he tapped the paper as though it somehow gave legitimacy to his presence. "The will mentions the existence of a hoard of gold, once the property of Napoleon Bonaparte. Lorcet looked up at Sharpe, and the wan light flashed off his round spectacle lenses. "Major Ducos was kind enough to bequeath the treasure to me and to Sergeant Challon, and he indicated that you would know where it was to be found." He paused, "You do know about this gold, Major Sharpe?" "I know about it, " Sharpe admitted. Two-years before, when Napoleon had been banished to Elba, Sharpe had helped rescue the Emperor's treasure that had been lost on its journey to the island. Pierre Ducos had stolen the gold, and Sergeant Challon had been Ducos's helper, and though Ducos was long dead, he had somehow reached from his grave to wish this trouble on his old enemy.