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A PROPOSAL OF MARRIAGE.
Roland's first visit on arriving in Paris was to the First Consul.

He brought him the twofold news of the pacification of the Vendee, and the increasingly bitter insurrection in Brittany.
Bonaparte knew Roland; consequently the triple narrative of Thomas Milliere's murder, the execution of Bishop Audrein, and the fight at Grandchamp, produced a deep impression upon him.

There was, moreover, in the young man's manner a sombre despair in which he could not be mistaken.
Roland was miserable over this lost opportunity to get himself killed.
An unknown power seemed to watch over him, carrying him safe and sound through dangers which resulted fatally to others.

Sir John had found twelve judges and a death-warrant, where he had seen but a phantom, invulnerable, it is true, but inoffensive.
He blamed himself bitterly for singling out Cadoudal in the fight, thus exposing himself to a pre-arranged plan of capture, instead of flinging himself into the fray and killing or being killed.
The First Consul watched him anxiously as he talked; the longing for death still lingered in his mind, a longing he hoped to cure by this return to his native land and the endearments of his family.
He praised and defended General Hatry, but, just and impartial as a soldier should be, he gave full credit to Cadoudal for the courage and generosity the royalist general had displayed.
Bonaparte listened gravely, almost sadly; ardent as he was for foreign war with its glorious halo, his soul revolted at the internecine strife which drained the life-blood of the nation and rent its bowels.