El Dorado · Chapter
VI: The Committee's Agent explained
In a clandestine meeting at the Temple prison, the Royalist conspirator de Batz negotiates with the corrupt Committee agent Héron, offering him 3,500 livres for three weeks of immunity.
What happens
In a clandestine meeting at the Temple prison, the Royalist conspirator de Batz negotiates with the corrupt Committee agent Héron, offering him 3,500 livres for three weeks of immunity. Héron, torn between greed and fear, accepts on the condition that de Batz abandons any plot to rescue the Dauphin (little Capet). After striking the bargain, Héron insists de Batz accompany him on a nocturnal round to show him the prisoner he must not touch.
Themes in this chapter
Power and Corruption
Héron's unchecked power as a Committee agent is corrupted by greed, as he accepts a bribe from de Batz while threatening him over the Dauphin.
Betrayal and Guilt
De Batz and Héron engage in a treacherous bargain, each betraying their supposed loyalties—de Batz the Royalist cause by bargaining with the enemy, Héron the Revolution by taking bribes.
Characters to notice
- De Batz
The Royalist conspirator negotiates with Héron for immunity, offering money in exchange for being left alone, but is forced to agree not to interfere with the Dauphin.
- Héron
The Committee's agent, described as tall and mean with a face showing cruelty and greed, accepts a bribe from de Batz but insists the Dauphin must not be touched.
Key passages
“I don't know that I am prepared to treat with you any longer. You are an intolerable bit of vermin that has annoyed the Committee of General Security for over two years now.”
Héron threatens de Batz, calling him a pest who has evaded the Committee for too long.
Héron's opening hostility masks his willingness to negotiate for a bribe.
“Leave me alone for three weeks and the money is yours.”
De Batz offers Héron 3,500 livres for three weeks of freedom from pursuit.
The bribe is the central deal of the chapter.
“That you leave little Capet alone.”
Héron insists de Batz must not attempt to rescue the Dauphin.
Héron's condition reveals his fear of Robespierre's wrath if the boy escapes.