“Madame Tascher, who has proved herself to be your true friend and relative, has just had her first interview with the Duke of Dalberg, the member of the provisional government.  She spoke of you, and I will here give you his response, word for word:  ’She is considered as being altogether foreign to the Bonaparte family, because she has separated herself from her husband.  She will be the refuge of her children, who are left to her.  She is so dearly beloved and highly esteemed, that she can be very happy.  She can remain in France, and do whatever she pleases; but she must now return to Paris.’  Countess Tascher came to me immediately after leaving the duke, in order to acquaint me with what he had said.

“Friends and foes alike say this about you:  ’Those who are not delighted with what is being done for the queen are bad people!  And as for her, what has she to regret in all this?  Only the good she has done!  Now, the world will dare to love her, and to express their love; she has so few wishes, she is so perfect!’

“In short, it would seem almost that the people are pleased with the misfortune that places you in the right light, and they say, ’She is far more worthy in herself than when surrounded by a glittering court!’

“Yesterday I saw the new arrivals from Fontainebleau, M. de Lascour and M. de Lavoestine.  They came to me to learn where you were to be found, and intend visiting you at once, either at Novara or at Malmaison, as the case may be.  These two gentlemen are true knights.  ’No matter what she is to become,’ said they; ’we can now show our devotion, without incurring the risk of being considered flatterers.’

“The last two weeks at Fontainebleau have been a period of the greatest interest.  All these young men, together with M. de Labedoyere and M. de Montesquieu, wished to accompany the emperor; but he forbade their doing so, and, in taking leave of them, appealed to them to remain, and to continue to serve their country zealously.

“Lascour and Lavoestine, together with many other officers of the army, are much displeased with the generals who left Fontainebleau without taking leave of the emperor.

“Upon taking leave of the Empress Josephine, the emperor is reported to have said:  ’She was right; my separation from her has brought misfortune upon my head.’

“It is said that the Duchess of Montebello will leave the Empress Marie Louise.”

But all these entreaties and flatteries, and these appeals to a mother’s heart, were, as yet, powerless to break the queen’s pride.  She still considered it more worthy and becoming to remain away from the city in which the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain were celebrating the orgies of their victorious royalism with the soldiers of the allied armies.  Instead of yielding to Louise de Cochelet’s entreaties, the queen wrote her the following letter: