Bonaparte alleged that Kleber said to him, “General, you are as great as the world!” Such a remark is in direct opposition to Kleber’s character.  He was too sincere to say anything against his conviction.  Bonaparte, always anxious to keep Egypt, of which the preservation alone could justify the conquest, allowed Kleber to speak because he acted at the same time.  He knew that Kleber’s sense of military duty would always triumph over any opposition he might cherish to his views and plans.  Thus the death of his lieutenant, far from causing Bonaparte any feeling of satisfaction, afflicted him the more, because it almost totally deprived him if the hope of preserving a conquest which had cost France so dear, and which was his work.

The news of the death of Kleber arrived shortly after our return to Paris.  Bonaparte was anxiously expecting accounts from Egypt, none having been received for a considerable time.  The arrival of the courier who brought the fatal intelligence gave rise to a scene which I may relate here.  It was two o’clock in the morning when the courier arrived at the Tuileries.  In his hurry the First Consul could not wait to rouse any one to call me up.  I had informed him some days before that if he should want me during the night he should send for me to the corridor, as I had changed my bedchamber on account of my wife’s accouchement.  He came up himself and instead of knocking at my door knocked at that of my secretary.  The latter immediately rose, and opening the door to his surprise saw the First Consul with a candle in his hand, a Madras handkerchief on his head, and having on his gray greatcoat.  Bonaparte, not knowing of the little step down into the room, slipped and nearly fell, “Where is Bourrienne?” asked he.  The surprise of my secretary at the apparition of the First Consul can be imagined.  “What; General, is it you?”—­” Where is Bourrienne?” Then my secretary, in his shirt, showed the First Consul my door.  After having told him that he was sorry at having called him up, Napoleon came to me.  I dressed in a hurry, and we went downstairs to my usual room.  We rang several times before they opened the door for us.  The guards were not asleep, but having heard so much running to and fro feared we were thieves.  At last they opened the door, and the First Consul threw on the table the immense packet of despatches which he had just received.  They had been fumigated and steeped in vinegar.  When he read the announcement of the death of Kleber the expression of his countenance sufficiently denoted the painful feelings which arose in his mind.  I read in his face; Egypt is lost!

CHAPTER III.