At nine o’clock on the same evening, the very hour of Bonaparte’s arrival at the Tuileries, a lady, a friend, of my family, and whose son served in the Young Guard, called and requested to see Madame de Bourrienne.  She refused to enter the house lest she should be seen, and my sister-in-law went down to the garden to speak to her without a light.  This lady’s brother had been on the preceding night to Fontainebleau to see Bonaparte, and he had directed his sister to desire me to remain in Paris, and to retain my post in the Prefecture of the Police, as I was sure of a full and complete pardon.

On the morning of the 21st General Becton, who has since been the victim of his mad enterprises, called at my house and requested to speak with me and Madame de Bourrienne.  He was received by my wife’s sister and brothers, and stated that he came from M. de Caulaincourt to renew the assurances of safety which had already been given to me.  I was, I confess, very sensible of these proofs of friendship when they came to my knowledge, but I did not for a single moment repent the course I adopted.  I could not forget the intrigues of which I had been the object since 1811, nor the continual threats of arrest which, during that year, had not left me a moment’s quiet; and since I now revert to that time, I may take the opportunity of explaining how in 1814 I was made acquainted with the real causes of the persecution to which I had been a prey.  A person, whose name prudence forbids me mentioning, communicated to me the following letter, the original copy of which is in my possession: 

Monsieur le Duc de Bassano—­I send you some very important documents
respecting the Sieur Bourrienne, and beg you will make me a
confidential report on this affair.  Keep these documents for
yourself alone.  This business demands the utmost secrecy. 
Everything induces me to believe that Bourrienne has carried a
series of intrigues with London.  Bring me the report on Thursday. 
I pray God, etc. 
(Signed) Napoleon
Paris, 25th December 1811.

I could now clearly perceive what to me had hitherto been enveloped in obscurity; but I was not, as yet, made acquainted with the documents mentioned in Napoleon’s epistle.  Still, however, the cause of his animosity was an enigma which I was unable to guess, but I obtained its solution some time afterwards.

General Driesen, who was the Governor of Mittau while Louis XVIII. resided in that town, came to Paris in 1814.  I had been well acquainted with him in 1810 at Hamburg, where he lived for a considerable time.  While at Mittau he conceived a chivalrous and enthusiastic friendship for the King of France.  We were at first distrustful of each other, but afterwards the most intimate confidence arose between us.  General Driesen looked forward with certainty to the return of the Bourbons to France, and in the course of our frequent conversations on his favourite theme he gradually threw off all reserve, and at length disclosed to me that he was maintaining a correspondence with the King.