stages, and was welcomed by fetes in each town through which she passed.  Each day the Emperor sent her a letter from his own hand, and she replied regularly.  The first letters of the Empress were very short, and probably cold, for the Emperor said nothing about them; but afterwards they grew longer and gradually more affectionate, and the Emperor read them in transports of delight, awaiting the arrival of these letters with the impatience of a lover twenty years of age, and always saying the couriers traveled slowly, although they broke down their horses.

The Emperor returned from the chase one day holding in his hands two pheasants which he had himself killed, and followed by footmen bearing in their hands the rarest flowers from the conservatory of Saint-Cloud.  He wrote a note, and immediately said to his first page, “In ten minutes be ready to enter your carriage.  You will find there this package which you will give with your own hand to her Majesty the Empress, with the accompanying letter.  Above all do not spare the horses; go as fast as possible, and fear nothing.  The Duke of Vicenza shall say nothing to you.”  The young man asked nothing better than to obey his Majesty; and strong in this authority, which gave him perfect liberty, he did not grudge drink money to the postilions, and in twenty-four hours had reached Strasburg and delivered his message.

I do not know whether he received a reprimand from the grand equerry on his return; but if there was any cause for this, the latter would not have failed to bestow it, in spite of the Emperor’s assurance to the first page.  The Duke of Vicenza had organized and kept in admirable order the service of the stables, where nothing was done except by his will, which was most absolute; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the Emperor himself could change an order which the grand equerry had given.  For instance, his Majesty was one day en route to Fontainebleau, and being very anxious to arrive quickly, gave orders to the outrider who regulated the gait of the horses, to go faster.  This order he transmitted to the Duke of Vicenza whose carriage preceded that of the Emperor; and finding that the grand equerry paid no attention to this order, the Emperor began to swear, and cried to the outrider through the door, “Let my carriage pass in front, since those in front will not go on.”  The outriders and postilions were about to execute this maneuver when the grand equerry also put his head out of the door and exclaimed, “Keep to a trot, the first man who gallops I will dismiss on arriving.”  It was well known that he would keep his word, so no one dared to pass, and his carriage continued to regulate the pace of the others.  On reaching Fontainebleau the Emperor demanded of the Duke of Vicenza an explanation of his conduct.  “Sire,” replied the duke to his Majesty, “when you allow me a larger sum for the expenses of the stables, you can kill your horses at your pleasure.”