I borrow this curious anecdote from the “Memoirs of Josephine,” the author of which, who saw and described the Court of Navarre and Malmaison with so much truth and good judgment, is said to be a woman, and must be in truth a most intellectual one, and in a better position than any other person to know the private affairs of her Majesty, the Empress.—­Constant.

   He was slain by a ball from a French cannon, which was discharged
   after the close of an action in which he had shown the most
   brilliant courage.—­Constant.]

Moreover, however great may have been the frailty of Princess Pauline in regard to her lovers, and although most incredible instances of this can be related without infringing on the truth, her admirable devotion to the person of the Emperor in 1814 should cause her faults to be treated with indulgence.

On innumerable occasions the effrontery of her conduct, and especially her want of regard and respect for the Empress Marie Louise, irritated the Emperor against the Princess Borghese, though he always ended by pardoning her; notwithstanding which, at the time of the fall of her august brother she was again in disgrace, and being informed that the island of Elba had been selected as a prison for the Emperor, she hastened to shut herself up there with him, abandoning Rome and Italy, whose finest palaces were hers.  Before the battle of Waterloo, his Majesty at the critical moment found the heart of his sister Pauline still faithful.  Fearing lest he might be in need of money, she sent him her handsomest diamonds, the value of which was enormous; and they were found in the carriage of the Emperor when it was captured at Waterloo, and exhibited to the curiosity of the inhabitants of London.  But the diamonds have been lost; at least, to their lawful owner.

CHAPTER XIV.

On the day of General Moreau’s arrest the First Consul was in a state of great excitement.

[Jean Victor Moreau, born at Morlaix in Brittany, 1763, son of a prominent lawyer.  At one time he rivaled Bonaparte in reputation.  He was general-in-chief of the army of the Rhine, 1796, and again in 1800, in which latter year he gained the battle of Hohenlinden.  Implicated in the conspiracy of Pichegru, he was exiled, and went to the United States.  He returned to Europe in 1813, and, joining the allied armies against France, was killed by a cannon-shot in the attack on Dresden in August of that year.]

The morning was passed in interviews with his emissaries, the agents of police; and measures had been taken that the arrest should be made at the specified hour, either at Gros-Bois, or at the general’s house in the street of the Faubourg Saint-Honore.  The First Consul was anxiously walking up and down his chamber, when he sent for me, and ordered me to take