Two months after the Emperor sent for her; and she joined him at his headquarters in Finkenstein, where she remained from this time, leaving at Warsaw her old husband, who, deeply wounded both in his honor and his affections, wished never to see again the wife who had abandoned him.  Madame Valevska remained with the Emperor until his departure, and then returned to her family, constantly evincing the most devoted and, at the same time, disinterested affection.  The Emperor seemed to appreciate perfectly the charms of this angelic woman, whose gentle and self-abnegating character made a profound impression on me.  As they took their meals together, and I served them alone, I was thus in a position to enjoy their conversation, which was always amiable, gay, and animated on the Emperor’s part; tender, impassioned, and melancholy on that of Madame Valevska.  When his Majesty was absent, Madame Valevska passed all her time, either in reading, or viewing through the lattice blinds of the Emperor’s rooms the parades and evolutions which took place in the court of honor of the chateau, and which he often commanded in person.  Such was her life, like her disposition, ever calm and equable; and this loveliness of character charmed the Emperor, and made him each day more and more her slave.

After the battle of Wagram, in 1809, the Emperor took up his residence at the palace of Schoenbrunn, and sent immediately for Madame Valevska, for whom a charming house had been rented and furnished in one of the faubourgs of Vienna, a short distance from Schoenbrunn.  I went mysteriously to bring her every evening in a close carriage, with a single servant, without livery; she entered by a secret door, and was introduced into the Emperor’s apartments.  The road, although very short, was not without danger, especially in rainy weather, on account of ruts and holes which were encountered at every step; and the Emperor said to me almost every day, “Be very careful, Constant, it has rained to-day; the road will be bad.  Are you sure you have a good driver?  Is the carriage in good condition?” and other questions of the same kind, which evidenced the deep and sincere affection he felt for Madame Valevska.  The Emperor was not wrong, besides, in urging me to be careful; for one evening, when we had left Madame Valevska’s residence a little later than usual, the coachman upset us, and in trying to avoid a rut, drove the carriage over the edge of the road.  I was on the right of Madame Valevska and the carriage fell on that side, in such a position that I alone felt the shock of the fall, since Madame Valevska falling on me, received no injury.  I was glad to be the means of saving her, and when I said this she expressed her gratitude with a grace peculiarly her own.  My injuries were slight; and I began to laugh the first, in which Madame Valevska soon joined, and she related our accident to his Majesty immediately on our arrival.