tractions of Malmaison.--The dangers of greatness.--Josephine's
anxiety and care.--Remark of Napoleon to Bourrienne.

The winter of 1799 opened upon France in the deepest gloom. The French
were weary of the horrors of the Revolution. All business was at a
stand. The poor had neither employment nor bread. Starvation reigned in
the capital. The Austrians had again entered Italy, and beaten the
French at almost every point. No tidings were received from Bonaparte
and the army in Egypt. Rumors of the death of Napoleon and of a
disastrous state of the enterprise filled the city. The government at
Paris, composed of men who had emerged from obscurity in the storms of
revolution, was imbecile and tyrannical in the extreme. The nation was
weary beyond endurance of the strife of contending factions, and
ardently desired some strong arm to be extended for the restoration
of order, and for the establishment of an efficient and reputable
government. "The pear was ripe."

On the evening of the 9th of November, a large and very brilliant party
was assembled in Paris at the house of M. Gohier, president of the
Directory. The company included all the most distinguished persons then
resident in the metropolis. Josephine, being in Paris at that time, was
one of the guests. About midnight, the gentlemen and ladies were
gathering around a supper table very sumptuously spread, when they were
startled by a telegraphic announcement, communicated to their host, that
Bonaparte had landed that morning at Frejus, a small town upon the
Mediterranean shore. The announcement created the most profound
sensation. All knew that Napoleon had not returned at that critical
moment without an object. Many were pale with apprehension, conscious
that his popularity with the army would enable him to wrest from them
their ill-gotten power. Others were elated with hope. Yet universal
embarrassment prevailed. None dared to express their thoughts. No
efforts could revive the conviviality of the evening, and the party soon
dispersed.

Josephine, with the deepest emotion, hastened home, immediately summoned
her carriage, and, taking with her Hortense and Louis Bonaparte, set
out, without allowing an hour for repose, to meet her husband. She was
very anxious to have an interview with him before her enemies should
have an opportunity to fill his mind with new accusations against her.
The most direct route from Paris to Frejus passes through the city of
Lyons. The