ved mistress from scenes where she had so
long been the brightest ornament. Josephine descended, veiled from head
to foot. Her emotions were too deep for utterance, and she waved an
adieu to the affectionate and weeping friends who surrounded her. A
close carriage, with six horses, was before the door. She entered it,
sank back upon the cushions, buried her face in her handkerchief, and,
sobbing bitterly, left the Tuilleries forever.

Josephine was still surrounded with all the external splendors of
royalty. She was beloved throughout France, and admired throughout
Europe. Napoleon frequently called upon her, though, from motives of
delicacy, he never saw her alone. He consulted her respecting all his
plans, and most assiduously cherished her friendship. It was soon
manifest that the surest way of securing the favor of Napoleon was
to pay marked attention to Josephine. The palace of Malmaison,
consequently, became the favorite resort of all the members of the court
of Napoleon. Soon after the divorce, Madame de Rochefoucault, formerly
mistress of the robes to Josephine, deserting the forsaken empress,
applied for the same post of honor in the household of Maria Louisa.
Napoleon, when he heard of the application, promptly and indignantly
replied, "She shall neither retain her old situation nor have the new
one. I am accused of ungrateful conduct toward Josephine, but I do not
choose to have any imitators, more especially among those whom she has
honored with her confidence, and overwhelmed with benefits."

Josephine remained for some time at Malmaison. In deeds of kindness to
the poor who surrounded her, in reading, and in receiving, with the
utmost elegance of hospitality, the members of the court of Napoleon,
who were ever crowding her saloons, she gradually regained her
equanimity of spirit, and surrendered herself entirely to a quiet and
pensive submission. Napoleon frequently called to see her, and, taking
her arm, he would walk for hours, most confidentially unfolding to her
all his plans. He seemed to desire to do every thing in his power to
alleviate the intensity of anguish with which he had wrung her heart.
His own affections clung still to Josephine, and her lovely and noble
character commanded, increasingly, his homage. The empress was very
methodical in all her arrangements, allotting to each hour its appointed
duty. The description of the routine of any one day would answer about
equally well for all.

T