a tone no less indescribable than the
smile.

CHAPTER XX. THE GUESTS OF GENERAL BONAPARTE

Josephine, in spite of her thirty-four years, or possibly because of
them (that enchanting age when woman hovers between her passing youth
and her corning age), Josephine, always beautiful, more graceful than
ever, was still the charming woman we all know. An imprudent remark
of Junot's, at the time of her husband's return, had produced a slight
coolness between them. But three days had sufficed to restore to the
enchantress her full power over the victor of Rivoli and the Pyramids.

She was doing the honors of her salon, when Roland entered the room.
Always incapable, like the true Creole she was, of controlling her
emotions, she gave a cry of joy, and held out her hand to him. She knew
that Roland was devoted to her husband; she knew his reckless bravery,
knew that if the young man had twenty lives he would willingly have
given them all for Bonaparte. Roland eagerly took the hand she offered
him, and kissed it respectfully. Josephine had known Roland's mother in
Martinique; and she never failed, whenever she saw Roland, to speak
to him of his maternal grandfather, M. de la Clemenciere, in whose
magnificent garden as a child she was wont to gather those wonderful
fruits which are unknown in our colder climates.

A subject of conversation was therefore ready at hand. She inquired
tenderly after Madame de Montrevel's health, and that of her daughter
and little Edouard. Then, the information given, she said: "My dear
Roland, I must now pay attention to my other guests; but try to remain
after the other guests, or else let me see you alone to-morrow. I want
to talk to you about _him_" (she glanced at Bonaparte) "and have a
thousand things to tell you." Then, pressing the young man's hand with a
sigh, she added, "No matter what happens, you will never leave him, will
you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Roland, amazed.

"I know what I mean," said Josephine, "and when you have talked ten
minutes with Bonaparte you will, I am sure, understand me. In the
meantime watch, and listen, and keep silence."

Roland bowed and drew aside, resolved, as Josephine had advised, to play
the part of observer.

But what was there to observe? Three principal groups occupied the
salon. The first, gathered around Madame Bonaparte, the only woman
present, was more a flux and reflux than a group. The second,
surrounding Talma, was composed of Ar