me?' 'What do I read? You will not believe me if I tell
you.' 'Yes, indeed, I assure you. Come, good woman, what am I to hope
or fear?' 'You insist; listen then. You will soon be married; the
union will not be happy; you will become a widow, and then--you will
become queen of France! You will enjoy many years of happiness, but
you will be killed in a popular commotion.' The old woman then burst
from the crowd, and hurried away as fast as her limbs, enfeebled by
age, would permit. I forbade the bystanders to laugh at the prophetess
for her ridiculous prediction, and took the occasion to caution the
young negro women against giving credit to such pretenders.
Henceforth, I thought of the affair only to laugh at it. But
afterwards, when my husband had perished on the scaffold, in spite of
my better judgment, this prediction forcibly recurred to my mind; and,
though I was myself then in prison, the transaction daily assumed a
less improbable character, and I ended by regarding the fulfilment as
almost a matter of course."

Nothing at the time seemed less likely than the fulfilment of the
prediction. Miss Tascher seemed destined to become the wife of some
creole youth, and to pass a tranquil and indolent life on some
neighboring plantation. It so chanced, however, that the young
Vicompte Alexander de Beauharnais, "who," in Josephine's words,
"had embraced the new ideas with all the ardor of a very lively
imagination," after serving with distinction in the war of the
American revolution, came to Martinico to prove his title to some
estates which had fallen by inheritance to himself and his brother.
These estates were held on lease by Josephine's uncle, and an
acquaintance between the young people naturally followed. They
became mutually attached; but his relatives, who were opposed to the
match, interposed obstacles which Josephine surmounted with a
gentleness and address hardly to be expected in a girl of sixteen. In
1794, writing to her children, Josephine says, "If to my union with
your father I have been indebted for all my happiness, I dare to
think and say, that to my own character I owe our union, so many
were the obstacles which opposed us. Yet, without any effort of
talents, I effected their removal. I found in my own heart the
means of gaining the affection of my husband's relations; patience
and goodness will ever in the end conciliate the good-will of
others."

On their arrival in France, in 1779, the youthful p