y
wrote to her:--

MADAME,--If the Bourbons had not returned to France, for the
misfortune of the country, my beloved mistress and protectress,
the Empress Marie Louise, would still be on the throne, and
I should not be under the humiliating necessity of telling you
that I am without bread, and that the wretched bed on which I
sleep is about to be thrown out of the garret I inhabit, because
I cannot pay a year's rent. I dare not ask you for assistance,
for my heart is with my real sovereign, and I cannot promise
you my gratitude. If, however, you think fit to preserve a life
which, since the misfortunes of my country, has been full of
bitterness, I will accept a loan. I should blush to receive a
gift.

I am, Madame, your servant, C.

When this impertinent letter was handed to the almoner, the queen
had written on it: "She must be very unhappy, for she is very unjust.
A hundred francs to be sent to her immediately, and I beg M. Appert
to make inquiries concerning this lady's circumstances."

In vain the almoner remonstrated. The only effect of his remonstrance
was that the queen authorized him to make her gift 300 francs if
he found it necessary. When he knocked at the door of the garret
of the petitioner, she opened it with agitation. "Oh, Monsieur!"
she said, "are you the Commissioner of Police come to arrest me
for my outrageous letter to the queen? I am so unhappy that at
times I became deranged. I am sorry to have written as I did to a
princess who to all the poor is good and charitable." For answer,
M. Appert showed her her own letter, with the queen's memorandum
written upon it. "There was no lack of heartfelt gratitude then,"
he says, "and no lack of poverty to need the triple benefaction."

CHAPTER III.

LOUIS NAPOLEON'S EARLY CAREER.--STRASBURG, BOULOGNE, HAM.

There is a theory held by some observers that the man who fails in
his duty to a woman who has claims upon his love and his protection,
never afterwards prospers; and perhaps the most striking illustration
of this theory may be found in the career of the Emperor Napoleon.
Nothing went well with him after his divorce from Josephine. His
only son died. The children of his brothers, with the exception
of Louis Napoleon, and the Prince de Canino, the son of Lucien,
were all ordinary men, inclined to the fast life of their period;
while the descendants of Josephine, honored and respected,