the son of Rewbell and
also the Comte de Nun, she goes on: "A short time afterwards Duroc,
then aide de camp to the Consul, and already noted by him, fell in
love with Hortense. She returned the feeling, and believed she had
found that other half of herself which she sought. Bonaparte looked
favourably on their union, but Madame Bonaparte in her turn was
inflexible. 'My daughter,' said she, 'must marry a gentleman or a
Bonaparte.' Louis was then thought of. He had no fancy for
Hortense; defeated the Beauharnais family, and had a supreme
contempt for his sister-in-law. But as he was silent, he was
believed to be gentle; and as he was severe by character, he was
believed to be upright. Madame Louis told me afterwards that at the
news of this arrangement she experienced violent grief. Not only
was she forbidden to think of the man she loved, but she was about
to be given to another of whom she had a secret distrust" (Remusat,
tome i. p. 156). For the cruel treatment of Hortense by Louis see
the succeeding pages of Remusat. As for the vile scandal about
Hortense and Napoleon, there is little doubt that it was spread by
the Bonapartist family for interested motives. Madame Louis became
enceinte soon after her marriage. The Bonapartists, and especially
Madame Murat (Caroline); had disliked this marriage because Joseph
having only daughters, it was forseen that the first son of Louis
and the grandson of Madame Bonaparte would be the object of great
interest. They therefore spread the revolting story that this was
the result of a connection of the First Consul with his
daughter-in-law, encouraged by the mother herself. "The public
willingly believed this suspicion.' Madame Murat told Louis," etc.
(Remusat, tome i, p. 169). This last sentence is corroborated by
Miot de Melito (tome ii. p. 170), who, speaking of the later
proposal of Napoleon to adopt this child, says that Louis
"remembered the damaging stories which ill-will had tried to spread
among the public concerning Hortense Beauharnais before he married
her, and although a comparison of the date of his marriage with
that of the birth of his son must have shown him that these tales
were unfounded, he felt that they would be revived by the adoption
of this child by the First Consul." Thus this wretched story did
harm in every way. The conduct of Josephine mast be judg