Vienna to unite her destiny
with that of the master of half of Europe, and I have already stated how
he received the mission with which Maria Louisa entrusted the Duc de
Cadore.

I was then too intent on what was passing in Paris and at Fontainebleau
to observe with equal interest all the circumstances connected with the
fate of Maria Louisa, but I will present to the reader all the
information I was able to collect respecting that Princess during the
period immediately preceding her departure from France. She constantly
assured the persons about her that she could rely on her father. The
following words, which were faithfully reported to me, were addressed by
her to an officer who was at Blois during the mission of M. de Champagny.
"Even though it should be the intention of the Allied sovereigns to
dethrone the Emperor Napoleon, my father will not suffer it. When he
placed me on the throne of France he repeated to me twenty times his
determination to uphold me on it; and my father is an honest man." I also
know that the Empress, both at Blois and at Orleans, expressed her regret
at not having followed the advice of the members of the Regency, who
wished her to stay in Paris.

On leaving Orleans Maria Louisa proceeded to Rambouillet; and it was not
one of the least extraordinary circumstances of that eventful period to
see the sovereigns of Europe, the dethroned sovereigns of France, and
those who had come to resume the sceptre, all crowded together within a
circle of fifteen leagues round the capital. There was a Bourbon at the
Tuileries, Bonaparte at Fontainebleau, his wife and son at Rambouillet,
the repudiated Empress at Malmaison three leagues distant, and the
Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia in Paris.

When all her hopes had vanished Maria Louisa left Rambouillet to return
to Austria with her son. She did not obtain permission to see Napoleon
before her departure, though she had frequently expressed a wish to that
effect. Napoleon himself was aware of the embarrassment which might have
attended such a farewell, or otherwise he would no doubt have made a
parting interview with Maria Louisa one of the clauses of the treaty of
Paris and Fontainebleau, and of his definitive act of abdication. I was
informed at the time that the reason which prevented Maria Louisa's wish
from being acceded to was the fear that, by one of those sudden impulses
common to women, she might have determined to unite