least doubt of the truth of the
particulars it contains. The best thing the Emperor can do is to be
comforted; there is no help to be expected from that side.'

"So sad a discovery was very painful to the Emperor, for he was sincerely
attached to the Empress, and still hoped again to see his son, whom he
loved most tenderly.'

"Fouche had been far from wishing the return of the Emperor. He was long
tired of obeying, and had, besides, undertaken another plan, which
Napoleon's arrival had broken off. The Emperor, however, put him again
at the head of the police, because Savary was worn out in that
employment, and a skillful man was wanted there. Fouche accepted the
office, but without giving up his plan of deposing the Emperor, to put in
his place either his son or a Republic under a President. He had never
ceased to correspond with Prince Metternich, and, if he is to be
believed, he tried to persuade the Emperor to abdicate in favour of his
son. That was also my opinion; but; coming from such a quarter, the
advice was not without danger for the person to whom it was given.
Besides, that advice having been rejected, it: was the duty of the
Minister either to think no more of his plan or to resign his office.
Fouche, however, remained in the Cabinet; and continued his
correspondence. The Emperor, who placed but little confidence in him;
kept a careful eye upon him. One evening the Emperor: had a great deal
of company at the Elysee, he told me not to go home, because he wished to
speak to me. When everybody was gone the Emperor stopped with Fouche in
the apartment next to the one I was in. The door remained half open.
They walked up and down together talking very calmly. I was therefore
greatly astonished when, after a quarter of, an hour, I heard the Emperor
say to him' gravely, 'You are a traitor! Why do you remain Minister of
the Police if you wish to betray me? It rests with me to have you
hanged, and everybody would rejoice at your death!' I did not hear
Fouche's reply, but the conversation lasted above half an hour longer,
the parties all the time walking up and down. When Fouche went away he
bade me cheerfully, good-night, and said that the Emperor had gone back
to his apartments.

"The next day the Emperor spoke to me of the previous night's
conversation. 'I suspected,' he said, 'that the wretch was in
correspondence with Vienna. I have had a banker's clerk arrested on his
return from that city. He has acknowledg