en clouded, and her youthful beauty was fast
losing its charms. Gloomy forebodings were constantly passing over her
heart; she felt that she was standing as on the brink of a precipice,
and that the days of her happiness were numbered. She awoke every
morning in terror, for before the evening she might be cast into an
abyss of sorrow--removed from the Tuileries and the side of her
husband--replaced by another, a younger woman, the daughter of an
ancient sovereign house, who was to become the wife of Napoleon and the
mother of his sons. Josephine knew that the brothers and sisters of the
emperor were constantly importuning him to disown his childless wife,
and to secure his throne and dynasty, as well as their own, by choosing
another consort giving an heir to his crown. She knew that Talleyrand
was representing this to him daily as a political necessity, without
which his empire and his greatness would be endangered. She knew also
that Napoleon no longer, as formerly, closed his ears against these
insinuations, but, eagerly listening, held them in serious
consideration.

Josephine was aware of all this, and sat in her room a prey to
well-grounded suspicion and sorrowful presentiments.

Madame de Remusat looked at her awhile, sighing and in silence; she now
softly approached the empress, and, taking her hand, said in an
affectionate voice, "Your majesty ought to retire! You need sleep; it is
long past midnight, and your eyes are weary."

"Not from waking--from weeping, my dear Remusat," said the empress,
pressing the hand of her confidante. "But you are right, I will retire.
In sleep we forget our grief. Remusat, in my dreams I always see
Napoleon as affectionate, as loving as he ever was--in my dreams he
loves me still and looks at me, not with the stern eyes of the emperor,
but of a tender husband. When I awake, Remusat, his fine face still
before my mind, and remember that his love is now gone and lost
forever--oh, then a sword seems to pierce my heart, and I shed scalding
tears in spite of myself! And yet I will retire. He commanded me, and I
will obey."

"How discouraged your majesty is again to-day!" said Madame de Remusat,
sighing. "Still it seems to me there is less cause than ever. The
emperor was more cordial and affectionate than usual. He was evidently
abstracted, and occupied with important plans, and yet he returned; his
expression was unusually gentle, and his voice trembled when he bade
farewell to y