Saxony; and the two sisters of the Czar, the younger of
whom was not quite thirteen. The general opinion seemed to fix on one
or the other of the Czar's unmarried sisters. This rumor soon reached
St. Petersburg, and the scandal-mongers of that capital promptly
designated the Grand Duchess Catherine, for she was of marriageable
age, and they said she was learning French country dances. Alexander
was in consternation; the Russian party would be aghast if he should
consent, while a refusal might endanger the alliance on which hung all
his ambitions.

Some months previously, Fouche, aware of the conflict in Napoleon's
mind, had actually suggested to the Empress, and probably with her
husband's knowledge, that she should take the initiative. In reply she
ran with disheveled hair and streaming eyes to ask an explanation from
her lord in person. He consoled her with many protestations, but he
left for Italy without having entirely reassured her. On his return
from Milan he roundly abused his minister of police, and forbade his
continued plotting. Nevertheless, the daring functionary persistently
disobeyed, and by the month of March, 1808, the air of Paris was thick
with embittered and ardent pleas on one side or the other. One evening
the court was to attend a gala performance to be given in the
Tuileries. Their Majesties did not appear. Napoleon, in fact, had not
made ready; instead he had retired to his private apartments and had
sent for Josephine. She entered her husband's chamber in full array of
evening costume, to find him in bed, pale, worn, and weary. At once he
began the recital of his perplexities, pouring out, as it were, his
whole heart, and, though not uttering the request, he seemed as if
beseeching in dumb despair the decisive word from her. The Empress,
however, was inflexible. Was he, he said in fierce disappointment, to
be compelled to adopt his bastard children? Surprised and touched by
her signs of assent, the Emperor vowed never to desert her, and there
matters had remained.

At Erfurt the same vacillation overmastered Napoleon as that with
which he had been tormented since Tilsit. By his command Talleyrand
and Caulaincourt were to drop the remark before Alexander that the
matter of the divorce was a European question; he wished to test, he
said, the temper of his ally. Both ministers suggested that a
contemplated match between the daughter of Paul I and the King of
Sweden had fallen through because of