e had been accused of many misdeeds. When the reconciliation
finally took place, after a day of sobbing and pleading, she put
to work all her tact and knowledge of Parisian society to help her
husband to the _coup d'etat_.

She was always of great service to Napoleon in his relations with the
men of whom he wished to make use; fascinating them and drawing them
over to him, she charmed such persons as Barras, Gohier, Fouche,
Moreau, Talleyrand, Sieyes, and others. By her skill she kept hidden
Napoleon's plans until all was ripe for them. She was in the secret
of the 18th Brumaire; "nothing was concealed from her. In every
conference at which she was present, her discretion, gentleness,
grace, and the ready ingenuity of her delicate and cool intelligence
were of great service." During the Directorate she allayed jealousies
and appeased the differences between Republicans and Royalists. As
wife of the First Consul, she conciliated the _emigres_. At that time
she was probably the most important figure in France. The _emigres_
would call at her salon in the morning so as to avoid meeting her
husband, with whom they refused to associate. Her task was not easy,
but she knew so well how to say a kind word to all, and her tact was
so great that when she became empress the duties and requirements
of that office were natural to her. She won the Republicans by her
friendship with Fouche, the representative of the revolutionary
element--the aristocracy, by her dignity and refinement. Her whole
appearance had a peculiar charm.

In 1803 the conditions began to be reversed. In 1796 Josephine had
worried Napoleon on account of her inconstancy; she was then young
and beautiful, while he was penniless and ailing. In 1803 he was
thirty-four and she forty--he in his prime, wealthy and popular,
she faded and powerless, no longer able to give cause for suspicion.
However, nothing could make Napoleon reject her, because she was
useful to him. "Her kindness was a weapon against her enemies, a charm
for her friends, and the source of her power over her husband." "I
gained battles, Josephine gained me hearts," are the well-known words
of Napoleon. As empress she had every wish gratified, but she
realized that a woman of her age could not continue indefinitely her
fascination over a man as capricious as Napoleon. In the brilliant
court of Fontainebleau she held the highest place, and no one could
suspect the anxieties that tormented her, so cool