folded him in his arms as a concluding token of affection. Josephine
revelled in the gaiety and honours that encompassed them, while her
husband sought the consolation of privacy.

After a short though not inactive stay in Paris, he was given command
of the Army of the East, and sailed from Toulon on May 19, 1798, in
the _Orient_ (which came to a tragic end at Aboukir), and Josephine
waved her handkerchief, soaked in tears, as the fleet passed from
view.

Her doings do not interest us until she again came across the young
ex-officer Charles in Paris, some time in 1799, and, at his request no
doubt, she introduced him to a firm of army contractors, and for the
ostensible purpose of showing his gratitude, he called at Malmaison to
thank her. This act of grace could have been done with greater
propriety by letter, though there may have been reasons for not
putting in writing anything that might associate the wife of the
Commander-in-Chief with having dealings with army contractors, even to
the extent of interesting herself on behalf of a man who was dismissed
the service for carrying on an intrigue with his General's wife, who
happened to be Josephine herself.

But putting aside the unpardonable breach of faith in allowing a
renewal of the intimacy with such a man, the fact of a lady in her
position being mixed up with a firm of this character might have
seriously compromised Napoleon, and for this reason alone her act was
highly reprehensible. Charles was not slow to avail himself of
Josephine's hospitality, and became a regular visitor. This further
lapse of loyalty to the absent husband was transmitted to Egypt, and
very naturally determined him on the necessity of taking proceedings
to get a divorce, but although Napoleon had ceased, so far as he
could, to be the dreadful simpleton lover of other days, he failed to
gauge the grip the old fascination had of him.

He believed the avenging spirit that guided him to definite
conclusions was real, and with the thought of "divorce, public and
sensational divorce," buzzing in his head, combined with another of
State policy lurking in the background, he set sail for France, and
created wild excitement in domestic and Directorial circles by
unexpectedly landing at Frejus.

He then made his way, as quickly as the enthusiasm of the cheering
populace allowed him, towards his house in the Rue de la Victoire; but
the penitent (?) Josephine was not there. She had gone to meet