hey
were being entertained at Malmaison. It has been said that it was her
intention to be presented to the Bourbon King, and though we would
fain believe her to be incapable of such perfidy, it is quite in
keeping with the by-ways of her complex character, more especially as
Eugene had paid him a visit. The promises of the sovereigns that the
interests of herself and children would be protected became less
reassuring as the few days that were left to her went on. At last she
realised they were mere silken verbiage, and gave way to despair.
This, and the anxiety of entertaining her royal guests, accentuated
the illness she had contracted. Alexander paid his first visit on May
14th, and she died of quinsy or diphtheria on May 29, 1814.

The allied monarchs were all represented at her funeral, and the
Prince of Mecklenburg (the Queen of Prussia's brother) was amongst the
mourners. It was of him the Court gossipers assiduously circulated
reports that he was paying suspicious attention to Josephine after the
divorce. Napoleon, on hearing of the flirtation through Fouche,
rebuked her with justifiable vigour on the ground of it being a gross
violation of dignity to go about with the Prince and others of lower
ranks to second-rate theatres, even under the cover of incognito. He
does not appear to have thought there was anything more than
Josephine's habitual lack of respect for herself and the high position
he had preserved for her, though according to the unreliable Madame de
Remusat Napoleon suggested to his divorced wife that she should take
Prince Mecklenburg as her husband. The same authority (?) asserts that
the Prince had written to Napoleon asking his permission, and,
further, says that Josephine told her this curious story. It is
entirely unsupported by either the words or actions of the Emperor
himself, and may be put aside as another of the fabrications of the
memoir writer.

That there was a flirtation there can be little doubt, but the
Prince's object may have been part of the political intrigue, rather
than carnal intercourse with a woman of nearly fifty years of age.
Josephine, always sorry for herself, a sieve of the first water,
susceptible to flattery, blind to device, yearning for admiration and
pity, was rejoiced to find attention extended to her from any quarter,
but coming from the Royal House of Prussia or any other royal
personage it was a dazzling compliment to the high esteem in which she
believed s