, complains not of her lot, since she knows
that yours will be brilliant, and will deserve so to be.

"Your sister shares all my feelings, and will tell you so herself. But
that of which I am sure she will not speak, and which is therefore my
duty to tell, is her attention to me and her aunt. Love her, my son, for
to me she brings consolation, and she overflows with affection for you.
She prosecutes her studies with uncommon success, but music, I think,
will be the art she will carry to the highest perfection. With her sweet
voice, which is now well cultivated, she sings romances in a manner that
would surprise you. I have just bought her a new piano from the best
maker, Erard, which redoubles her passion for that charming art which
you prefer to every other. That perhaps accounts for your sister
applying to it with so much assiduity.

"Were you here, you would be telling me a thousand times a day to beware
of the men who pay particular attention to Hortense. Some there are who
do so whom you do not like, and whom you seem to fear she may prefer.
Set your mind at rest. She is a bit of a coquette, is pleased with her
success, and torments her victims, but her heart is free. I am the
confidante of all her thoughts and feelings, which have hitherto been
just what they ought to be. She now knows that when she thinks of
marrying, it is not my consent alone she has to seek, and that my will
is subordinate to that of the man to whom we owe every thing. The
knowledge of this fact must prevent her from fixing her choice in a way
that may not meet the approval of Bonaparte, and the latter will not
give your sister in marriage to any one to whom you can object."

There was now an end to poverty and obscurity. The rise of Napoleon was
so brilliant and rapid that Josephine was speedily placed at the head of
society in Paris, and vast crowds were eager to do her homage. Never
before did man move with strides so rapid. The lapse of a few months
transformed her from almost a homeless, friendless, impoverished widow,
to be the bride of one whose advancing greatness seemed to outvie the
wildest creations of fiction. The unsurpassed splendor of Napoleon's
achievements crowded the saloons of Josephine with statesmen,
philosophers, generals, and all who ever hasten to the shrine of rising
greatness.

After the campaign of Italy, which gave Napoleon not only a French but a
European reputation for military genius and diplomatic skill, he t