the absence of her
husband, she signed the pardon of a condemned criminal at her request,
and, upon her return to Rome, wrote, begging her to come back to Naples.
She did so, though her stay was necessarily short. Paris was again open
to her by the overthrow of Napoleon, and she hastened to rejoin her
friends. Still she was not unmindful of the princess who had shown her
such marks of friendship. She did many kind services for her in Paris,
and after the execution of Murat, when Caroline lived in obscurity as
the Countess of Lipona, she paid her a visit, which cheered the
neglected woman whose prosperity had been of such short duration.

The Restoration was the beginning of a new era in the life of Madame
Recamier, one even more brilliant and animated, if not so thoughtlessly
gay as that of her youth. Her husband had, in a measure, retrieved his
fallen fortunes. She was in possession of her mother's property, able to
have a box at the Opera, and to keep her carriage, which was a
necessity, as she never walked in the street. Her exile had made her
more famous, while her joy at being restored to Paris and her friends
lent another charm to the seduction of her manners. Her association with
the Montmorencys, who were in high favor with the new court, increased
her political influence. She held nightly receptions after the Opera,
and her _salon_ was neutral ground, the resort of persons of all
parties. Paris was full of foreigners of distinction, who were curious
to know a person of so much celebrity, and they swelled the ranks of her
admirers. Among them was the Duke of Wellington, who, if Madame
Recamier's vanity did not mislead her, was willing and anxious to wear
her chains. But she never forgave his boastful speech after the Battle
of Waterloo. Remembering her personal dislike of the Emperor, and
forgetting that she was a Frenchwoman, he said to her, on his return to
Paris, "_Je l'ai bien battu_." The next time he called he was not
admitted. The Duke complained to Madame de Stael, and when he next met
Madame Recamier in society treated her with coldness, and devoted
himself to a young English lady. They rarely met afterward, though the
Duke came once to the Abbaye-aux-Bois.

Madame Recamier had at this time a much more earnest admirer in Benjamin
Constant. As common friends of Madame de Stael, they had been acquainted
for years, and had played together in private theatricals at Coppet.
Still it was not until 1814, whe