’Yes, yes, I will come. Our carriages
will follow yours. See the ladies into the berline,
Constant. Have you ordered the embarkation of
the troops, Berthier? Come here, Talleyrand, for
I wish to describe my views about the future of Spain
and Portugal. Monsieur de Laval, you may escort
the Empress to Pont de Briques, where I shall see you
at the reception.’
THE RECEPTION OF THE EMPRESS
Pont de Briques is but a small village, and this sudden
arrival of the Court, which was to remain for some
weeks, had crammed it with visitors. It would
have been very much simpler to have come to Boulogne,
where there were more suitable buildings and better
accommodation, but Napoleon had named Pont de Briques,
so Pont de Briques it had to be. The word impossible
was not permitted amongst those who had to carry out
his wishes. So an army of cooks and footmen settled
upon the little place, and then there arrived the
dignitaries of the new Empire, and then the ladies
of the Court, and then their admirers from the camp.
The Empress had a chateau for her accommodation.
The rest quartered themselves in cottages or where
they best might, and waited ardently for the moment
which was to take them back to the comforts of Versailles
or Fontainebleau.
The Empress had graciously offered me a seat in her
berline, and all the way to the village, entirely
forgetful apparently of the scene through which she
passed, she chatted away, asking me a thousand personal
questions about myself and my affairs, for a kindly
curiosity in the doings of everyone around her was
one of her most marked characteristics. Especially
was she interested in Eugenie, and as the subject
was one upon which I was equally interested in talking
it ended in a rhapsody upon my part, amid little sympathetic
ejaculations from the Empress and titterings from
Madame de Remusat.
‘But you must certainly bring her over to the
Court!’ cried the kindly woman. ’Such
a paragon of beauty and of virtue must not be allowed
to waste herself in this English village. Have
you spoken about her to the Emperor?’
‘I found that he knew all about her, your Majesty.’
’He knows all about everything. Oh, what
a man he is! You heard him about those diamonds
and sapphires. Lefebvre gave me his word that
no one should know of it but ourselves, and that I
should pay at my leisure, and yet you see that the
Emperor knew. But what did he say, Monsieur
de Laval?’
‘He said that my marriage should be his affair.’
Josephine shook her head and groaned.
’But this is serious, Monsieur de Laval.
He is capable of singling out any one of the ladies
of the Court and marrying you to her within a week.
It is a subject upon which he will not listen to argument.
He has brought about some extraordinary matches in
this way. But I will speak to the Emperor before
I return to Paris, and I will see what I can arrange
for you.’
