‘It is a foul calumny, sire.’
’Very possibly, but it is awkward when so many
calumnies cluster round one person. You are
certainly a most unfortunate lady in that respect.
You had a scandal once before with General Rapp’s
aide-de-camp. This must come to an end.
What is your name?’ he continued, turning to
another.
‘Mademoiselle de Perigord.’
‘Your age?’
‘Twenty.’
’You are very thin and your elbows are red.
My God, Madame Boismaison, are we never to see anything
but this same grey gown and the red turban with the
diamond crescent?’
‘I have never worn it before, sire?’
’Then you had another the same, for I am weary
of the sight of it. Let me never see you in it
again. Monsieur de Remusat, I make you a good
allowance. Why do you not spend it?’
‘I do, sire.’
’I hear that you have been putting down your
carriage. I do not give you money to hoard in
a bank, but I give it to you that you may keep up
a fitting appearance with it. Let me hear that
your carriage is back in the coach-house when I return
to Paris. Junot, you rascal, I hear that you
have been gambling and losing.’
‘The most infernal run of luck, sire,’
said the soldier, ’I give you my word that the
ace fell four times running.’
’Ta, ta, you are a child, with no sense of the
value of money. How much do you owe?’
‘Forty thousand, sire.’
’Well, well, go to Lebrun and see what he can
do for you. After all, we were together at Toulon.’
‘A thousand thanks, sire.’
’Tut! You and Rapp and Lasalle are the
spoiled children of the army. But no more cards,
you rascal! I do not like low dresses, Madame
Picard. They spoil even pretty women, but in
you they are inexcusable. Now, Josephine, I am
going to my room, and you can come in half an hour
and read me to sleep. I am tired to-night, but
I came to your salon, since you desired that I should
help you in welcoming and entertaining your guests.
You can remain here, Monsieur de Laval, for your presence
will not be necessary until I send you my orders.’
And so the door closed behind him, and with a long
sigh of relief from everyone, from the Empress to
the waiter with the negus, the friendly chatter began
once more, with the click of the counters and the rustle
of the cards just as they had been before he came to
help in the entertainment.
THE LIBRARY OF GROSBOIS
And now, my friends, I am coming to the end of those
singular adventures which I encountered upon my arrival
in France, adventures which might have been of some
interest in themselves had I not introduced the figure
of the Emperor, who has eclipsed them all as completely
as the sun eclipses the stars. Even now, you
see, after all these years, in an old man’s
memoirs, the Emperor is still true to his traditions,
