exclaimed, “Ah, ah, citoyen consul, aupres de la plus belle!” He ate very little and very fast, and at the end of half an hour left the table abruptly, and returned to the drawing-room.  He afterward asked Madame Recamier why she had not sat next to him at dinner.  “I should not have presumed,” she said.  “It was your place,” he replied; and his sister added, “That was what I said to you before dinner.”  A concert following, Napoleon stood alone by the piano, but, not fancying the instrumental part of the performance, at the end of a piece by Jadin, he struck on the piano and cried, “Garat!  Garat!” who then sang a scene from “Orpheus.”  Music always profoundly moved Madame Recamier, but whenever she raised her eyes she found those of the Consul fixed upon her with so much intensity that she became uncomfortable.  After the concert, he came to her and said, “You are very fond of music, Madame,” and would probably have continued the conversation, had not Lucien interrupted.  Madame Recamier confessed that she was prepossessed by Napoleon at this interview.  She was evidently gratified by his attentions, scanty and slight as they seem to us.  Indeed, his whole conduct during the dinner and concert was decidedly discourteous, if not positively rude.  Madame Lenormant attributes Napoleon’s subsequent attempt to attach Madame Recamier to his court to the strong impression she made upon him at this interview, and gives Fouche as her authority.  Still, if this were the case, it is rather strange that Napoleon did not follow up the acquaintance more speedily.  It was not until five years afterwards that he made the overtures to which Madame Lenormant refers,—­and then Madame Recamier had long been in the ranks of the Opposition.  It was Napoleon’s policy to conciliate, if possible, his political opponents.  He had succeeded in gaining over Bernadotte, of whose intrigues against him Madame Recamier had been the confidante, and he concluded that she also could be as easily won.  He accordingly sent Fouche to her, who, after several preliminary visits, proposed that she should apply for a position at court.  As Madame Recamier did not heed his suggestions, he spoke more openly.  “He protested that the place would give her entire liberty, and then, seizing with finesse upon the inducements most powerful with a generous spirit, he dwelt upon the eminent services she might render to the oppressed of all classes, and also the good influence so attractive a woman would exert over the mind of the Emperor.  ‘He has not yet,’ he added, ’found a woman worthy of him, and no one knows what the love of Napoleon would be, if he attached himself to a pure person,—­assuredly she would obtain a power over him which would be entirely beneficent.’” If Madame Recamier listened with politic calmness to these disgraceful overtures, she gave Fouche no encouragement.  But he was not easily discouraged.  He planned another interview with her at the house of the Princess Caroline, who