Josephine was in their way—­she must therefore fall.  Such is the key to the right understanding of the conduct of the three beautiful sisters of Napoleon toward the wife of their brother.  In their violence they disregarded all propriety, and shrank from no calumny or malice to accomplish their ends.  It was a constant warfare with intrigues and malicious suspicions.  Every action of Josephine was observed, every step was watched, in the hope of finding something to render her suspicious to her husband.  On every occasion the three sisters besieged him with complaints concerning the lofty and proud demeanor of Josephine, and ridiculed him about his old, childless wife, who stood in the way of his growing fame!  Though Bonaparte in these conflicts always sided with Josephine against his sisters, yet there probably remained in his heart a sting from the ridicule which they had directed against him.

This hostility of the Bonaparte family was not unknown to Josephine; her soul suffered under these ceaseless attacks, her heart was agonized at the thought that the efforts of her sisters-in-law might finally succeed in withdrawing from her the love of her husband.  She was persuaded that even in the Bonaparte family she needed a protector, that she must look for one among the brothers, so as to counteract the enmity of the sisters; and she chose for this Louis Bonaparte.  She entreated Napoleon to give to his young, beloved brother the hand of her daughter Hortense.  It would be a new bond chaining Bonaparte to her—­a new fortress for her love—­if he would but make her daughter his sister-in-law, and his brother her son-in-law.

Napoleon did not oppose her wishes; he consented that Hortense should be married to his brother.  It is true the young people were not consulted; for the first time, Josephine’s selfishness got the better of her love for her child—­she sacrificed the welfare of her daughter to secure her own happiness.

But Hortense loved another, yet she yielded to the entreaties and tears of her mother, and became the wife of this laconic, timid young man, whose meagre, unpretending appearance resembled so little the ideal which her maidenly heart had pictured of her future husband.

Louis on his side had not the slightest inclination for Hortense; he never would have chosen her for his wife, for their characters were too different; their inclinations and wishes were not in sympathy with each other.  But through obedience to the wishes of his brother, he accepted the proffered hand of Josephine’s daughter, and became the husband of the beautiful, blond-haired Hortense de Beauharnais.

In February, of the year 1802, the marriage of the young couple took place, and this family event was celebrated with the most magnificent festivities.  Josephine’s joy and happiness were complete—­she had thrown a bridge over the abyss, and was now secure against the hostilities of her sisters-in-law, by giving up her own daughter.