ns had again invaded
Italy. The French troops had been beaten in many battles, and driven
from vast extents of territory, over which Napoleon had caused the flag
of the Republic to float in triumph. The first consul having, with
almost superhuman energy, arranged the internal affairs of his
government, now turned his thoughts toward the defeated armies of
France, which had been driven back into the fastnesses of the Alps. "I
must go," said he, "my dear Josephine. But I will not forget you, and I
will not be absent long." He bade adieu to his wife at the Tuilleries on
the 7th of May, 1800. At midnight of the 2d of July he returned, having
been absent less than two months. In that brief period he drove the
Austrians from all their strongholds, regained Italy, and by a campaign
more brilliant than any other which history has ever recorded, added
immeasurably to his own moral power. These astonishing victories excited
the Parisians to a delirium of joy. Night after night the streets were
illuminated, and whenever Napoleon appeared, crowds thronged him,
filling the air with their acclamations. These triumphs, however,
instead of satisfying Napoleon, did but add fuel to his all-absorbing
ambition. "A few more great events," said he, "like those of this
campaign, and I may really descend to posterity. But still it is little
enough. I have conquered, it is true, in less than two years, Cairo,
Paris, Milan. But, were I to die to-morrow, half a page of general
history would, after ten centuries, be all that would be devoted to my
exploits."

During his absence Josephine passed her time at Malmaison. And it surely
is indicative not only of the depth of Napoleon's love for Josephine,
but also of his appreciation of those delicate attentions which could
touch the heart of a loving wife, that in this busiest of campaigns, in
which, by day and by night, he was upon the horse's back, with hardly
one moment allowed for refreshment or repose, rarely did a single day
pass in which he did not transmit some token of affection to Malmaison.
Josephine daily watched, with the most intense interest the arrival of
the courier with the brief and almost illegible note from her husband.
Sometimes the blurred and blotted lines were hastily written upon
horseback, with the pommel of his saddle for his writing-desk. Sometimes
they were written, at his dictation, by his secretary, upon a drum-head,
on the field of carnage, when the mangled bodies of th