path of
life under a darker cloud than that which ever shed its gloom upon the
footsteps of Louis and Hortense.

Among the various attempts which had been made to produce alienation
between Napoleon and Josephine, one of the most atrocious was the
whispered insinuation that the strong affection which the first consul
manifested for Hortense was a guilty passion. Napoleon exhibited in
the most amiable manner his qualities as a father, in the frequent
correspondence he carried on with the two children of Josephine, in the
interest he took in their studies, and in the solicitude he manifested
to promote their best welfare. He loved Hortense as if she had been his
own child. Josephine was entirely impregnable against any jealousy to be
introduced from that quarter, and a peaceful smile was her only reply
to all such insinuations. Hortense had also heard, and had utterly
disregarded, these rumors. The marriage of Hortense to a brother of
Napoleon had entirely silenced the calumny, and it was soon forgotten.

Subsequently, when Hortense had become entirely alienated from her
husband, and was resolved upon a separation, Josephine did every thing
in her power to dissuade her from an act so rash, so disgraceful, so
ruinous to her happiness. She wrote to her in terms of the most earnest
entreaty. The self-willed queen, annoyed by these remonstrances, and
unable to reply to them, ventured to intimate to her mother that perhaps
she was not entirely disinterested in her opposition. In most guarded
terms she suggested that her mother had heard the groundless accusation
of Napoleon's undue fondness, and that it was possible that her strong
opposition to the separation of Hortense from her husband might
originate in the fear that Hortense might become, in some degree, her
rival in the affections of Napoleon. Josephine very promptly and
energetically replied,

"You have misunderstood me entirely, my child. There is
nothing equivocal in my words, as there can not exist an
uncandid sentiment in my heart. How could you imagine that
I could participate in opinions so ridiculous and so
malicious? No, Hortense, you do not think that I believe you
to be my rival. We do, indeed, both reign in the same heart,
though by very different, yet by equally sacred rights. And
they who, in the affection which my husband manifests for
you, have pretended to discover other sentiments than those
of a par