delighted with the thought of again
meeting her husband, and of surprising him in his cabinet, hastened up
stairs and entered the room. Napoleon looked up coldly from his papers,
and addressed her with the chilling salutation, "And so, madame, you
have come at last! It is well. I was just about to set out for St.
Cloud." Josephine burst into tears, and stood silently sobbing before
him. Napoleon was conquered. His own conscience reproved him for his
exceeding injustice. He rose from his seat, exclaiming, "Josephine, I am
wrong; forgive me;" and, throwing his arms around her neck, embraced her
most tenderly. The reconciliation was immediate and perfect, for the
gentle spirit of Josephine could retain no resentment.

Napoleon had a very decided taste in reference to Josephine's style of
dress, and her only ambition was to decorate her person in a manner
which would be agreeable to him. On this occasion she retired very soon
to dress for dinner. In about half an hour she reappeared, dressed with
great elegance, in a robe of white satin, bordered with eider down, and
with a wreath of blue flowers, entwined with silver ears of corn,
adorning her hair. Napoleon rose to meet her, and gazed upon her with an
expression of great fondness. Josephine said, with a smile, "You do not
think that I have occupied too much time at my toilet?" Napoleon pointed
playfully to the clock upon the mantel, which indicated the hour of half
past seven, and, taking the hand of his wife, entered the dining-room.

Though Napoleon often displayed the weaknesses of our fallen nature, he
at times exhibited the noblest traits of humanity. On one occasion, at
Boulogne, he was informed of a young English sailor, a prisoner of war,
who had escaped from his imprisonment in the interior of France, and
had succeeded in reaching the coast near that town. He had secretly
constructed, in an unfrequented spot, a little skiff, of the branches
and bark of trees, in which fabric, almost as fragile as the ark of
bulrushes, he was intending to float out upon the storm-swept channel,
hoping to be picked up by some English cruiser and conveyed home.
Napoleon was struck with admiration in view of the fearlessness of the
project, and, sending for the young man, questioned him very minutely
respecting the motives which could induce him to undertake so perilous
an adventure. The emperor expressed some doubt whether he would really
have ventured to encounter the dangers of t