the master of a hundred legions could not satisfy.

In less than the six months of which Neipperg had spoken the
psychological moment had arrived. In the dim twilight she listened to
his words of love; and then, drawn by that irresistible power which
masters pride and woman's will, she sank into her lover's arms,
yielding to his caresses, and knowing that she would be parted from him
no more except by death.

From that moment he was bound to her by the closest ties and lived with
her at the petty court of Parma. His prediction came true to the very
letter. Teresa Pola died, and then Napoleon died, and after this Marie
Louise and Neipperg were united in a morganatic marriage. Three
children were born to them before his death in 1829.

It is interesting to note how much of an impression was made upon her
by the final exile of her imperial husband to St. Helena. When the news
was brought her she observed, casually:

"Thanks. By the way, I should like to ride this morning to Markenstein.
Do you think the weather is good enough to risk it?"

Napoleon, on his side, passed through agonies of doubt and longing when
no letters came to him from Marie Louise. She was constantly in his
thoughts during his exile at St. Helena. "When his faithful friend and
constant companion at St. Helena, the Count Las Casas, was ordered by
Sir Hudson Lowe to depart from St. Helena, Napoleon wrote to him:

"Should you see, some day, my wife and son, embrace them. For two years
I have, neither directly nor indirectly, heard from them. There has
been on this island for six months a German botanist, who has seen them
in the garden of Schoenbrunn a few months before his departure. The
barbarians (meaning the English authorities at St. Helena) have
carefully prevented him from coming to give me any news respecting
them."

At last the truth was told him, and he received it with that high
magnanimity, or it may be fatalism, which at times he was capable of
showing. Never in all his days of exile did he say one word against
her. Possibly in searching his own soul he found excuses such as we may
find. In his will he spoke of her with great affection, and shortly
before his death he said to his physician, Antommarchi:

"After my death, I desire that you will take my heart, put it in the
spirits of wine, and that you carry it to Parma to my dear Marie
Louise. You will please tell her that I tenderly loved her--that I
never ceased to love her. You wil