e
apartments. Down the narrow stairs she was borne, the Emperor lifting
her feet and Bausset supporting her shoulders, until, half fainting,
she was left to the sympathies of her women and the attentions of
Corvisart. But hers was a wound that no sympathy or skill could
cure.[220]

On his side, Napoleon felt the wrench. Not only the ghost of his early
love, but his dislike of new associates and novel ways cried out
against the change. "In separating myself from my wife," Napoleon once
said to Talleyrand, "I renounce much. I should have to study the
tastes and habits of a young woman. Josephine accommodates herself to
everything: she understands me perfectly."[221] But his boundless
triumphs, his alliance with the Czar and total overthrow of the
Bourbons and the Pope, had fed the fires of his ambition. He aspired
to give the _mot d'ordre_ to the universe; and he scrupled not to put
aside a consort who could not help him to found a dynasty. Yet it was
not without pangs of sorrow and remorse. His laboured, panting breath
and almost gasping words left on Bausset the impression that he was
genuinely affected; and, consummate actor though he was, we may well
believe that he felt the parting from his early associations.
Underneath his generally cold exterior he hid a nervous nature,
dominated by an inflexible will, but which now and again broke through
all restraint, bathing the beloved object with sudden tenderness or
blasting a foe with fiery passion. And it would seem that Josephine's
pangs had power to reawaken the feelings of his more generous youth.
The ceremony of divorce took place on December 15th Josephine
declaring with agonized pride that she gave her assent for the welfare
of France.

Already the new marriage negotiations had begun. They are unique even
amidst the frigid annals of royal betrothals. The French ambassador,
Caulaincourt, was charged to make definite overtures at St. Petersburg
for the hand of the Czar's younger sister; the conditions could easily
be arranged; religion need be no difficulty; but time was pressing;
the Emperor had need of an heir; "we are counting the minutes here,"
ran the despatch; and an answer was expected from St. Petersburg after
an interval of _two days_.[222] The request caused Alexander the
greatest perplexity. He parried it with the reply, correct enough in
form as in fact, that the disposal of his sister rested with the
Dowager Empress. But her hostility to Napoleon was w