woman, previously warned, had refused to abandon her lover;
but now she sought escape, was intercepted, and the city executioner
immediately brought blindfolded to the great hall, where he beheld a
fair, noble woman bound hands and feet. He implored to be spared his
terrible task, but, sworn to secrecy, he was forced under penalty of
instant death to strike the fatal blow. He drew up a detailed account of
the double murder and sent it to Baron Bretueil, then French minister of
state, who laid the matter before King Louis XVI. Jerome's wife was the
daughter of this unfortunate princess. The duke afterward married a
daughter of George III. of England.

Mme. Bonaparte's last meeting with Jerome was at the Pitti Palace in
Florence in 1822, and, singular to say, these once wedded lovers did not
know each other! She chanced to be attired in her most _recherche_
costume--a rich silk halfway to the knee, then the mode, displaying
dainty prunella shoes; a gauze hat about three feet in circumference,
with high-wired bows; a crimson cashmere shawl and large green velvet
reticule. In passing through the gallery she was attracted by the eager,
persistent stare of a very handsome man whom she did not recognize, but
whose strange likeness to her son enchained her. Suddenly the truth
flashed to her heart: "It is Jerome!" He meanwhile, gazing at her, said
to one of the ladies with him, "Si belle! si belle! qui est-ce?"--"Vous
devriez la connaitre, c'est votre premiere femme," replied Mme. Joseph
Bonaparte. Jerome started, and with an agitated whisper to the other
lady, the princess Catherine, they left the gallery. For one moment only
the two "discrowned queens" were face to face. The next day Mme.
Bonaparte was driving in the Cascine, when from a passing carriage
Jerome nearly precipitated himself in a last, lingering look at the wife
of his youth.

At that period Florence was the focus of continental social brilliancy,
and Mme. Bonaparte was received with due distinction at its charming
court. "My presentation was special," she relates, "and being superbly
dressed, though caring but little for _chiffons_, I advanced with entire
composure and self-satisfaction through the apartments of the Pitti
Palace, crowded with the _elite_ of the court and diplomacy. Preceded by
the chamberlain, I was welcomed by the grand duke and duchess with such
kindness as quite to overcome me, and I nearly burst into tears; but
saying to myself, 'Good graci