rity he wishes to have a future assured you that
shall be independent of the treaty. I do not know what to say to him.
Write to me, and demand something, I conjure you!"

The queen's only response to this appeal was a letter addressed to the
Emperor Napoleon, and sent to Count Nesselrode, with the request that it
should be forwarded to its destination.

"It is strange," wrote Louise de Cochelet in relation to this
matter--"strange that all my efforts to serve you here have had no other
result than your sending a commission to Count Nesselrode to forward to
Fontainebleau a letter addressed to the Emperor Napoleon. He at first
thought I was bringing him the letter he had solicited for his emperor;
but he well knows how to appreciate all that is noble and great, and as
he possesses the most admirable tact, he thinks the letter cannot well
reach the emperor through him, and will therefore send it to the Duke of
Vicenza, at Fontainebleau, to be delivered by him to the Emperor
Napoleon."

Another letter of Louise de Cochelet is as follows: "I have just seen
Count Nesselrode again; he makes many inquiries concerning you; the
Emperor of Russia now resides on the Elysee Bourbon. The count tells me
a story that is in circulation here, and has reference to the Empress
Marie Louise and the kings her brothers-in-law. They were about to force
her to enter a carriage, in which they were to continue their journey
with her; when she refused to enter, it is said the King of Westphalia
became so violent that he gave her a little beating. She cried for help,
and General Caffarelli[27], who commanded the guards, came to her
rescue. On the following day she and her son were made prisoners, and
all the crown diamonds in her possession seized by the authorities; but
it seems as though capture was precisely what she wished.

[Footnote 27: According to Napoleon's instructions, his brothers were to
prevent the empress and the King of Rome from falling into the hands of
the enemy. De Baussue narrates this scene in his memoirs, and it is
self-evident that it was not so stormy as the gossip of Paris
portrayed it.]

"The Queen of Westphalia has just arrived in Paris; the Emperor
Alexander, her cousin, called on her immediately. It is supposed that
she will return to her father.

"Your brothers future is not yet determined on, but it will certainly be
a desirable and worthy one. There are many intrigues going on in
connection with it, as Count