of illness was the consequence of this sorrowful separation.

CHAPTER II.

LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A CHILD.

The Duchess of St. Leu was, however, not destined to find repose in Aix;
the Bourbons--not yet weary of persecuting her, and still fearing the
name whose first and greatest representative was now languishing on a
solitary, inhospitable rock-island--the Bourbons considered it dangerous
that Hortense, the emperor's step-daughter, and her son, whose name of
Louis Napoleon seemed to them a living monument of the past, should be
permitted to sojourn so near the French boundary. They therefore
instructed their ambassador to the government of Savoy to protest
against the further sojourn of the queen in Aix, and Hortense was
compelled to undertake a new pilgrimage, and to start out into the world
again in search of a home.

She first turned to Baden, whose duchess, Stephanie, was so nearly
related to her, and from whose husband she might therefore well expect a
kindly reception. But the grand-duke did not justify his cousin's hopes;
he had not the courage to defy the jealous fears of France, and it was
only at the earnest solicitation of his wife that he at last consented
that Hortense should take up her residence at the extreme end of the
grand-duchy, at Constance, on the Lake of Constance; and this permission
was only accorded her on the express condition that neither the duchess
nor her son should ever come to Carlsruhe, and that his wife,
Stephanie, should never visit her cousin at Constance.

Hortense accepted this offer with its conditions, contented to find a
place where she could rest after her long wanderings, and let the
bleeding wounds of her heart heal in the stillness and peace of
beautiful natural scenery. She passed a few quiet, happy years in
Constance desiring and demanding nothing but a little rest and peace,
aspiring to but one thing--to make of the son whom Providence had given
her as a compensation for all her sufferings, a strong, a resolute, and
an intelligent man.

Her most tender care and closest attention were devoted to the education
of this son. An excellent teacher, Prof. Lebas, of Paris, officiated as
instructor to the young prince. She herself gave him instruction in
drawing, in music, and in dancing; she read with him, sang with him, and
made herself a child, in order to replace to her lonely boy the playmate
Fate had torn from his side.

While reposing on her _chaise-longue_ on the