mee_. Andre and Johann spoke with respect
of Commissary Hulot, the Emperor's protege, to whom indeed they owed
their prosperity; for Hulot d'Ervy, finding them intelligent and honest,
had taken them from the army provision wagons to place them in charge
of a government contract needing despatch. The brothers Fischer had
done further service during the campaign of 1804. At the peace Hulot had
secured for them the contract for forage from Alsace, not knowing that
he would presently be sent to Strasbourg to prepare for the campaign of
1806.

This marriage was like an Assumption to the young peasant girl. The
beautiful Adeline was translated at once from the mire of her village to
the paradise of the Imperial Court; for the contractor, one of the most
conscientious and hard-working of the Commissariat staff, was made
a Baron, obtained a place near the Emperor, and was attached to the
Imperial Guard. The handsome rustic bravely set to work to educate
herself for love of her husband, for she was simply crazy about him;
and, indeed, the Commissariat office was as a man a perfect match for
Adeline as a woman. He was one of the picked corps of fine men. Tall,
well-built, fair, with beautiful blue eyes full of irresistible fire and
life, his elegant appearance made him remarkable by the side of d'Orsay,
Forbin, Ouvrard; in short, in the battalion of fine men that surrounded
the Emperor. A conquering "buck," and holding the ideas of the
Directoire with regard to women, his career of gallantry was interrupted
for some long time by his conjugal affection.

To Adeline the Baron was from the first a sort of god who could do no
wrong. To him she owed everything: fortune--she had a carriage, a fine
house, every luxury of the day; happiness--he was devoted to her in the
face of the world; a title, for she was a Baroness; fame, for she was
spoken of as the beautiful Madame Hulot--and in Paris! Finally, she had
the honor of refusing the Emperor's advances, for Napoleon made her a
present of a diamond necklace, and always remembered her, asking now and
again, "And is the beautiful Madame Hulot still a model of virtue?" in
the tone of a man who might have taken his revenge on one who should
have triumphed where he had failed.

So it needs no great intuition to discern what were the motives in a
simple, guileless, and noble soul for the fanaticism of Madame Hulot's
love. Having fully persuaded herself that her husband could do her no
wrong