of the ancient
kings of France. Visions of still greater power were opening before him.
It was not only to him a bitter disappointment but apparently it might
prove a great national calamity that he had no heir to whom he could
transmit the sceptre which France had placed in his hands. Upon his
downfall, civil war might ravage the kingdom, as rival chieftains
grasped at the crown. It was earnestly urged upon him that the interests
of France imperiously demanded that, since he had no prospect of an heir
by Josephine, he should obtain a divorce and marry another. It was urged
that the welfare of thirty millions of people should not be sacrificed
to the inclinations of two individuals.

Josephine had heard these rumors, and her life was embittered by their
terrible import. A pall of gloom shrouded her sky, and anguish began to
gnaw at her heart amidst all the splendors of the Tuileries and the
lovely retirement of Malmaison.

Napoleon's younger brother, Louis, was of nearly the same age with
Hortense. He was a young man of fine personal appearance, very
intelligent, of scholarly tastes, and of irreproachable character.
Though pensive in temperament, he had proved himself a hero on the field
of battle, and he possessed, in all respects, a very noble character.
Many of the letters which he had written from Egypt to his friends in
Paris had been intercepted by the British cruisers, and were published.
They all bore the impress of the lofty spirit of integrity and humanity
with which he was inspired. Napoleon was very fond of his brother Louis.
He would surely place him in the highest positions of wealth and power.
As Louis Bonaparte was remarkably domestic in his tastes and
affectionate in his disposition, Josephine could not doubt that he would
make Hortense happy. Apparently it was a match full of promise,
brilliant, and in all respects desirable. Its crowning excellence,
however, in the eye of Josephine was, that should Hortense marry Louis
Bonaparte and give birth to a son, Napoleon would recognize that child
as his heir. Bearing the name of Bonaparte, with the blood of the
Bonapartes in his veins, and being the child of Hortense, whom he so
tenderly loved as a daughter, the desires of Napoleon and of France
might be satisfied. Thus the terrible divorce might be averted.

It is not probable that at this time Napoleon seriously thought of a
divorce, though the air was filled with rumors put in circulation by
those who w