ted by them. As long as any thing remains to me you
shall be mistress of your destiny; grief and happiness--you know that I
share all with you.

"Take, then, a little courage, my dear daughter. We both of us have much
need of it. Often mine is too feeble, and sorrow makes me sick. But I
seek fortitude all the time, and with my utmost efforts."

Soon after this Hortense, taking her two children with her, rejoined her
husband, King Louis, in Holland. Josephine wrote to her on the 10th of
May, from Navarre:

"I have received your letter, my dear Hortense, and I see, with much
pain, that your health is not good. I hope that repose will re-establish
it; and I can not doubt that the king will contribute to it every thing
in his power, by his attentions and his attachments. Every day will lead
him to see more and more how much you merit. Take care of yourself, my
dear daughter; you know how much I have need of you. My heart has
suffered to a degree which has somewhat impaired my health. But
fortitude triumphs over sorrow, and I begin to be a little better."

Again, on the 15th, the Empress wrote to Hortense, who was still in
Amsterdam:

"I have been extremely anxious on account of your health, my dear
Hortense. I know that you have experienced several attacks of fever, and
I have need to be tranquilized.

"Your letter of the 10th has just reached me, but it has not given me
the consolation I had hoped for. I see in it an abandonment of yourself,
which gives me great pain. How many ties are there which should bind you
to life! And if you have so little affection for me, is it then, when I
am no longer happy, that you can think, with so much tranquillity, of
leaving me?

"Take courage, my daughter, and especially be careful of your health. I
am confident, as I have already sent you word, that the waters which
have been prescribed for you will do you good. Speak of it to the king
with frankness. He certainly will not refuse you any thing which may be
essential to your health. I am making all my arrangements to go to the
springs in the month of June. But I do not think that I shall go to
Aix-la-Chapelle, but rather to Aix in Savoy, which place I prefer.

"Diversion of mind is necessary for my health, and I have more hope of
finding that in a place which I have never seen, and whose situation is
picturesque. The waters of Aix are particularly efficacious for the
nerves. I earnestly recommend you to take them instead of tho