rained her own tears," writes Baron Fleury,
"reminding us, with the wisdom of a philosopher and the sweetness of an
angel, that we ought to surmount our sorrows and regrets, and submit
with docility to the decrees of Providence."

It was necessary for Napoleon to come to a prompt decision. The Allies
now nearly surrounded Paris. On the 29th of June the Emperor sat in his
library at Malmaison, exhausted with care and grief. Hortense, though
with swollen eyes and a heart throbbing with anguish, did every thing
which a daughter's love could suggest to minister to the solace of her
afflicted father. Just before his departure to Rochefort, where he
intended to embark for some foreign land, he called for his nephews, to
take leave of them. It was a very affecting scene. Both of the children
wept bitterly. The soul of the little, pensive Louis Napoleon was
stirred to its utmost depths. He clung frantically to his uncle,
screaming and insisting that he should go and "fire off the cannon!" It
was necessary to take him away by force.

"The Emperor was departing almost without money. Hortense, after many
entreaties, succeeded in making him accept her beautiful necklace,
valued at eight hundred thousand francs. She sewed it up in a silk
ribbon, which he concealed in his dress. He did not, however, find
himself obliged to part with this jewel till on his death-bed, when he
intrusted it to Count Montholon, with orders to restore it to Hortense.
This devoted man acquitted himself successfully of this commission."[H]

[Footnote H: Life of Napoleon III., by Edward Roth.]

Upon the departure of Napoleon, Hortense, with her children, returned to
Paris. She was entreated by her friends to seek refuge in the interior
of France, as the Royalists were much exasperated against her in
consequence of her reception of the Emperor. They assured her that the
army and the people would rally around her and her children as the
representatives of the Empire. But Hortense replied:

"I must now undergo whatever fortune has in store for me. I am nothing
now. I can not pretend to make the people think that I rally the troops
around me. If I had been Empress of France, I would have done every
thing to prolong the defense. But now it does not become me to mingle my
destinies with such great interests, and I must be resigned."

In a few days the allied armies were again in possession of Paris. The
Royalists assumed so threatening an attitude towards her,