over them, were broken in a manner which represented them doubly
beautiful. From one peep you caught the small vine-clad island of
Reichman, with its cottage gleams trembling upon the twilighted lake.
From another you had a noble reach of the Rhine, going forth from its
brief resting-place to battle its way down the Falls of Schaffhausen;
and beyond it the eye reposed upon the distant outline of the Black
Forest, melting warmly in the west. In a third direction you saw the
vapory steeples of Constance, apparently sinking in the waters which
almost surrounded them; and far away you distinguish the little coast
villages, like fading constellations, glimmering fainter and fainter,
till land and lake and sky were blended together in obscurity."

Not far distant was the imposing chateau of Wolfberg, which had been
purchased by General Parguin, a young French officer of the Empire of
much distinction. He had married Mademoiselle Cochelet, and became one
of the most intimate friends of Louis Napoleon.

Prince Eugene had also built him a house in the vicinity, that he might
be near his sister and share her solitude. Just as the house was
finished, and before he moved into it, Eugene died. This was another
crushing blow to the heart of Hortense. She was in Rome at the time, and
we shall have occasion to refer to the event again.

Hortense, in her retirement, was no less a queen than when the diadem
was upon her brow. Though at the farthest possible remove from all
aristocratic pride, her superior mind, her extraordinary attainments,
and her queenly grace and dignity, invested her with no less influence
over the hearts of her friends than she enjoyed in her days of regal
power. A visitor at Wolfberg, in the following language, describes a
call which Hortense made upon Madame Parguin and her guests at the
chateau:

"One fine evening, as we were all distributed about the lawn at
Wolfberg, there was an alarm that Hortense was coming to visit Madame
Parguin. As I saw her winding slowly up the hill, with all her company,
in three little summer carriages, the elegance of the cavalcade, in
scenes where elegance was so rare, was exceedingly striking.

"The appearance of Hortense was such as could not fail to excite
admiration and kind feeling. Her countenance was full of talent, blended
with the mild expression of a perfect gentlewoman. Her figure, though
not beyond the middle height, was of a mould altogether majestic. She
lamented