shed into his arms, all his fortitude
forsook him. His emotion was so great that his wife, struggling against
her own anguish, used her utmost endeavors to calm and console him.

In the midst of this heart-rending scene, to their consternation, the
children, by some misunderstanding, were again led into the apartment.
The father and mother struggled to disguise from them the cause of that
emotion which they could not conceal. For a time the children were
silent and bewildered; then Hortense, though with evident misgivings,
attempted to console her parents. The events of her saddened life had
rendered her unusually precocious. Turning to her mother, she begged her
not to give way to so much sorrow, assuring her that she could not think
that her father was dangerously ill. Then addressing Eugene, she said,
in a peculiar tone which her parents felt as a reproach,

"I do not think, brother, that papa is very sick. At any rate, it is not
such a sickness as doctors can cure." Josephine felt the reproach, and
conscious that it was in some degree deserved, said:

"What do you mean, my child? Do you think your father and I have
combined to deceive you?"

"Pardon me, mamma, but I do think so."

"Oh, sister," exclaimed Eugene, "how can you speak so strangely?"

"On the contrary," Hortense replied, "it is very plain and natural.
Surely affectionate parents may be allowed to deceive their children
when they wish to spare their feelings."

Josephine was seated in the lap of her husband. Hortense sprang into
her mother's arms, and encircled the neck of both father and mother in a
loving embrace. Eugene caught the contagion, and by his tears and
affecting caresses added to this domestic scene of love and woe.

It is the universal testimony that Eugene and Hortense were so lovely in
person and in character that they instantly won the affection of all who
saw them. The father was conscious that he was soon to die. He knew that
all his property would be confiscated. It was probable that Josephine
would also be led to her execution. The guillotine spared neither sex
who had incurred the suspicions of enthroned democracy. Both parents
forgot themselves, in their anxiety for their children. The execution of
Beauharnais would undoubtedly lead to the arrest and execution of
Josephine. The property of the condemned was invariably confiscated.
There was thus danger that the children would be turned in beggary into
the streets. It is diff