able emotion forced me
to silence. The queen also seemed absorbed in her reflections.

[Illustration: INTERVIEW IN THE COLISEUM.]

"'How many events have contributed to bring us together,' she said
finally, turning towards me, 'events of which I often have been the
puppet or the victim, without having foreseen or provoked them.'

"I could not help thinking that this pretension to the role of a victim
was a little hazardous. At that time I was under the conviction that she
had not been a stranger to the return from the island of Elba. Doubtless
the queen divined my thoughts, since it is hardly possible for me to
hide my sentiments. My bearing and face betray me in spite of myself.

"'I see plainly,'she said earnestly, 'that you share an opinion that has
injured me deeply; and it was to controvert it that I wanted to speak to
you freely. Henceforth you will justify me, I hope; for I can clear
myself of the charge of ingratitude and treason, which would abase me in
my own eyes if I had been guilty of them.'

"She was silent a moment and then resumed. 'In 1814, after the
abdication of Fontainebleau, I considered that the Emperor had renounced
all his rights to the throne, and that his family ought to follow his
example. It was my wish to remain in France, under a title that would
not give umbrage to the new Government. At the request of the Emperor of
Russia, Louis XVIII. gave me authority to assume the title of Duchess of
St. Leu, and confirmed me in the possession of my private property. In
an audience that I obtained to thank him, he treated me with so much
courtesy and kindness that I was sincerely grateful; and after having
freely accepted his favors I could not think of conspiring against him.

"'I heard of the landing of the Emperor only through public channels,
and it gave me much more annoyance than pleasure. I knew the Emperor too
well to imagine that he would have attempted such an enterprise without
having certain reasons to hope for success. But the prospect of a civil
war afflicted me deeply, and I was convinced that we could not escape
it. The speedy arrival of the Emperor baffled all my previsions.

"'On hearing of the departure of the king, and picturing him to myself
old, infirm, and forced to abandon his country again, I was sensibly
touched. The idea that he might be accusing me of ingratitude and
treason was insupportable to me; and, notwithstanding all the risk of
such a step, I wrote to him to e