s which fell upon Hortense. It would seem
that Hortense was not at all injured by the flattery lavished upon her
in consequence of the renown of her father. She retained, unchanged, all
her native simplicity of character, which she had inherited from her
mother, and which she ever saw illustrated in her mother's words and
actions. Treating the humblest with the same kindness as the most
exalted, she won all hearts, and made herself the friend of every one in
the school.

But her cousin Stephanie was a very different character. Her father, the
Marquis, had fled from France an emigrant. He was an aristocrat by
birth, and in all his cherished sentiments. In his flight with the
nobles, from the terrors of the revolution, he had left his daughter
behind, as the protegee of Josephine. Inheriting a haughty disposition,
and elated by the grandeur which her uncle was attaining, she assumed
consequential airs which rendered her disagreeable to many of her
companions. The eagle eye of Josephine detected these faults in the
character of her niece. As Stephanie returned to school from one of her
vacations, Josephine sent by her the following letter to Madame Campan:

"In returning to you my niece, my dear Madame Campan, I send you both
thanks and reproof:--thanks for the brilliant education you have given
her, and reproof for the faults which your acuteness must have noticed,
but which your indulgence has passed over. She is good-tempered, but
cold; well-informed, but disdainful; lively, but deficient in judgment.
She pleases no one, and it gives her no pain. She fancies the renown of
her uncle and the gallantry of her father are every thing. Teach her,
but teach her plainly, without mincing, that in reality they are
nothing.

"We live in an age when every one is the child of his own deeds. And if
they who fill the highest ranks of public service enjoy any superior
advantage or privilege, it is the opportunity to be more useful and more
beloved. It is thus alone that good fortune becomes pardonable in the
eyes of the envious. This is what I would have you repeat to her
constantly. I wish her to treat all her companions as her equals. Many
of them are better, or at least quite as deserving as she is herself,
and their only inferiority is in not having had relations equally
skillful or equally fortunate.

"JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE."

On the 8th of October, 1799, Napoleon landed at Frejus, on his return
from Egypt.