tremely anxious to keep up her acquaintance. She
declined the honor, alleging the Emperor's jealousy as reason for her
refusal. He persuaded her, however, to grant him an interview, and she
appointed an evening when she did not generally receive visitors.
Stealing into the house in an undignified manner, the Duke was collared
by the _concierge_, who mistook him for a thief. This ill-fortune did
not deter him, however, from visiting her frequently. Years after, he
wrote,--"Among the precious souvenirs which I owe to you is one I
particularly cherish. It is the eminently noble and generous course you
pursued toward me, when Napoleon had said openly, in the _salon_ of the
Empress Josephine, that he 'should regard as his personal enemy any
foreigner who frequented the _salon_ of Madame Recamier.'"

Madame Recamier was to feel yet more severely the effects of the
Emperor's displeasure. In the autumn of 1806 the banking-house of
Monsieur Recamier became embarrassed, through financial disorders in
Spain. Their difficulties would have been temporary, had the Bank of
France granted them a loan on good security. This favor was refused, and
the house failed. While the decision of the bank was yet uncertain,
Monsieur Recamier confided to his wife the desperate state of his
affairs, and deputed her to do, the next day, the honors of a large
dinner-party, which could not be postponed, lest suspicion should be
excited. He went into the country, completely overwhelmed, and awaited
there the result of his application. Madame Recamier forced herself to
appear as usual. No one suspected the agony of her mind. She afterwards
said that she felt the whole evening as though she were a prey to some
horrible nightmare. In contrasting the conduct of the husband and wife,
Madame Lenormant is scarcely just to the former. Acutely as Madame
Recamier dreaded the impending ruin, it could not be to her what it was
to her husband. A fearful responsibility rested upon him. The failure of
his house was not only disaster and possible dishonor, but the ruin of
thousands who had confided in him. A strong intellect might well be
bowed down under the apprehension of such a catastrophe. Women, too, are
proverbially calmer in such emergencies than men. To them it simply
means sacrifice, but to men it is infinitely more than that.

When the blow fell, Monsieur Recamier met it manfully. He gave up
everything to his creditors, who had so much confidence in his inte