and alone.

The Sunday following was hardly less melancholy, for it was then
Josephine learned that Malmaison had been endowed with an income of two
millions for its upkeep, and that her personal belongings and the
furnishings of her favourite apartments were already on the way thither
from the Tuileries. The wound was not even then allowed to heal, for
she learned that Napoleon had ordained that she was to receive the
visits of the court as if she were still empress.

[Illustration: _Chateau de Malmaison_]

Napoleon had already written his former spouse to the effect that he
would give much to see her, but that he did not feel sufficiently sure
of himself to permit of it. This historic letter closed thus; "_Adieu,
Josephine, bonne nuit, si tu doutais de moi, tout sera bien indigne_."

On the 17th of December Napoleon actually did come to Malmaison to see
her from whom he was officially separated. Josephine had confided to
Madame de Remusat, her lady-in-waiting, "It almost seems as if I were
dead, and only possessed of the faculty of remembering the past."

In this Malmaison, so full of souvenirs of other days, Josephine was
obliged to content herself, for on January 12, 1810, the religious
marriage of Josephine and Napoleon was annulled automatically because,
as was claimed, it had not been celebrated with the necessary
formalities.

Here at Malmaison Josephine even surrounded herself with the most
intimate souvenirs of Napoleon: a lounging chair that he was wont to
occupy stood in its accustomed place; his bed was always made; his sword
hung upon the wall; his pen was in his inkwell; a book was open on his
desk and his geographical globe--his famous _mappemond_--was in its
accustomed place.

Princes passing through Paris came to Malmaison to salute the former
empress, and she allowed herself to become absorbed in her greenhouses
and her dairy, the direction of her house, her receptions and her
_petite cour_.

In time all came to an end. When Napoleon returned to Paris in 1815 he
interrogated the doctor who had cared for Josephine during the illness
which terminated in her death the year before and asked him: "Did she
speak of me at the last?" The doctor replied: "Often, very often." With
emotion Napoleon replied simply: "_Bonne femme: bonne Josephine elle
m'aimeit vraiment_."

After Waterloo Napoleon himself retired to Malmaison, which had become
the property of Josephine's children, Eugene and Hortense, an