d closed
himself up in the room where she died, the library which he occupied
when triumphant First Consul.

Here he lived five mortal days of anguish preceding his departure for
Rochefort on that agonizing exile from which he never returned.

After the divorce Josephine preserved the property as her own particular
residence, and in 1814 received there the celebrated visit of the
allied sovereigns. History tells of a certain boat ride which she took
on a neighbouring lake in company with the Emperor Alexander which is
fraught with much historic sentiment. It was this imprudent excursion,
in the cool of a May evening, that caused the death of the former
empress three days later. It was from this bijou of a once royal abode
that Napoleon launched his famous proclamation to the army which the
arrogant Fouche refused to have printed in the "_Moniteur Officiel_."
Upon this Napoleon sent the Duc de Rovigo to Paris for his passports and
the necessary orders which would enable him to depart in peace. The next
moment he had changed his mind, and he changed it again a few moments
afterwards. As the result of the Prussians' advance on Paris by the left
bank of the Seine Napoleon was obliged to accept the inevitable, and
with the words of General Becker ringing in his ears: "_Sire, tout est
pret_," he crossed the vestibule and entered the gardens amid a painful
calm on his part, and an audible weeping by his former fellows in arms
who were lined up to do him honour. He embraced Hortense passionately,
and saluted all the personages of his party with a sympathy and emotion
unbelievable. With an eternal adieu and a rapid step down the garden
walk to the driveway, he at last entered the carriage which was
awaiting him and was driven rapidly away. Some days after the Allies
pillaged and sacked Malmaison. Its chief glory may be said to have
departed with the Corsican.

Under the Restoration, Prince Eugene had a sort of "rag sale" of what
was left. The lands which Josephine had bought of Lecouteaux were sold
to the highest bidder and the exotic shrubs and plants to any who would
buy, the pictures to such connoisseurs as had the price, those that were
left being sent to Munich. A Swedish banker now came on the scene (1826)
and bought the property--the chateau and the park--which he preserved
until his death twenty years later. Then it went to Queen Christina, and
was ultimately purchased by Napoleon III.

In October, 1870, during the s