had failed, the mother, who was in the next room, would
have come to the rescue of her injured daughter.

The Comtesse de Montijo was spared this act of heroism; Lucrece herself
sufficed for the task of defending her own honour: nevertheless, the
mother's part was not at an end, even when the decisive word had been
pronounced. According to her daughter, she objected to the union, from a
sincere regard for her would-be-son-in-law, from an all-absorbing love
for her own darling. The social gulf between the two was too wide ever
to be bridged, etc. "And though it will break my heart to have to obey
her, I have no alternative," added Mdlle. de Montijo, if not in these
selfsame words, at least in words to that effect. "There remains but one
hope. Write to her."

And Louis-Napoleon did write. The letter has been religiously preserved
by the Montijo family. In less than three mouths afterwards France was
officially or semi-officially apprised of the Emperor's intended union;
but, of course, the news had spread long before then, and a very varied
effect it produced. Candidly speaking, it satisfied no one, and every
one delivered judgment in two separate, if not different, capacities--as
private citizens and as patriotic Frenchmen. The lower classes,
containing the ultra-democratic element, would have perhaps applauded
the bold departure from the old traditions that had hitherto presided at
sovereign unions, if the bride had been French, instead of being a
foreigner. They were sensible enough not to expect their new Emperor to
choose from the bourgeoisie; but, in spite of their prejudices against
the old noblesse, they would, in default of a princess of royal blood,
have liked to see one of that noblesse's daughters share the Imperial
throne. They were not deceived by Napoleon's specious argument that
France had better assume openly the position of a parvenu rather than
make the new principle of the unrestricted suffrage of a great nation
pass for an old one by trying to introduce herself at any cost into a
family of kings.

The bourgeoisie itself was more disgusted still. Incredible as it may
seem, they did resent Napoleon's slight of their daughters. "A defaut
d'une princesse de sang royal, une de nos filles eut fait aussi bien
qu'une etrangere, dont le grand pere, apres tout, etait negociant comme
nous. Le premier empire a ete fait avec le sang de garcons d'ecurie, de
tonnelliers; le second empire aurait pu prendre un pen d