any
as a direct interposition of Providence in favor of _Napoleon's Guardian
Angel_.

It was just as she was stepping into her carriage, which was to follow
closely that of the First Consul to the theatre, that General Rapp, who
had always before appeared utterly unobservant of ladies' dress,
remarked to Josephine that the pattern of the shawl did not match her
dress. She returned to the house, and ran up to her apartment to change
it for another. The delay did not occupy more than three minutes, but
they sufficed to save her life. Napoleon's carriage just cleared the
explosion. Had Josephine been close behind, nothing could have saved
her. In the happy days of love and confidence, Malmaison was the scene
of great enjoyment: the hand of taste could be discerned in all its
embellishments. Napoleon preferred it to any other residence. When he
arrived there from the Luxembourg or the Tuileries, he was wild with
delight, like a school-boy let loose from school. Every thing enchanted
him, but most of all, perhaps, the chimes of the village church-bells.
It may have been partly owing to the associations which they awakened.
He would stop in his rambles if he heard them, lest his footfall should
drown the sound--he would remain as if entranced, in a kind of ecstasy,
till they ceased. "Ah! how they remind me of the first years I spent at
Brienne!"

Napoleon added considerably to the domain of Malmaison by purchasing the
noble woods of Butard, which joined it. He was in a perfect ecstasy with
the improvement; and, in a few days after the purchase was completed,
proposed that they should all make a party to see it. Josephine put on
her shawl, and, accompanied by her friends, set out. Napoleon, in a
state of enchantment, rode on before; but he would then gallop back, and
take Josephine's hand. He was compared to a child, who, in the eagerness
of delight, flies back to his mother to impart his joy.

Nothing could be more agreeable than the society of Malmaison. Napoleon
disliked ceremony, and wished all his guests to be perfectly at their
ease. All his evenings were spent in Josephine's society, in which he
delighted. Both possessed the rare gift of conversational powers.
General information and exquisite taste were rendered doubly attractive
by the winning manners and sweet voice of Josephine. As for Napoleon, he
appeared to have an intuitive knowledge on all subjects. He was like an
inspired person when seen amidst men of ever