| 365 | 366 | 367 | 368 | 369 |
| 1 | 171 | 343 | 514 | 685 |
|
Sometimes men: Saint-Arnaud, Espinasse, Saint-George, Maupas.
Sometimes neither men nor women: the Marquis de C.
The whole troop was noteworthy.
Let us say a few words of it.
There was Vieillard the preceptor, an atheist with a tinge of
Catholicism, a good billiard player.
Vieillard was an anecdotist. He recounted smilingly the following:--
Towards the close of 1807 Queen Hortense, who of her own accord lived
in Paris, wrote to the King Louis that she could not exist any longer
without seeing him, that she could not do without him, and that she was
about to come to the Hague. The King said, "She is with child." He sent
for his minister Van Maanen, showed him the Queen's letter, and added,
"
She is coming. Very good. Our two chambers communicate by a door; the
Queen will find it walled up." Louis took his royal mantle in earnest,
for he exclaimed, "A King's mantle shall never serve as coverlet to a
harlot." The minister Van Maanen, terrified, sent word of this to the
Emperor. The Emperor fell into a rage, not against Hortense, but against
Louis. Nevertheless Louis held firm; the door was not walled up, but his
Majesty was; and when the Queen came he turned his back upon her. This
did not prevent Napoleon III. from being born.
A suitable number of salvoes of cannon saluted this birth.
367
Page
Quick Jump
|