do not examine her more closely. As to fortune, she intends there shall also be illusion. Here, one would believe, there must be some difficulty, but Bonaparte accepts all that she does, and then in private, in the presence only of Lemarrois, aide-de-camp of the General, the strangest contract of marriage that notary ever received, is prepared; no community of goods under any form nor in any manner whatsoever; absolute separation of means; all authority given in advance by the future husband to the future wife; guardianship of the children by the first marriage exclusively to be held by the mother; a jointure of fifteen hundred pounds if she becomes a widow, and in the latter case also the right to get back all that she could justly claim as belonging to her.
"Of documents relating to personal property not a single one. All that the future wife possesses is a claim to the property which was common to herself and the late M. Beauharnais. He did not make an inventory, and until the inventory was made she could not decide whether to accept or renounce. The inventory was made two years later, and she renounced, but these two years had brought something better. Bonaparte made no secret of the smallness of his fortune. 'On his side the future husband declared he possessed no real estate nor personal property other than his wardrobe and his military equipage, the whole valued by him at , and then he signed the
