which his answer would be put. The breakfast which Napoleon caused to be served next morning in the room of Marie Louise by her waiting women dispenses us from explaining how the latter part of the protocol was eluded, and why the apartments in the Hôtel de la Chancellerie did not shelter their august tenant. His valet says: 'After his conversation with the Empress, Napoleon retired to his room, scented himself with eau de Cologne, and, clothed only in a dressing-gown, returned secretly to the Empress.' To complete his story, Constant adds: 'Next morning, while dressing, the Emperor asked me whether any one had noticed the way he had broken through the programme.' By his enthusiasm the most powerful monarch in Europe shows us that his temperament has not changed since 1796. The impatience of the Emperor for the arrival of Marie Louise is the same as that of General Bonaparte for Josephine."
I leave the reader to form his own opinion of the apologies for this strange scene which the eulogist of Napoleon gives. It does not alter my view of the transaction. I will not weary, and perchance disgust, the reader by adding the even more audacious and franker defences of M. Masson.
It is pleasanter to be able to record that Napoleon had the apartments at Compiègne arranged so as to give them a home-like ap-
