Page:California Digital Library (IA recollectionsofe00abeliala).pdf/108

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
82
Recollections of
[Ch. VIII.

was treated by them all. To them he was still "le grand empereur;" his every look was watched, and each wish anticipated, as if he had still been on the throne of Charlemagne.

On one of these occasions Madame Bertrand produced a miniature of the empress Josephine, which she shewed to Napoleon. He gazed at it with the greatest emotion for a considerable time without speaking. At last, he exclaimed it was the most perfect likeness he had ever seen of her, and told Madame Bertrand he would keep it, which he did, until his death. He has often looked at my mother for a length of time very earnestly, and then apologized, saying that she reminded him so much of Josephine. Her memory appeared to be idolized by him, and he was never weary of dwelling on her sweetness of disposition and the grace of her movements. He said she was the most truly feminine woman he had ever known. In speaking of the

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.