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40
Recollections of
[Ch. V.

deed, when with him, almost as a brother or companion of my own age, and all the cautions I received, and my own resolutions to treat him with more respect and formality, were put to flight the moment I came within the influence of his arch smile and laugh. If I approached him more gravely than usual, and with a more sedate step and subdued tone, he would, perhaps, begin by saying, "Eh bien, qu'as tu, Mademoiselle Betsee? Has le petit Las Cases proved inconstant? If he have,—bring him to me;" or some other playful speech, which either pleased or teased me, and made me at once forget all my previous determinations to behave prettily.

My brothers were at this time quite children, and Napoleon used to allow them to sit on his knee and amuse themselves by playing with his orders, &c. More than once he has desired me to cut them off to please them. One day Alexander took up a pack of cards, on which was the usual

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