Three generations

THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 97
was further alleged that the King's acute distress and
speedy loss of his reason were caused by the resent-
ment and pain aroused by the shock, which was
followed very shortly by the death of the Princess.
Additional colouring was lent to the tragic story by
the fact that the dying girl happened to have a little
godson, the child of one of her doctors, of whom she
was fond, on whom she was accustomed to bestow
many favours, while after her death the Princesses,
her sisters, still continued to pet and cherish the boy.*
Of the Empress Josephine, the deposed and super-
seded wife, my mother was a warm partisan. Little
was then known in England of the lovely, pleasure-
loving, coquettish Creole, except what related to her
beauty, her charm of manner, and her misfortune in
being dismissed from her exalted position by her
Emperor's side because she did not provide him with
an heir. Modern investigation has much to say of
youthful levities and insincerities, and of womanly
frivolities and follies, which would have been highly
antipathetic to a Scotchwoman, whose standard of
duty and loyalty was widely different. Even as it
was, I can remember how we sometimes teased my
mother by doubting the perfection of her paragon,
and quoting in support of our doubt Bourrienne's
statement that, in order to meet the inordinate amount
of her personal expenses, she consented to receive pay
from the arch-policeman Fouche by acting as a spy on
her husband's movements, and reporting them to the
head of the State police.
There was one mode by which the poor professional
* Oddly enough, the tale of the alleged romance of Princess
Amelia has been revived, and has appeared in book form quite
recently.
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