"He is reflecting," whispered Josephine to the princess. "That shows, at least, that he has not yet made up his mind to reject the offer of the Count de Provence."
At this moment Bonaparte turned toward the two ladies and approached them rapidly.
"Are you authorized to receive my reply?" he asked, turning his gloomy eyes toward the princess.
"I shall feel happy and honored by any message you may be pleased to intrust to me," said Marianne.
Bonaparte nodded to her.
"Will you permit me to write a letter here, Josephine?" he asked.
Instead of making a reply, Josephine hastened to her desk, in order to take out some paper, to draw a chair to the table, and then to hand the pen to Bonaparte, with a fascinating smile. When he commenced writing, she supported herself in breathless suspense on the back of his arm-chair and looked over the Consul's shoulder, while the Princess von Eibenberg, standing not far from them, looked at both with sparkling eyes.
Bonaparte hastily wrote a few lines, threw the pen aside, and turning around to Josephine, he handed her the letter.
"There, read it," he said, "and read it aloud, so that the beautiful emissary of your M. de Bourbon may learn my reply, and know the contents of the message she is to deliver to him."
Josephine took the paper, and read, in a tremulous voice, frequently interrupted by her sighs:
"I have received the letter of your royal highness; I have constantly felt a lively sympathy for you and for the misfortunes of your family. But your royal highness must not think of coming to France; you would have to pass over a hundred thousand corpses before reaching it. In other respects, I shall constantly take pains to do whatever will be calculated to alleviate your condition and to make you forget your misfortunes."
"Well, Josephine, you are silent?" asked Bonaparte, when she ceased reading. "You are dissatisfied with my letter? And you, too, madame, have a dark shadow on your beautiful face! How could you expect another answer from me?"
"General, I believe the royal princes really hoped for another answer," said Marianne, heaving a sigh.
"And what justified such a hope?" asked Bonaparte, sternly "What have I done to give rise to such chimeras?"
"General, the favorable answer you gave to Prussia--"
"Ah!" said Bonaparte, shrugging his shoulders, "the wind is blowing in that direction, then? Prussia asked me if she would cause us any trouble by tolerating the French princes within her boundaries. I replied in the negative; and when Prussia went further and asked whether we should feel offended or not, if she paid an annual pension to the Bourbons, I permitted even that on condition that the princes remained quiet and did not carry on any intrigues. They believed, then, that because I suffered distressed persons to be relieved and an asylum to be granted to the homeless, I should be ready, also, to make the beggars masters again, and to lay France at the feet of the exiles!"
"Bonaparte, your words are very harsh and very unjust," exclaimed Josephine, sadly.