Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/280

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250
NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR

that comes to her through victories, rejoicing in the treasures of art that the young conqueror had brought back to adorn the Paris museums.

The scene changes—Napoleon is setting out for Egypt. He hopes to weaken England by attacking her power in the East. He hopes to strengthen himself in the eyes of the French by winning new victories. For idolized though he is by the French people, he realizes their fickleness, and he knows that the Directory is jealous of him. This expedition has not the brilliancy of the Italian campaign. He does not succeed in disabling the British, the French fleet meets fearful disaster. On land the French army suffers terribly from pestilence. But Napoleon has many scientific men with him on this expedition, and science gains greatly by this Egyptian campaign. Then by chance he learns that there is the utmost political discontent in France. Almost secretly he sails away from Egypt. We see him in Paris by the middle of October, 1799. His enemies are astonished. But Napoleon's hour has come. The famous coup d'état follows, and in less than two months after his