Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/420

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
404
Napoleon.

side of the cabin, where she sat by me on the sofa until dinner was announced, when the Admiral, as he usually did, handed her to her seat. Even sitting down at table he took not the slightest notice of her, but began eating his dinner. During the dinner, missing the bottle of claret which usually stood before him, and Madame Bertrand, ever watchful of his motions, having handed him one which was near her, he very condescendingly exclaimed, 'Ah! comment se porte madame?' and then very deliberately continued his meal. This, and this alone, was all the notice the long and serious illness of his favourite drew forth."

It will be seen that these two narratives, though they cannot be described as inspired or luminous, are valuable additions to our knowledge of a man whose tyranny over the imagination and the interest of mankind Time seems to have no power of diminishing.