'But this dreadful man Toussac has not been taken yet,' she cried.
'Have I not heard that a young lady is endeavouring to do what has
baffled the secret police, and that the freedom of her lover is to be
the reward of her success?'
'She is my cousin, your Imperial Majesty. Mademoiselle Sibylle Bernac
is her name.'
'You have only been in France a few days, Monsieur de Laval,' said
Josephine, smiling, 'but it seems to me that all the affairs of the
Empire are already revolving round you. You must bring this pretty
cousin of yours--the Emperor said that she is pretty--to Court with you,
and present her to me. Madame de Remusat, you will take a note of the
name.'
The Empress had stooped again to the basket of aloes wood which stood
beside the fireplace. Suddenly I saw her stare hard at something, and
then, with a little cry of surprise, she stooped and lifted an object
from the carpet. It was the Emperor's soft flat beaver with the little
tricolour cockade. Josephine sprang up, and looked from the hat in her
hand to the imperturbable face of the minister.
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