In fact, it was one of this
strange man's peculiarities that it was just those delicate and personal
scenes with which privacy is usually associated that he preferred to
have in public, for he knew that his reproaches had an additional sting
when they fell upon other ears besides those of his victim. From his
wife to his groom there was not one of those who were about him who did
not live in dread of being held up to ridicule and infamy before a
smiling crowd, whose amusement was only tempered by the reflection that
each of them might be the next to endure the same exposure.
As to Josephine, she had taken refuge in a woman's last resource, and
was crying bitterly, with her graceful neck stooping towards her knees
and her two hands over her face. Madame de Remusat was weeping also,
and in every pause of his hoarse scolding--for his voice was very hoarse
and raucous when he was angry--there came the soft hissing and clicking
of their sobs. Sometimes his fierce taunts would bring some reply from
the Empress, some gentle reproof to him for his gallantries, but each
remonstrance only excited him to a fresh rush of vituperation.
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