A tall, soldierly man, brown-faced and
moustached, walked beside her, and she occasionally laid her hand with a
caressing motion upon his arm.
'That is her son, Eugene de Beauharnais,' said my companion.
'Her son!' I exclaimed, for he seemed to me to be the older of the two.
De Caulaincourt smiled at my surprise.
'You know she married Beauharnais when she was very young--in fact she
was hardly sixteen. She has been sitting in her boudoir while her son
has been baking in Egypt and Syria, so that they have pretty well
bridged over the gap between them. Do you see the tall, handsome,
clean-shaven man who has just kissed Josephine's hand. That is Talma
the famous actor. He once helped Napoleon at a critical moment of his
career, and the Emperor has never forgotten the debt which the Consul
contracted. That is really the secret of Talleyrand's power. He lent
Napoleon a hundred thousand francs before he set out for Egypt, and now,
however much he distrusts him, the Emperor cannot forget that old
kindness. I have never known him to abandon a friend or to forgive an
enemy.
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