And soon there was something else to make me ashamed, and that was the
conduct of him whose servant I had become. His manners were outrageous.
As he had himself said, it was his nature to be always first, and this
being so he resented those courtesies and gallantries by which men are
accustomed to disguise from women the fact that they are the weaker sex.
The Emperor, unlike Louis XIV., felt that even a temporary and
conventional attitude of humility towards a woman was too great a
condescension from his own absolute supremacy. Chivalry was among those
conditions of society which he refused to accept.
To the soldiers he was amiable enough, with a nod and a joke for each of
them. To his sisters also he said a few words, though rather in the
tone of a drill sergeant to a pair of recruits. It was only when the
Empress had joined him that his ill-humour came to a head.
'I wish you would not wear those wisps of pink about your head,
Josephine,' said he, pettishly. 'All that women have to think about is
how to dress themselves, and yet they cannot even do that with
moderation or taste.
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