|
debaucheries, was, last July, advised by his physicians to use the baths
at St. Amand. After his wife had accompanied him as far as Lille, she
went to visit one of her friends, Madame Ney, the wife of General Ney,
who commanded the camp near Montreuil. This lady resided in a castle
called Leek, in the vicinity, where dinners, concerts, balls, and other
festivities celebrated the arrival of the Princess; and to these the
principal officers of the camp were invited. One morning, about an hour
after the company had retired to bed, the whole castle was disturbed and
alarmed by an uproar in the anteroom of Princesse Louis's bedchamber.
On coming to the scene of riot, two officers were found there fighting,
and the Princesse Louis, more than half undressed, came out and called
the sentries on duty to separate the combatants, who were both wounded.
This affair occasioned great scandal; and General Ney, after having put
the officers under arrest, sent a courier to Napoleon at Boulogne,
relating the particulars and demanding His Majesty's orders. It was
related and believed as a fact that the quarrel originated about two of
the maids of the Princess (whose virtue was never suspected), with whom
the officers were intriguing. The Emperor ordered the culprits to be
broken and delivered up to his Minister of Police, who knew how to
proceed. The Princesse Louis also received an invitation to join her
sister-in-law, Madame Murat, then in the camp at Boulogne, and to remain
under her care until her husband's return from St. Amand.
General Murat was then at Paris, and his lady was merely on a visit to
her Imperial brother, who made her responsible for Madame Louis, whom he
severely reprimanded for the misconduct of her maids. The bedrooms of
the two sisters were on the same floor. One night, Princesse Louis
thought she heard the footsteps of a person on the staircase, not like
those of a female, and afterwards the door of Madame Murat's room opened
softly. This occurrence deprived her of all desire to sleep; and
curiosity, or perhaps revenge, excited her to remove her doubts
concerning the virtue of her guardian. In about an hour afterwards,
she stole into Madame Murat's bedroom, by the way of their sitting-room,
the door in the passage being bolted. Passing her hand over the pillow,
she almost pricked herself with the strong beard of a man, and, screaming
out, awoke her sister, who inquired what she could want at such an
unusual hour.
"I believe," replied the Princess, "my room is haunted. I have not shut
my eyes, and intended to ask for a place by your side, but I find it is
already engaged:
"My maid always sleeps with me when my husband is absent," said Madame
Murat.
"It is very rude of your maid to go to bed with her mistress without
first shaving herself," said the Princess, and left the room.
The next morning an explanation took place; the ladies understood each
other, and each, during the remaining part of her husband's absence, had
for consolation a maid for a bedfellow. Madame Murat also convinced the
Emperor that his suspicions with regard to the Princesse Louis were
totally unfounded; and he with some precious presents, indemnified her
for his harsh treatment.
It is reported that the two maids of the Princesse Louis, when before
Fouche, first denied all acquaintance with the officers; but, being
threatened with tortures, they signed a 'proces verbal', acknowledging
their guilt. This valuable and authentic document the Minister sent by
an extra courier to the Emperor, who showed it to his stepdaughter. Her
generosity is proverbial here, and therefore nobody is surprised that she
has given a handsome sum of money to the parents of her maids, who had in
vain applied to see their children; Fouche having told them that affairs
of State still required their confinement. One of them, Mariothe, has
|
|