thread of events a little further back.

[I have learned since that the Countess de Walewska went with her
son to visit the Emperor on the Island of Elba. This child
resembled his Majesty so greatly that the report was started that
the King of Rome had visited his father. Madame de Walewska
remained only a short time at the Island of Elba.--CONSTANT.]

A short time after his marriage with the Archduchess Marie Louise,
although she was a young and beautiful woman, and although he really
loved her devotedly, the Emperor was no more careful than in the time of
the Empress Josephine to scrupulously observe conjugal fidelity. During
one of our stays at Saint-Cloud he took a fancy to Madamoiselle L----,
whose mother's second husband was a chief of squadron. These ladies then
stayed at Bourg-la-Reine, where they were discovered by M. de ----, one
of the most zealous protectors of the pretty women who were presented to
his Majesty, and who spoke to him of this young person, then seventeen
years old. She was a brunette of ordinary height, but with a beautiful
figure, and pretty feet and hands, her whole person full of grace, and
was indeed perfectly charming in all respects, and, besides, united with
most enticing coquetry every accomplishment, danced with much grace,
played on several instruments, and was full of intelligence; in fact, she
had received that kind of showy education which forms the most charming
mistresses and the worst wives. The Emperor told me one day, at eight
o'clock in the evening, to seek her at her mother's, to bring her and
return at eleven o'clock at latest. My visit caused no surprise; and I
saw that these ladies had been forewarned, no doubt by their obliging
patron, for they awaited me with an impatience they did not seek to
conceal. The young person was dazzling with ornaments and beauty, and
the mother radiant with joy at the idea of the honor destined for her