"Madame Mère."
She then related the three desires which brought her to Italy: to see Madame Mère, an eruption of Vesuvius and the Carnival at Venice.
The secretary listened to this great enthusiasm without making any comment; but that same evening he related what he had heard to the mother of Cæsar. She smiled, called to mind the two good-looking young people she had bowed to in the garden of the villa Borghese and asked that they should be presented to her on the following day. Next day they were both introduced to Madame Mère's bedchamber, in which the famous old lady usually dwelt.
"Come here, my child," said Madame Lætitia, beckoning to the young wife to come near, "and tell me why you were so anxious to see me."
"Because people say that sons resemble their mother." Madame Lætitia smiled at that delicious flattery, more than ever charming from the lips of seventeen.
"Then," she replied, "I hope you will have a son of your own, madame!"
"An unfortunate wish, Princess, for I should prefer a daughter."
"Why so?"
"Why should you wish me to bring forth a boy, since the Emperor is no longer here to give him his epaulettes?"
"All the same, have a son and there may, perhaps, be a Napoleon on the throne when he is of age for service."