"Ah!" exclaimed the emperor. "You do not mean to say that Austria, bleeding from a thousand wounds that I have inflicted upon her, could make up her mind to put an end to her hatred by concluding an alliance of love with me?"
"Sire," said Champagny, "I do not believe that your majesty is hated by all the members of the imperial family of the Hapsburgs."
"What do you mean?" asked Napoleon, casting a quick glance on the smiling countenance of the minister.
"I suppose your majesty still remembers that, during the bombardment of Vienna last May, a flag of truce was sent with the request that no more bombshells be fired at the palace, because one of the archduchesses had remained there, having been prevented by sickness from leaving the capital with the imperial family?"
"I remember the incident," said Napoleon. "A few shells had already struck the palace, and I gave orders that it should be spared. One of the little daughters of the emperor, the Archduchess Maria Louisa, then a mere child, had been left there with her nurse."
"Sire, this child is seventeen years old, and, as everybody assures me, she is very beautiful, with light hair, blue eyes, and charming figure. She was deeply moved at the generosity manifested by your majesty; she is filled with admiration for the hero to whom indeed the whole world is doing homage, and before whose power the mightiest princes pass away; she is possessed of sufficient energy and courage to give utterance to her sentiments, even in presence of her father the emperor."
"Indeed!" exclaimed Napoleon, joyfully. "But who told you so, Champagny?"
"Sire, the Prince von Lichtenstein, during our confidential interview yesterday; and he added that the Emperor Francis, notwithstanding the short time that has elapsed since the conclusion of the recent bloody war, and the many fresh humiliations he has had to undergo, seemed himself to be an admirer of your majesty, for he listened to the eulogy of the archduchess with smiling tranquillity."
"That is strange," said Napoleon, slowly pacing the room; "but the Austrian marriages were always pernicious to France."
"Sire, it was, however, an Austrian princess, Queen Anne, who gave to France one of her greatest kings, Louis XIV."