Our surprise was chiefly roused by his indifference in matters of
sentiment; women had no place in his life. When we spoke of this
matter, a perennial theme of conversation among Frenchmen, he simply
remarked:
"Gowns cost too much."
He saw the look that passed between Juste and me, and went on:
"Yes, far too much. The woman you buy--and she is the least expensive
--takes a great deal of money. The woman who gives herself takes all
your time! Woman extinguishes every energy, every ambition. Napoleon
reduced her to what she should be. From that point of view, he really
was great. He did not indulge such ruinous fancies of Louis XIV. and
Louis XV.; at the same time he could love in secret."
We discovered that, like Pitt, who made England is wife, Marcas bore
France in his heart; he idolized his country; he had not a thought
that was not for his native land. His fury at feeling that he had in
his hands the remedy for the evils which so deeply saddened him, and
could not apply it, ate into his soul, and this rage was increased by
the inferiority of France at that time, as compared with Russia and
England. France a third-rate power! This cry came up again and again
in his conversation.
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