Napoleon immediately went to seek for Corvisart,
queen Hortensia, Cambaceres, and Fouche; and before he returned to his
apartment, he assured himself of the condition of Josephine, whom he
found more calm and more resigned. I followed him, and after having
recovered my hat, which I had thrown on the carpet that my motions might
be more free, I retired to the attendance-chamber. To avoid all kinds of
commentaries, I said before the pages and the ushers that the empress
had been seized with a violent affection of the nerves.
_Private Anecdotes of Foreign Courts._
* * * * *
THE GATHERER.
"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's
stuff."--_Wotton_.
* * * * *
STORY OF CINDERELLA.
The origin of this nursery tale is sufficiently curious. About the year
1730, a French actor of equal talent and wealth, named Thevenard, in
passing through the streets of Paris, observed upon a cobbler's stall,
the shoe of a female, which struck him by the remarkable smallness of
its size. After admiring it for some time, he returned to his house;
but his thoughts reverted to the shoe with such intensity, that he
reappeared at the stall the next day; but the cobbler could give him no
other clue to the owner, than that it had been left in his absence, for
the purpose of being repaired. Day after day did Thevenard return to his
post to watch the re-integration of the slipper, which proceeded slowly;
nor did the proprietor appear to claim it.
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