To Esmeralda, Belfayre was a Palace of Delight. It was not so much the magnificence, the luxury and regal splendor of the place, nor its vastness which gave her so much pleasure, as the fact that there she was indeed “in the country,” that she was within reach of the sea—a never-ceasing wonder to her—and that she was surrounded by animals—horses, dogs, cattle—with which she could make friends. “Yes,” she said, sadly; “I blame her more than the rest, for she is a girl, a woman, and understood. She knew I was ignorant and didn’t know the ways of the world; but she is a[186] great lady, and she ought to have been above—above sacrificing me!” “Thank you,” he said, as steadily as he could. “I have given you a great deal of trouble. One more question. Could I catch that vessel that sails from Liverpool to-morrow?”
The Duke was at his wits’ end, there were [423] scenes and interviews and negotiations without end, but he and Mme. de Genlis were forced to give way. “Anybody’s a friend of mine who’ll stand up for a helpless dog,” she said. Yours always,
"I couldn't follow more than two days," Landor expostulated hopelessly. "As I tell you, I've no pack-train. The men would have to carry their rations in their saddle pockets." But no such easy rendering of the contract was contemplated by Buonaparte. He did not even adhere to the letter of it. French officers were to be placed in all the Dutch garrisons, and eighteen thousand troops were to be maintained, of whom six thousand were to be French. Instead of six thousand soldiers, General Oudinot appeared at the head of twenty thousand at Utrecht. These, Buonaparte informed Louis, were to occupy all the strong posts of the country, and to have their headquarters at Amsterdam, his capital. Louis determined to be no party to this utter subjugation of the country, nor any longer to play the part of a puppet sovereign. On the 1st of July he executed a deed of abdication in favour of his son, Napoleon Louis, expressing a hope that, though he had been so unfortunate as to offend the Emperor, he trusted he would not visit his displeasure on his innocent family. He then drew up a vindication of his conduct, saying that he was placed in an impossible situation, and that he had long foreseen this termination of it. He sent this to be published in England, the only place in which it could appear; and he then gave an entertainment to a number of his friends at his palace at Haarlem, and at midnight entered a private carriage and drove away. He proceeded to Graz, in Styria, where he devoted his leisure to the instruction of his children, and to literature, and wrote "Documens Hìstoriques et Réflexions sur le Gouvernement de la Holland"—being an account of his administration of the government of that country—and also a novel, called "Marie, ou les Hollandaises." His wife, Hortense, went to Paris, where she became a great leader in the world of fashion. On the 9th of July, only eight days after the abdication of Louis, Buonaparte issued a decree declaring Holland "re-united to France!" Oudinot marched into Amsterdam, and took possession of it in the name of his master. It was declared the third city of the French empire. The French Ministers issued reports to vindicate this annexation, which was a disgraceful breach of Napoleon's[5] pledge to the Senate—that the Rhine should be the boundary of France—and also of his repeated assurances that Holland should remain an independent kingdom. “What do you think of that?” Larry looked up.HoME【亚洲伦理小说_黄片一级亚洲美女春暖花开图_午夜淫淫亚洲美女伦理片排行榜_成人淫视频亚洲女优在线视频高清视频,亚洲性老妇免费看片,做暖视频一二三区不卡流畅,深夜黄片在线观看,亚洲综人综合网址,午夜领主精品电影,久久青草导航网站,97一区免费影院】
