Hence, I ought to have greeted you at once
as my son, and if I did not, it was because I was frightened, for I
am not accustomed to see anyone enter here without being announced.
Now, I have overcome my terror, I bid you welcome with all my heart,
my dear son!" She offered her hand to Napoleon so proudly that the
emperor, scarcely aware of what he did, pressed the small white hand
of his mother to his lips.
A gentle smile lit up the beautiful face of Madame Letitia. "I
forgive you also your vehement words, my son," she said; "and how
could I be angry with you for forgetting for a moment that you are
here only my son, when I myself remembered only that you are the
emperor? Let us, therefore, make peace again. Napoleon, my son, I
bid you welcome once more with all my heart."
"Even, my mother, if I should come to ask my dinner of you?"
inquired the emperor, smiling.
Madame Letitia was silent for a moment. "Even then!" she said, after
a pause. "My son will be content with what I am able to give, and he
will pardon an old woman, who attaches little value to the pleasures
of the table, if she has, on account of her health, but a very plain
dinner."
"That is to say, we shall have the national dish of Corsica--rice
dumplings baked in oil!" exclaimed the emperor, laughing.
"So it is," said madame, merrily. "Ah, I see my son has not
forgotten his native Corsica; then he will also have a kind look for
poor old Cordelia, who, both in good and evil days, has been the
most faithful and honest servant of our house, who frequently
carried Napoleon Bonaparte for whole days in her arms, and when he
was sick sat at his bedside and nursed him with the tenderness of a
mother.
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