Page:Napoleon (O'Connor 1896).djvu/309

Rh order; he tried to make money as an exporter of books; he got his dinner either at the expense of his friends in arms, or at the house of some Corsicans; he was wretched bodily and mentally; and his wretchedness appeared in his exterior and in his manners.

"He was to be met wandering about the streets of Paris in an awkward and ungainly manner, with a shabby round hat thrust down over his eyes and with his curls (known at that time as oreilles de chien) badly powdered, badly combed, and falling over the collar of the iron-gray coat which has since become so celebrated; his hands, long, thin, and black, without gloves, because, he said, they were an unnecessary expense; wearing ill-made and ill-cleaned boots." "But his glance and his smile were always admirable, and helped to enliven an appearance always sickly, resulting partly from the yellowness of his complexion, which deepened the shadows projected by his gaunt, angular, and pointed features."

And mentally he was in the same condition as externally. Bourrienne and his wife meet him in the Palais Royal; together they go to the theatre. "The audience was convulsed with laughter; Bonaparte and I was much struck by it preserved an icy silence."

"Another time he disappeared from us without saying a word, and when we thought he must have left the theatre, we espied him seated in a