This is part of a series of Hortense’s letters to her brother Eugene.
Dear Eugene,
Paris, 22 February, 1806.
I always intend to write you details, but really, for some time, we are still in the air. I received your letter: may the Emperor's words give you no pain, when it was a moment of anger (1). I have written to you on one occasion; but I imagine that you will only receive my letter in a long time. Make the sacrifice of your house: the Emperor finds it more suitable that you stay at the Tuileries. You know of the marriage of Stephanie with the Prince of Baden (2). The Emperor adopts her as a daughter.
I am really upset at all of this because they will be jealous of us and we will be loved even less. Farewell, my dear Eugène, I love you, kiss you; I miss you at all times of my life. Who can ever replace you with me?
HORTENSE.
(1) Hortense alludes to a letter by the Emperor to Eugène, of February 8, 1806, in which Napoleon blames very strongly the viceroy for the huge expenses incurred to embellish his residence on the Rue de Lille.
(2) Stéphanie de Beauharnais, cousin of Hortense and whom Napolóon had just adopted as his daughter, was to marry, on April 7, 1806, the hereditary grand duke of Baden, Charles-Louis-Frédéric. This alliance very strongly displeased the Emperor's family.
