peculiarities of Bonaparte was a fondness of extempore narration; and it
appears he had not discontinued the practice even after he became
Emperor.

In fact, Bonaparte, during the first year after his elevation to the
Imperial throne, usually passed those evenings in the apartments of the
Empress which he could steal from public business. Throwing himself on a
sofa, he would remain absorbed in gloomy silence, which no one dared to
interrupt. Sometimes, however, on the contrary, he would give the reins
to his vivid imagination and his love of the marvelous, or, to speak more
correctly, his desire to produce effect, which was perhaps one of his
strongest passions, and would relate little romances, which were always
of a fearful description and in unison with the natural turn of his
ideas. During those recitals the ladies-in-waiting were always present,
to one of whom I am indebted for the following story, which she had
written nearly in the words of Napoleon. "Never," said this lady in her
letter to me, "did the Emperor appear more extraordinary. Led away by
the subject, he paced the salon with hasty strides; the intonations of
his voice varied according to the characters of the personages he brought
on the scene; he seemed to multiply himself in order to play the
different parts, and no person needed to feign the terror which he really
inspired, and which he loved to see depicted in the countenances of those
who surrounded him." In this tale I have made no alterations, as can be
attested by those who, to my knowledge, have a copy of it. It is curious
to compare the impassioned portions of it with the style of Napoleon in
some of the letters addressed to Josephine.