Alexandria, than it was captured by the Royal Navy vessel Lion (29
December). The British, who had an excellent spy network in Cairo, had
already heard the gossip about Napoleon and his new mistress and saw a
chance to make mischief. The captain of the Lion put Foures ashore near
Alexandria, after securing his parole not to serve against England for the
duration of the war.
Foures arrived in Alexandria and insisted on pressing on for Cairo,
despite the exhortations of Marmont, the commandant on the coast, that
he should remain there pending further orders. Marmont foresaw a
damaging scandal but was uncertain on his ground and weakly let the
lieutenant proceed. When he reached Cairo a week later he was at once
informed by his messmates that Pauline was openly living with
Bonaparte. He burst into the palace, found her in the bath and whipped
her severely, drawing blood. Hearing the outcry, her servants rushed in
and threw the husband out. Napoleon then ordered a military court to
dismiss Foures the service for conduct unbecoming, and urged Pauline to
divorce him and she agreed; her husband had destroyed the last vestiges
of her affection for him by his brutality.
Thereafter Pauline was seen everywhere on Napoleon's arm. The
troops called her 'Cleopatra', which accurately suggested that her hold on
the leader was wholly sexual. As usual in such cases, the affair began to
peter out once the first flames of passion were dowsed. In the end
Napoleon grew tired of her and did not take her back to France with him
in August 1799. She became General Kleber's mistress, which irrationally
annoyed the dog-in-the-manger Bonaparte, but was soon discontented
and yearned to return to France. Grudgingly Kleber allowed her to
depart for Rosetta and the north coast where, while waiting to take ship
to France, she succumbed to the predatory Junot, always a man with an
eye to the main chance where women were concerned. In Marseilles she
was detained for some time in a quarantine hospital and when she
eventually reached Paris Napoleon had her pensioned off and married to
Comte Henri de Rauchoup. Napoleon always had a sentimental streak
when it came to his former mistresses.
Josephine meanwhile was matching infidelity with infidelity. According
to Barras, when she received a false report that her husband had been
killed in Egypt, she burst out laughing, jumped for joy and told Barras
how glad she was that 'that cruel egoist' was dead. She even contemplated
divorcing her absent husband and marrying Hippolyte Charles. It was
said that Louis Gohier, the new president of the Directory, encouraged
her in this ambition, hoping that he in turn could become her lover, but
both Charles and Barras cautioned against the idea. In yet another
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