Josephine had never as yet spoken to me on the subject.

Bonaparte wished to give his stepdaughter to Duroc, and his brothers were eager to promote the marriage, because they wished to separate Josephine from Hortense, for whom Bonaparte felt the tenderest affection.

Josephine, on the other hand, wished Hortense to marry Louis Bonaparte.

Her motives, as may easily be divined, were to, gain support in a family where she experienced nothing but enmity, and she carried her point.
-- [Previous to her marriage with Louis, Hortense cherished an attachment for Duroc, who was at that time a handsome man about thirty, and a great favourite of Bonaparte.

However, the indifference with which Duroc regarded the marriage of Louis Bonaparte sufficiently proves that the regard with which he had inspired Hortense was not very ardently returned.