Well, my dear general, that is the project which that little hovel of a Saint-Jean-d'Acre rendered abortive!" And he so far forgot to whom he was speaking, as he followed the shadows of his vanished dream, that he called Bernadotte "my dear general." The latter, almost appalled by the magnitude of the project which Bonaparte had unfolded to him, made a step backward.
"Yes," said Bernadotte, "I perceive what you want, for you have just betrayed yourself.

Orient or Occident, a throne! A throne?
So be it; why not?
Count upon me to help you conquer it, but elsewhere than in France.
I am a Republican, and I will die a Republican." Bonaparte shook his head as if to disperse the thoughts which held him in the clouds.
"I, too, am a Republican," said he, "but see what has come of your Republic!" "What matter!" cried Bernadotte.

"It is not to a word or a form that I am faithful, but to the principle.

Let the Directors but yield me the power, and I would know how to defend the Republic against her internal enemies, even as I defended her from her foreign enemies." As he said these words, Bernadotte raised his eyes, and his glance encountered that of Bonaparte.

Two naked blades clashing together never sent forth lightning more vivid, more terrible.
Josephine had watched the two men for some time past with anxious attention.