If he was walking, he would stop, bend his head, and listen.

As long as the bell rang he remained motionless; when the sound died away in space, he resumed his work, saying to those who asked him to explain this singular liking for the iron voice: "It reminds me of my first years at Brienne; I was happy then!" At the period of which we are writing, his greatest personal interest was the purchase he had made of the domain of Malmaison.

He went there every night like a schoolboy off for his holiday, and spent Sunday and often Monday there.

There, work was neglected for walking expeditions, during which he personally superintended the improvements he had ordered.

Occasionally, and especially at first, he would wander beyond the limits of the estate; but these excursions were thought dangerous by the police, and given up entirely after the conspiracy of the Arena and the affair of the infernal machine.
The revenue derived from Malmaison, calculated by Bonaparte himself, on the supposition that he should sell his fruits and vegetables, did not amount to more than six thousand francs.
"That's not bad," he said to Bourrienne; "but," he added with a sigh, "one must have thirty thousand a year to be able to live here." Bonaparte introduced a certain poesy in his taste for the country.