But this marriage was not without its obstacles; Bonaparte had had a quarrel, lasting over a year, with the man who aspired to the honor of becoming his brother-in-law.
The cause of this quarrel will seem rather strange to our readers.
Murat, the lion of the army; Murat, whose courage had become proverbial; Murat, who might well have been taken by a sculptor as a model for the god of war; Murat, on one occasion, when he must have slept ill or breakfasted badly, had a moment of weakness.
It happened before Mantua, in which city Wurmser, after the battle of Rivoli, was forced to shut himself up with twenty-eight thousand men; General Miollis, with four thousand only, was investing the place.
During a sortie attempted by the Austrians, Murat, at the head of five hundred men, received an order to charge three thousand.

Murat charged, but feebly.

Bonaparte, whose aide-de-camp he then was, was so irritated that he would not suffer him to remain about him.

This was a great blow to Murat, all the more because he was at that time desirous of becoming the general's brother-in-law; he was deeply in love with Caroline Bonaparte.
How had that love come about?
It can be told in two words.

Perhaps those who read our books singly are surprised that we sometimes dwell on certain details which seem somewhat long drawn out for the book in which they appear.