Major
Fleury would bring up the same subject at table, in
order to see how Mme. de Saint Amaud took it. At
first, she caused him some anxiety. This lady, whose
maiden name was de Trazegnies, was related to the
Merodes and to some of the best families of Bel-
gium. She seemed to lean towards the royalists and
would probably not exercise much influence over the
General in the direction of the Bonapartists. But
in the end, the Major saw that he was mistaken on
this point. Mme. de Saint Amaud, who was very
devoted to her husband, wished to share the honors
which she felt he could obtain, and soon hints be-
came plain words, and the delighted Major was soon
convinced that the wife was to be a great help in the
work in hand. ^^You may count on me aiding you
in every way I can," she said one day, and arranged
the details of the final interview between the Major
and the General, when Saint Amaud said squarely :
*^Let the Prince get me appointed general of divi-
sion, and I will answer for the rest. But we will have

41



MEMOIES OF THE EMPRESS EUGENIE

time to talk over all this at our leisure, during this
expedition. ' '

In Saint Amaud's circle, Fleury met gallant oflS-
cers like de Place, de Sericourt, de Clermont-Ton-
nerre, Boyer, and de Chavarrier who entered heart-
ily into his plans and all remained faithful to the
future Emperor whom they served usefully. At
Constantine, Fleury met again General Bosquet
whom he had known years before. **He was when I
first knew him, just out of the Polytechnic School,''
writes General Fleury in some manuscript notes on
this period of his career, ^ * and was a close friend of
Cavaignac and Lamoriciere. He was believed to
hold decided repubhcan opinions; but as he was
very ambitious, his political convictions eventually
were pushed into the background. I quickly per-
ceived this state of his mind, and if my overtures to
Saint Arnaud had been repelled, I intended to open
up the business with Bosquet, who, from what I
afterwards learned, would have been only too glad
to cooperate with us. In fact, he was evidently dis-
appointed that he had not been taken into the com-
bination. 