After that shouting match by the canal, Napoleon did not return to the Grand Trianon for two days.
If she had been a "normal" mistress, she ought to have been sighing miserably by now, worrying that he had gone off to another woman.
Pomona only wanted to invite future historians over one by one and ask them for guidance. Since when had Napoleon Bonaparte ever been devoted to one woman?
If she had thought from the start that he was the sort of man who became arrogant, fickle, and enamored of the new once he rose to power, she would never have taken a liking to him.
Without that affection, no matter what he did, she would assume he had sinister intentions and ulterior motives instead of being so curious about him.
Once a gap appeared in the defenses, this ever-victorious general, so skilled at attacking, would seize the chance to break through. Once the enemy entered the city, it would be difficult to mount an effective defense again.
False information led to false judgments. When Napoleon asked her, "What are you thinking?" she had actually been thinking of nothing at all. Someone forced into a passive defense could only react move by move. She considered herself to have handled it fairly well. So far, she had only lost a kiss, and even that kiss had been stolen in a surprise attack.
Fortunately, he had withdrawn for the moment, so she no longer had to exhaust herself fending him off. The books that bandit had seized from the Holy See could keep her occupied.
Every mistress of a household had her own style. Josephine at Malmaison Palace liked hanging famous paintings on the walls to admire, while Pomona had the maids in the palace copy those antique books.
When she