In the winter of 1801, before it froze over, Paris suffered a great flood. The Seine rose as far as the Élysée Palace. At the time, however, Georgiana was staying in the greenhouses of the Grand Trianon, so she knew nothing of what had happened in the city.
One of Napoleon's dreams, besides conquering the "East," was to make Paris the most beautiful city in the world. That flood gave him the perfect excuse, and so Quai d'Orsay began to be rebuilt. Since Desaix's memorial column was in Dijon, a Desaix Quay was built as well.
He also wanted to build an opera house like La Scala, with its foundations raised so it would not fear flooding. Audiences could then take boats to the theater to watch performances. This sparked open and covert rivalry between french and Italian architects, and Fontaine nearly gave up on redesigning the Palace of Fontainebleau as the new military academy.
The playwright who had caused the trouble was named Emmanuel Dupaty. The play starring Fedo had passed the censors without a single alteration.
Opera censorship was now under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Police. In other words, if Napoleon wanted to curse someone, he would curse Chaptal and Fouché.
She could not stand by and watch these actors be exiled to the colonies. They knew nothing but acting. So many strong soldiers had died of Yellow Fever; exile was practically a death sentence for them. She felt they should at least be given a chance to repent, so after Napoleon left, she remained behind and summoned those involved to the opera house's conference room.
The uniformed Imperial Guard had left with Napoleon. The people accompanying her were plainclothes policemen. Ever since the last assassination attempt had been intercepted,