At dawn, Georgiana went to the church beside the temporary residence.
She took no one with her and went alone. She was the only person in the entire church.
She had actually wanted to hear a symphony in the church, but in this little seaside resort town, one could not easily find an orchestra as one could in Rouen. So she closed her eyes and imagined herself listening to a song.
The British royal family from Hanover, like the family of the Duke of Lorraine, was troubled by madness. Georgiana had once wondered why the Prince of Wales did not depose George III, who had gone mad several times already, and become the new king himself.
Perhaps that was why Kaspar Hauser had merely been imprisoned rather than killed. After all, it took a heart of stone to harm one's own flesh and blood, and people found that difficult.
Even among nobles and imperial families, only a few could murder their relatives to seize power. Most people still possessed humanity. But some families were different; newspapers and moral dramas often showed the sorts of scenes people enacted in order to fight over an inheritance.
Napoleon's decision not to establish himself as Consul for Life, but to continue holding this temporary office with a fixed term, was in fact an enormous risk. A single surprise attack could overthrow him.
But the key question was who would come next. If someone coveted that position because of vulgar ambition, what would he do when the nation faced a crisis?
As Consul for Life, however, a single assassination could end him. A hereditary system could ensure that after Napoleon's death, another member of the Bonaparte family would replace him. Killing him alone would not be enough; they would have to overthrow the entire regime.