Joséphine de Beauharnais

From the diary of lieutenant Charles:

"Josephine is indeed an exquisite work of art. A powerful woman, romping about behind the back of that dreadful twit, Napoleon. Killing is what I know. She knows much, much more. She used to ask me what I would do if I were King. I'd say that I'd build a statue tall enough to shade a Sunday crowd! That's exactly what Napoleon said. She thought I was different, thought I was a strong, confident man, but I'm not. And killing is all I know. I turned a band of miscreants into an army of soldiers who would follow me to the ends of the earth, who would never mutiny. Sometimes, I wish they would. I shall never forget the last words spoke to me by the great first wife of Napoleon. We made love right under a portrait of that short dunderwhelp. The aggression of our session made it seem all the more exciting, but she was.....away. She told me I lacked depth. And then, in the most flippantly profound way I can imagine a statement to be, she said "when the killing gets old, go back to what you know". Was she to know how those words would affect me? For the rest of my life? I wanted to scream out that it was old, it was old! But it was and still is all I know. Such a powerful woman...