He spoke with such self-confidence
that his hearers could not be sure whether
what he said was very witty or very stupid.
He was dressed in a dark-green dress coat,
knee breeches of the color of cuisse de nymphe effrayee,
as he called it, shoes,
and silk stockings.
The vicomte told his tale very neatly.
It was an anecdote, then current,
to the effect
that the Duc d'Enghien had gone secretly to Paris to
visit Mademoiselle George;
that at her house he came upon Bonaparte,
who also enjoyed the famous actress' favors,
and that in his presence Napoleon happened to fall into
one of the fainting fits to which he was subject,
and was thus at the duc's mercy.
The latter spared him,
and this magnanimity Bonaparte subsequently repaid by death.