Fate should be left to fulfil her decrees." [Madame Murat one day said to Madame Campan: "I am astonished that you are not more awed in our presence; you speak to us with as much familiarity as when we were your pupils!"-- "The best thing you can do," replied Madame Campan, "is to forget your titles when you are with me, for I can never be afraid of queens whom I have held under the rod."] Madame Campan dined at the Tuileries in company with the Pope's nuncio, at the period when the Concordat was in agitation.

During dinner the First Consul astonished her by the able manner in which he conversed on the subject under discussion.

She said he argued so logically that his talent quite amazed her.

During the consulate Napoleon one day said to her, "If ever I establish a republic of women, I shall make you First Consul." Napoleon's views as to "woman's mission" are now well known.

Madame Campan said that she heard from him that when he founded the convent of the Sisters of la Charite he was urgently solicited to permit perpetual vows.