Gerard de Nerval's Aurelia

I woke up shortly afterwards and said to Georges, ‘Let’s go out.’ As we were crossing the Pont des Arts I explained the migration of souls and told him: ‘I think the soul of Napoleon is within me tonight, inspiring me and commanding me to do great things.’ I purchased a hat in the rue du Coq and while Georges was collecting the change from the gold coin I had tossed on the counter, I continued on to the galleries of the Palais-Royal. It seemed to me that everybody there was staring at me. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head that the dead no longer existed. I wandered up and down the Galerie de Foy, saying, ‘I’ve made some mistake,’ but I could not discover what it was as I searched through my memory which I believed to be Napoleon’s … ‘There’s something here I’ve left unpaid!’

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