Note 14 — Chapter IX
F. Jordan translation
The guests invited to the imperial table always dined beforehand. The emperor, in the haste with which he ate, did not notice that the others had no time to do so. Once, when he departed from the table, and Eugène, his stepson, rose immediately after him, Napoleon turned to him, and said:
"But you have had no time to eat?"
"Pardon me," replied the prince, "I dined beforehand."—"Mémoires de Constant," vol. ii., p. 55.