On the appointed day the Marshal found that the princess and her husband
had left their home. However, he succeeded in tracing them, and told the
king of the noble lady who was then in his dominions. His Majesty
entered into negotiations with the Empress Maria Theresa, with a view to
deciding upon the manner in which her august aunt should be treated. The
upshot of these negotiations was a most tender letter from the Empress
to Carolina, asking her to make the Austrian court her home, and
promising to load her husband and herself with honours and distinctions.
But the happy wife and mother felt that the life she had been leading
for the last few years was preferable in every way to the artificial
existence of a court, and refused her niece's generous offer. It was
renewed again and again; but nothing could shake her determination.
For many years she led a life of the utmost happiness, and then death
deprived her of both husband and daughter. Maria Theresa renewed her
offers; but Carolina preferred to pass the rest of her days in solitude.
She accepted a small pension from the Empress, and retired to a small
cottage at Vitry, near Paris.
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