Napoleon exercised a like fascination on all who came into contact with him.[3]
Davoust used to say, talking of Maret's devotion and of his own: "Had the Emperor said to us, `It is important in the interest of my policy that Paris should be destroyed without a single person leaving it or escaping,' Maret I am sure would have kept the secret,but he could not have abstained from compromising himself by seeing that his family got clear of the city.On the other hand, I, for fear of letting the truth leak out, would have let my wife and children stay."