and desired that nothing should be said about what he had heard, or of what he intended to do."
When New Year's Day approaches, he asks her whether she is not going to send some presents to her sisters. She answers that she had already thought about it, and that she had ordered jewels to the amount of about 25,000 fr. (£ 1,000). As he thinks that rather small, she answers that her sisters were not spoiled as she was, and that they would think their presents magnificent. The Emperor then tells her that he had intended to give her 25,000 fr. for her presents, but that he had thought it over and would give her double that amount (£ 2,000). Eventually the Empress receives 100,000 fr. (£ 4,000) from him.
There is nothing which so much tests the love of married people as the small occurrences of daily domestic life. Even in these things Napoleon yielded to his wife. Child of the warm South, Napoleon was always chilly, could never endure a cold room; when he was exhausted and wanted to be refreshed, he always found refuge in a parboiling bath. Even on this point he had to give way to his wife, accustomed to the icy spaciousness of Austrian palaces.
"During the autumn following his marriage," says Madame Durand, "the Court went to spend some time at Fontainebleau. Fires were lighted everywhere, except in the Empress's room, and she, accustomed to stoves, said that the fire was
