disagreeable to her. One day the Emperor came to sit with her; on leaving her room he complained of the cold, and desired the lady-in-waiting to have a fire lighted. When the Emperor was gone the Empress countermanded the fire. The lady-in-waiting was Mademoiselle Rabusson, a young lady who had recently come from Ecouen, very simple and outspoken. The Emperor came back two hours later, and asked why his orders had not been executed. 'Sire,' said the lady, 'the Empress will not have a fire. She is in her own rooms here, and I must obey her.' The Emperor laughed heartily at this answer, and, on returning to his own room, said to Marshal Duroc, who happened to be there: 'Do you know what has just happened to me in the Empress's apartments? I was told that I was not at home there, and that I could not have a fire,' The answer provided the Castle with amusement for several days."
XIV.
HOUSEHOLD CHANGES.
Napoleon made even greater sacrifices to his wife; he changed his table and his method of taking his meals. The incessant love of work which was one of his peculiarities, and one of the secrets of his prosperity, never, as we know, had permitted him to spend on his meals even an approach to a proper length of time. Here is a
