fixed for the settlement of their bills; and as this reached the ears of
the Emperor on one occasion, there ensued a very unpleasant scene between
the Empress and himself, ending in a decision, that in future no merchant
or furnisher should come to the chateau without a letter from the lady of
attire or secretary of orders; and this plan, once decided upon, was
followed very closely until the divorce. During this explanation the
Empress wept freely, and promised to be more economical, upon which the
Emperor pardoned and embraced her, and peace was made, this being, I
think, the last quarrel of this nature which disturbed the imperial
household.

I have heard that after the divorce, the allowance of the Empress having
been exceeded, the Emperor reproached the superintendent of Malmaison
with this fact, who in turn informed Josephine. His kind-hearted
mistress, much distressed at the annoyance which her steward had
experienced, and not knowing how to establish a better order of things,
assembled a council of her household, over which she presided in a linen
dress without ornament; this dress had been made in great haste, and was
used only this once. The Empress, whom the necessity for a refusal
always reduced to despair, was continually besieged by merchants, who
assured her that they had made such or such a thing expressly for her own
use, begging her not to return it because they would not be able to
dispose of it; in consequence of which the Empress kept everything they
brought, though they afterwards had to be paid for.

The Empress was always extremely polite in her intercourse with the
ladies of her household; and a reproach never came from those lips which
seemed formed to say only pleasant things; and if any of her ladies gave
her cause of dissatisfaction, the only punishment she inflicted was an
absolute silence on her part, which lasted one, two, three, or even eight