she said to a _valet de chambre_, 'all that he requires for his
toilet.' In those days people dressed for the night. These
extraordinary words did not rouse the husband from his mood of
abstraction, and then madame, assisted by her maid, began to indulge
in a thousand coquetries. 'Was my appearance to your taste this
evening?' 'You are always to my taste,' answered the marquis,
continuing to stride up and down the room. 'You are very gloomy! Come
and talk to me, you frowning lover,' said she, placing herself before
him in the most seductive negligee. But you can have no idea of the
enchantments of the marchioness unless you had known her. Ah! you have
seen her, Noce!" he said with a mocking smile. "Finally, in spite of
all her allurements and beauty, the marchioness was lost sight of amid
thoughts of the six thousand crowns which this fool of a husband could
not get out of his head, and she went to bed all alone. But women
always have one resource left; so that the moment that the good
husband made as though he would get into his bed, the marchioness
cried, 'Oh, how cold I am!' 'So am I,' he replied. 'How is it that the
servants have not warmed our beds?'--And then I rang."

The Comte de Noce could not help laughing, and the old marquis, quite
put out of countenance, stopped short.

Not to divine the desire of a wife, to snore while she lies awake, to
be in Siberia when she is in the tropics, these are the slighter
disadvantages of twin beds. What risks will not a passionate woman run
when she becomes aware that her husband is a heavy sleeper?

I am indebted to Beyle for an Italian anecdote, to which his dry and
sarcastic manner lent an infinite charm, as he told me this tale of
feminine hardihood.