To a pretty creature it would have been mere luxury, to her it was a necessity.
No one better understood the meaning of the saying, "A pretty woman is self-created,"-- a maxim which guided every action of Napoleon's first wife, and often made her false; whereas Madame Claes was ever natural and true.
Though Balthazar knew his wife's chamber well, his forgetfulness of material things had lately been so complete that he felt a thrill of soft emotion when he entered it, as though he saw it for the first time.
The proud gaiety of a triumphant woman glowed in the splendid colors of the tulips which rose from the long throats of Chinese vases judiciously placed about the room, and sparkled in the profusion of lights whose effect can only be compared to a joyous burst of martial music.

The gleam of the wax candles cast a mellow sheen on the coverings of pearl-gray silk, whose monotony was relieved by touches of gold, soberly distributed here and there on a few ornaments, and by the varied colors of the tulips, which were like sheaves of precious stones.

The secret of this choice arrangement--it was he, ever he! Josephine could not tell him in words more eloquent that he was now and ever the mainspring of her joys and woes.
The aspect of that chamber put the soul deliciously at ease, cast out sad thoughts, and left a sense of pure and equable happiness.

The silken coverings, brought from China, gave forth a soothing perfume that penetrated the system without fatiguing it.

The curtains, carefully drawn, betrayed a desire for solitude, a jealous intention of guarding the sound of every word, of hiding every look of the reconquered husband.