Monsieur Isabey is outside, Sire, with his dolls.' 'Ah, we shall see them at once.

Show him in.' A man entered who had evidently just arrived from a long journey.

Under his arm he carried a large flat wickerwork basket.
'It is two days since I sent for you, Monsieur Isabey.' 'The courier arrived yesterday, Sire.

I have been travelling from Paris ever since.' 'Have you the models there ?' 'Yes, Sire.' 'Then you may lay them out on that table.' I could not at first imagine what it meant when I saw, upon Isabey opening his basket, that it was crammed with little puppets about a foot high, all of them dressed in the most gorgeous silk and velvet costumes, with trimmings of ermine and hangings of gold lace.

But presently, as the designer took them out one by one and placed them on the table, I understood that the Emperor, with his extraordinary passion for detail and for directly controlling everything in his Court, had had these dolls dressed in order to judge the effect of the gorgeous costumes which had been ordered for his grand functionaries upon State occasions.
'What is this ?' he asked, holding up a little lady in hunting costume of amaranth and gold with a toque and plume of white feathers.
'That is for the Empress's hunt, Sire.' 'You should have the waist rather lower,' said Napoleon, who had very definite opinions about ladies' dresses.