I watched her with admiration as she leaned forward, picking little pieces of aromatic aloes wood out of the basket and throwing them on to the fire.
'Napoleon likes the smell of burning aloes,' said she.

'There was never anyone who had such a nose as he, for he can detect things which are quite hidden from me.' 'The Emperor has an excellent nose for many things,' said Talleyrand.
'The State contractors have found that out to their cost.' 'Oh, it is dreadful when he comes to examine accounts--dreadful, Monsieur de Talleyrand! Nothing escapes him.

He will make no allowances.

Everything must be exact.

But who is this young gentleman, Monsieur de Talleyrand?
I do not think that he has been presented to me.' The minister explained in a few words that I had been received into the Emperor's personal service, and Josephine congratulated me upon it with the most kindly sympathy.
'It eases my mind so to know that he has brave and loyal men round him.
Ever since that dreadful affair of the infernal machine I have always been uneasy if he is away from me.