Besides that campaign bed, Napoleon's personal luggage included a snow globe.
But there was nothing inside the globe, only white "snow."
Pomona did not understand why he carried such a globe with him.
"Let's go."
After fastening the suitcase shut, Napoleon took Pomona by the arm and led her out of the royal suite at Saint Luke Palace.
She did not actually need support, but it was one of the French customs. She found it irritating and cumbersome, especially in the outfit she was wearing: low-cut with a plunging neckline that exposed a great deal of skin.
She refused to wear a corset. Though it could cinch her waist tighter and make her breasts more "prominent," giving her flat, plain figure some feminine curves, Pomona had nearly cut it to shreds when Lia brought one into the bedroom early that morning.
Napoleon did not care either way. He even said women should decide for themselves what clothes to wear. In an "ordinary citizen" household, the first thing a couple did after getting up was for the husband to help his wife into her corset. The First Consul was already nearly out of sleeping time; how could he have time to manage that?
Because of corsets, women might faint from suffocation at any moment, so men had to take care to support them. That became a matter of etiquette.
If she had to choose between running free and being beautiful, she would rather run free. The shackles on her feet reminded her that she was a prisoner, though Napoleon treated her fairly well.
He had done the same thing during the Coup of 18 Brumaire, inviting the wives of Directory officials to his home as hostages while Josephine kept them company over afternoon tea.
When he "invited" her to Petit Trianon,