“‘Ah!’ at last exclaimed the countess, in a triumphant tone, ’I have—­’ but as she raised her eyes to the young woman, she was touched by her despairing look.  ‘Well, then,’ cried she, ’this is one of those mistakes which so often happen.  To-morrow I will return your cashmere.—­We have exchanged cashmeres,’ said she, turning to the young lady’s father, who, surprised at seeing her naked shoulders, gazed at his daughter, not understanding the matter.  ’You will have the goodness to send me my shawl to-morrow,’ added she, noticing how the young woman trembled.

“We returned into the ballroom, and the next day the young lady sent to the Countess de St. Martin her precious shawl.

“Something similar to this happened at the same time to Madame Hamelin.  She was at a ball; when rising from her seat to join in a contra-dance, she left there a very beautiful black shawl; when she returned, her shawl was no longer there, but she saw it on the shoulders of a well-known and distinguished lady.  Approaching her, she said: 

“‘Madame, you have my shawl!’

“‘Not at all, madame!’

“’But, madame, this is my shawl, and, as an evidence, I can state the number of its palms—­it has exactly thirteen, a very unusual number!’

“‘My shawl has also, by chance, precisely thirteen palms.’

“‘But,’ said Madame Hamelin, ’I have torn it since I came here.  You can see where it is torn, and by that means I recognize my shawl.’

“’Ah, my goodness! my shawl has also been torn; that is precisely why I bought it, for I obtained it on that account somewhat cheaper.’

“It is useless to dispute with a person who is determined to follow Basil’s receipt, that ‘what is worth taking is worth keeping.’  Madame Hamelin lost her shawl, and had, as a sole consolation, the petty vengeance of relating to everybody how it was taken, and of pointing out the thief, who was in the meanwhile perfectly shameless.” [Footnote:  Abrantes, “Memoires,” vol. ix., pp. 70-76.]

No one, however, had a larger and more choice selection of these cashmere shawls than Josephine.  Mdlle.  Ducrest relates that the deceased empress had more than one hundred and fifty of the most magnificent and costly cashmere shawls.  She had sent to Constantinople patterns from which she had them made there, as pleasing to the eye as they were costly and precious.  Every week M. Lenormant, the first man-milliner in Paris, came to Navarra, the country residence of the empress, and brought his most beautiful shawls for her selection.  The empress possessed several (having a white ground covered with roses, violets, paroquets, peacocks, and other objects of beauty hitherto unknown in France) each of which cost from fifteen to twenty thousand francs.