Napoleon and Marie corresponded. Her letters have not survived. But from his, which he often signed Napole, we know that there was love and that he was capable of tenderness. As word got out that she was Napoleon's mistress, Marie had many visitors who wanted to meet her. Her life became being at home with her husband and going to the castle to see Napoleon, where she went with his full knowledge. Her mother was fine with her daughter's involvement. Her brother was assigned to be her escort. It's said she was the only one who felt guilty about breaking her marriage vows. However, I think it's possible that she was simply trying to save her reputation. She reminded of his promises to Poland. After a terrifying battle in defense of the fortress of Konigsberg that ended with over 15,000 dead or wounded, it was decided that he would retreat to his new winter quarters at Osterode in east Prussia, and he suggested soon she would come to see him. The place was called Finkenstein. However, once there, it soon became clear that to be summoned to his Napolen's Paris resident was the key to the survival of their relationship.
Excerpt page 84: For Marie, the decision to rejoin Napoleon at Finkenstein must have been an act of supreme courage. The risk involved was enormous. In Warsaw the 'affair" could still be contained as long as appearances were kept up. She was protected by the solidarity of her class and the universal patriotic fervor for the French.
Excerpt page 93 : Marie was twenty years old and had not, until now, known the meaning of love. Whatever romantic stirrings she might have felt for young Suvorov must have gradually been erased by her three years of marriage to an old man. In Warsaw she had suffered from shock, when her long-idolized hero was suddenly transform to a aggressive lover. Though her newly awakened body had instinctively responded to him, it nevertheless took a long time for her mind to catch up. There was also the feeling of guilt towards her son and her husband, and the knowledge that she had sinned in the eyes of her Church. It was all very confusing. (Suvorov was the young man she had romantic feelings for as a girl, before her arranged marriage.)
Excerpt Page 103: On 29 July he found time to write to Marie. Her nameday and the day of her patron saint, the Virgin Mary, fell on 15 August. This was also the day of his thirty-eight birthday. He wrote a tender and affectionate letter, telling her how much she was being missed and that he would 'soon' ask her to join him in Paris. With the letter he send a diamond and sapphire bracelet and - an even more precious present - a medallion with his portrait on it. Marie deposited the bracelet in a drawer but pinned the medallion on her dress, where she would be conscious of it all the time He confidence was restored. She now knew that it was only a question of time before she would be summoned to Paris.
Marie was summoned to Paris in the new year of 1808. She stayed about six weeks before returning to Poland for a spell. Paris required that the shy and quiet Marie become more fashionable and up to Napoleon's taste for his entourage. She was not known for her love of splendor. She saw him here and there. She had become a woman who waited for her man's attentions. Yet she also knew that he was away at war and that various military campaigns were being fought.
She lived for two years at a small eighteenth century house at rue de la Houssaye in the Notre Dame de Lorette quarter of Paris. It was her residence until 1814 and then moved on to the rue de la Victoire. However, her days as Napoleon's mistress would come to an end .
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