Therese Lachmann was one of the famed 'grandes horizontales' of the Napoleonic era. Having been courted for months by an impecunious admirer, she finally arranged a meeting, instructing her pursuer to bring ten thousand francs in small notes. "We'll waste them together," she declared.

When, to her surprise, the man arrived with the necessary funds, she gracefully piled the crumpled notes upon a marble table -- and set them alight. "I promise that your flame will be allowed to burn as long as the notes," she promised.

Later, with money and passion thoroughly consumed, she looked sardonically at her lover -- who promptly explained that the money, of course, had been counterfeit.