nnoyance on his face at
the interruption, mixed with a shade of perplexity as to what this
gorgeous display all meant. The Italian is as ceremonious as the
Spaniard where a function is concerned, and the official who held the
ornate box which contained the jewellery resting on a velvet cushion,
stepped slowly forward, and came to a stand in front of the bewildered
American. Then the Ambassador, in sonorous voice, spoke some gracious
words regarding the friendship existing between the United States and
Italy, expressed a wish that their rivalry should ever take the form
of benefits conferred upon the human race, and instanced the honoured
recipient as the most notable example the world had yet produced of a
man bestowing blessings upon all nations in the arts of peace. The
eloquent Ambassador concluded by saying that, at the command of his
Royal master, it was both his duty and his pleasure to present, and so
forth and so forth.

Mr. Edison, visibly ill at ease, nevertheless made a suitable reply in
the fewest possible words, and the _etalage_ being thus at an end, the
noblemen, headed by their Ambassador, slowly retired, myself forming
the tail of the procession. Inwardly I deeply sympathised with the
French workman who thus unexpectedly found himself confronted by so
much magnificence. He cast one wild look about him, but saw that his
retreat was cut off unless he displaced some of these gorgeous
grandees. He tried then to shrink into himself, and finally stood
helpless like one paralysed. In spite of Republican institutions,
there is deep down in every Frenchman's heart a respect and awe for
official pageants, sumptuously staged and costumed as this one was.
But he likes to view it from afar, and supported by his fellows, not
thrust incongruously into the midst of things, as was the case with
this panic-stricken engineer. As I passed out, I cast a glance over my
shoulder at the humble artisan content with a profit of a few francs a
day, and at the millionaire inventor opposite him, Edison's face,
which during the address had been cold and impassive, reminding me
vividly of a bust of Napoleon, was now all aglow with enthusiasm as he
turned to his humble visitor. He cried joyfully to the workman:--

'A minute's demonstration is worth an hour's explanation. I'll call
round tomorrow at your shop, about ten o'clock, and show you how to
make the thing work.'

I lingered in the hall until the Frenchman came out, then, int