ow is our sweet Ida, to-day? There is
no flower in my garden like her!--Ay, she will soon be two years old."

There is something soothing to the mind in the contemplation of a man
in the evening of life, whose youth was spent in all the splendour of a
court, and whose manhood has been tried by adversity, turning to Nature
for her innocent pleasures, when the discovery of the futility of all
others has been made. This choice vouches for the purity of heart and
goodness of him who has adopted it, and disposes me to give ample
credit to all the commendation the Duchesse de Guiche used to utter of
him in Italy.

Lady Barbara Craufurd is an excellent specimen of an English woman.
Pretty, without vanity or affectation; gentle, without insipidity; and
simple, yet highly polished, in mariners. She has, too, a low, "sweet
voice, an excellent thing in woman," and, to me, whose ears offer even
a more direct road to the heart than do the eyes, is a peculiar
attraction.

Colonel Craufurd seems to be the quintessence of good nature and of
good sense. Count Valeski is an intelligent young man, greatly _a la
mode_ at Paris, and wholly unspoilt by this distinction. Handsome,
well-bred, and agreeable, he is very popular, not only among the fine
ladies but fine gentlemen here, and appears worthy of the favour he
enjoys.

Several people of both sexes came in the evening to Madame Craufurd's,
and we had some excellent music. Madame C. does the honours of her
_salon_ with peculiar grace. She has a bright smile and a kind word for
every guest, without the slightest appearance of effort.

Still house-hunting; continually tempted by elegantly decorated
_salons_, and as continually checked by the want of room and comfort of
the rest of the apartments.

We have been compelled to abandon the project of taking the Marechal
Lobau's house, or at least that portion of it which he wishes to
dispose of, for we found it impossible to lodge so large an
establishment as ours in it; and, though we communicated this fact with
all possible courtesy to the Marechal, we have received a note in
answer, written in a different style, as he is pleased to think that,
having twice inspected his apartments, we ought to have taken them.

In England, a person of the Marechal's rank who had a house to let
would not show it _in propria persona_, but would delegate that task,
as also the terms and negotiations, to some agent; thus avoiding all
personal interferenc