fault with the waste of money
on funeral pomps. For instance, the officer for the display of armorial
distinctions was really useless. It would be far better to have a goodly
display of wax-tapers. A low mass accompanied by music would be
appropriate.

Frederick gave written directions to have everything that was agreed
upon carried out, with a joint undertaking to defray all the expenses.

He went next to the Hotel de Ville to purchase a piece of ground. A
grant of a piece which was two metres in length and one in breadth[J]
cost five hundred francs. Did he want a grant for fifty years or
forever?

"Oh, forever!" said Frederick.

He took the whole thing seriously and got into a state of intense
anxiety about it. In the courtyard of the mansion a marble-cutter was
waiting to show him estimates and plans of Greek, Egyptian, and Moorish
tombs; but the family architect had already been in consultation with
Madame; and on the table in the vestibule there were all sorts of
prospectuses with reference to the cleaning of mattresses, the
disinfection of rooms, and the various processes of embalming.

After dining, he went back to the tailor's shop to order mourning for
the servants; and he had still to discharge another function, for the
gloves that he had ordered were of beaver, whereas the right kind for a
funeral were floss-silk.

When he arrived next morning, at ten o'clock, the large reception-room
was filled with people, and nearly everyone said, on encountering the
others, in a melancholy tone:

"It is only a month ago since I saw him! Good heavens! it will be the
same way with us all!"

[J] A metre is about 3-1/4 feet--TRANSLATOR.

"Yes; but let us try to keep it as far away from us as possible!"

Then there were little smiles of satisfaction; and they even engaged in
conversations entirely unsuited to the occasion. At length, the master
of the ceremonies, in a black coat in the French fashion and short
breeches, with a cloak, cambric mourning-bands, a long sword by his
side, and a three-cornered hat under his arm, gave utterance, with a
bow, to the customary words:

"Messieurs, when it shall be your pleasure."

The funeral started. It was the market-day for flowers on the Place de
la Madeleine. It was a fine day with brilliant sunshine; and the breeze,
which shook the canvas tents, a little swelled at the edges the enormous
black cloth which was hung over the church-gate. The escutcheon of M.
Dambr