franchement, ca
m'aurait amuse aussi."

"Then why did not you ask for an audience? I am certain it would have
been granted," I remarked, because I felt convinced that her Majesty
would have been only too pleased to confer an honour upon such a man.

"En effet, j'y ai pense," came the reply; "une femme aussi remarquable
et qui deviendra probablement la plus grande femme du siecle aurait du
se rencontrer avec le plus grand homme en France, mais j'ai eu peur
qu'on ne me traite comme Madame de Stael traitat Saint-Simon. C'est
dommage, parcequ'elle s'en ira sans avoir vu ce qu'il y de mieux dans
notre pays, Alexandre, Roi du Monde romanesque, Dumas l'ignorant." Then
he roared with laughter and went away.[76]

[Footnote 76: Alexandre Dumas referred to a story in connection
with the Comte de Saint-Simon and Madame de Stael which is not
very generally known. One day the head of the new sect went to
see the authoress of "Corinne." "Madame," he said, "vous etes
la femme la plus remarquable en France; moi, je suis l'homme le
plus remarquable. Si nous nous arrangions a vivre quelques mois
ensemble, nous aurions peut-etre l'enfant le plus remarquable
sur la terre." Madame de Stael politely declined the honour. As
for the epithet of "l'ignorant" which Dumas was fond of
applying to himself, it arose from the fact of Dumas, the
celebrated professor of chemistry, being spoken of as "Dumas le
savant." "Done," laughed the novelist, "je suis Dumas
l'ignorant."--EDITOR.]

On Tuesday, the 21st, the Queen went to Versailles to inspect the
picture-galleries established there by Louis-Philippe, and, in the
evening, she was present at a gala-performance at the Opera. Next day,
she paid a second visit to the Palais de l'Industrie, but to the
industrial section only. In the evening, there was a performance of "Le
Fils de Famille" ("The Queen's Shilling"). On the 23rd, she spent
several hours at the Louvre; after which, at night, she attended the
ball given in her honour by the Municipality of Paris. I shall not
attempt to describe that entertainment, the decorations and flowers of
which alone cost three hundred and fifty thousand francs. The whole had
been arranged under the superintendence of Ballard, the architect of the
Halles Centrales. But I remember one little incident which caused a
flutter of surprise among the court lad