enance motioned
the butler to provide another seat at the table. For a moment there was
a slight confusion, as the other guests were obliged to move in order to
make room for the new comer; but everything was speedily arranged and
Mr. Stephens began his dinner with the third course. No explanation was
offered at the moment, but later, while we were drinking our coffee in
the drawing-room, I noticed Mr. Everett and Mr. Stephens engaged in
conversation.

A few days later, through Mr. Colin M. Ingersoll, a Representative in
Congress from Connecticut, the cause of Mr. Stephens' late appearance at
the dinner was made clear to me. It seems that Mr. Everett and the
French Minister, the Count Eugene de Sartiges, his next door neighbor,
were giving dinner parties the same evening. The dinner hour at the
French Legation was half-past six o'clock, while Mr. Everett's was half
an hour earlier. Through the mistake of a stupid coachman, Mr. Stephens
was landed at the door of Count de Sartiges's home and entered it under
the impression that it was Mr. Everett's residence. He walked into the
drawing-room and suspected nothing, as nearly all the guests were
familiar to him. Count de Sartiges, however, surprised at the presence
of an unbidden guest, anxiously inquired of Mr. Ingersoll the name of
the stranger, and upon being informed remarked: "I'll be very polite to
him." Seating himself by Mr. Stephens' side, an animated conversation
followed. Meanwhile other guests arrived and the Count de Sartiges
became diverted, while Mr. Stephens, still unconscious of his mistake,
turned to Mr. Ingersoll, who stood near, and in an irritated tone of
voice said: "Who is this Frenchman who is tormenting me, and where is
Mr. Everett?" Mr. Ingersoll explained that the Frenchman was the Count
de Sartiges, and that Mr. Everett was probably presiding over his own
dinner in the adjoining house.

My _vis a vis_ at Mr. Everett's table was Miss Ann G. Wight, a woman
with an unusual history. She was born in Montgomery County, Maryland,
and as a child was placed in a convent. She eventually became a nun and
an inmate of the Convent of the Visitation in Georgetown, where she
assumed the name of "Sister Gertrude." She was an intellectual woman and
was deeply beloved by her associates. Without any apparent cause,
however, she planned an escape from the convent and sought the residence
of her relative, General John P. Van Ness, dropping her keys, as I have
unders