the whole, it savoured strongly of
Coblentz and the _emigration_. This was more truly French than anything
I had yet stumbled on. One or two of the grandees looked at me as if,
better informed than Scott, they knew that General Lafayette had not
gone to America to live. Some of these gentlemen certainly do not love
us; but I had cut out too much work for the night to stay and return the
big looks of even dukes, and, watching an opportunity, when the eyes of
Madame de ---- were another way, I stole out of the room.

Charles now took his orders, and we drove down into the heart of the
town somewhere near the general post-office, or into those mazes of
streets that near two years of practice have not yet taught me to
thread. We entered the court of a large hotel, that was brilliantly
lighted, and I ascended, by a noble flight of steps, to the first floor.
Ante-chambers communicated with a magnificent saloon, which appeared to
be near forty feet square. The ceilings were lofty, and the walls were
ornamented with military trophies, beautifully designed, and which had
the air of being embossed and gilded. I had got into the hotel of one of
Napoleon's marshals, you will say, or at least into one of a marshal of
the old _regime_. The latter conjecture may be true, but the house is
now inhabited by a great woollen manufacturer, whom the events of the
day has thrown into the presence of all these military emblems. I found
the worthy _industriel_ surrounded by a group, composed of men of his
own stamp, eagerly discussing the recent changes in the government. The
women, of whom there might have been a dozen, were ranged, like a
neglected parterre, along the opposite side of the room. I paid my
compliments, staid a few minutes, and stole away to the next engagement.

We had now to go to a little retired house on the Champs Elysees. There
were only three or four carriages before the door, and on ascending to a
small but very near apartment, I found some twenty people collected. The
mistress of the house was an English lady, single, of a certain age, and
a daughter of the Earl of ----, who was once governor of New York. Here
was a very different set. One or two ladies of the old court, women of
elegant manners, and seemingly of good information,--several English
women, pretty, quiet, and clever, besides a dozen men of different
nations. This was one of those little _reunions_ that are so common in
Paris, among the foreigners, in whic