imagined such a beautiful, attractive place, and indeed the
contrast between the dismal London of the "sixties" and this
brilliant, glittering town was unbelievable. Paris certainly
deserved the title of "La Ville Lumiere" in a literal sense. I
like the French expression, "une ville ruisselante de lumiere," "a
city dripping with light." That is an apt description of the Paris
of the Second Empire, for it was hardly a manufacturing city then,
and the great rim of outlying factories that now besmirch the
white stone of its house fronts had not come into existence, the
atmosphere being as clear as in the country. A naturally retentive
memory is apt to store up perfectly useless items of information.
What possible object can there be to my remembering that the
engine which hauled us from Calais to Paris in 1865 was built by
J. Cail of Paris, on the "Crampton" system; that is, that the axle
of the big single driving-wheels did not run under the frame of
the engine, but passed through the "cab" immediately under the
pressure-gauge?--nor can any useful purpose be served in
recalling that we crossed the Channel in the little steamer La
France.

In those days people of a certain class in England maintained far
closer social relations with people of the corresponding class in
France than is the custom now, and this was mutual. Society in
both capitals was far smaller. My father and mother had many
friends in Paris, and amongst the oldest of them were the Comte
and Comtesse de Flahault. General de Flahault had been the
personal aide-de-camp and trusted friend of Napoleon I. Some
people, indeed, declared that his connection with Napoleon III.
was of a far closer nature, for his great friendship with Queen
Hortense was a matter of common knowledge. For some reason or