in all questions of home policy and persons W. found him a very keen, shrewd observer—­though he said very little—­rarely expressed an opinion.  I didn’t make a very long visit—­found my way down-stairs as well as I could—­no servant was visible either on the stairs or in the hall, and my own footman opened the big doors and let me out.  We got off the first days of February—­as, up to the last moment, W. had people to see.  We went for two or three days to Bourneville—­I had one or two very cold tramps in the woods (very dry) which is quite unusual at this time of the year, but the earth was frozen hard.  Inside the woods we were well sheltered, but when we came out on the plain the cold and icy wind was awful.  The workmen had made fires to burn the roots and rotten wood, and we were very glad to stop and warm ourselves.  Some had their children with them, who looked half perished with cold, always insufficiently clad, but they were quite happy roasting potatoes in the ashes.  I was so cold that I tied a woollen scarf around my head, just as the women in Canada do when they go sleighing or skating.

We had a breakfast one day for some of W.’s influential men in the country, who were much disgusted at the turn affairs had taken and that W. could no longer remain minister, but they were very fairly au courant of all that was going on in Parliament, and quite understood that for the moment the moderate, experienced men had no chance.  The young Republic must have its fling.  Has the country learned much or gained much in its forty years of Republic?

INDEX

Adams, Sir Francis, school friend of
  M. Waddington
Aisne, deputies and senators of Department
  of the
Alexander of Battenberg, Prince
Alexander of Russia, Grand Duke
  (Emperor Alexander III), interview
  with
Alexandra, Queen
Ambassadors, treatment of, in Russia
Americans, violation of rules of court
  etiquette by; good-natured tolerance
  of, in European circles;
  Lord Lyons’s opinion of women
  of
Andrassy, Count, at Berlin Congress;
  personality of
Andre, Alfred
Annamites as dinner guests
Aosta, Due d’, in Paris at opening of
  exposition; author’s impressions of
Arab horses presented to M. Waddington
Arco, Count
Arnim, Count, German ambassador
  in Paris; succeeded by Prince
  Hohenlohe
Aumale, Duc d’, president of Bazaine
  court-martial; at ball at
  British embassy
Austria, description of Empress of,
  when in Paris; stiffness of court
  etiquette in

Baden, Grand Duchess of, M. Waddington’s
  meeting with
Bazaine, Marshal, court-martial of
Beaconsfield, Lord, at Berlin Congress
Bear as a pet at German embassy
Begging letters received by persons in
  public life
Berlin Congress, the; French
  plenipotentiaries named to the;
  M. Waddington’s account of doings