My First Years as a Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 | Page 7

from French diplomatists in Germany
were found unopened in a drawer at the ministry.
It was rather sad, as we drove through the stately alleys of the Park of
St. Cloud, with the setting sun shining through the fine old trees, to
hear of all the fetes that used to take place there,--and one could quite
well fancy the beautiful Empress appearing at the end of one of the
long avenues, followed by a brilliant suite of ladies and ecuyers,--and
the echoes of the cor de chasse in the distance. The alleys are always
there, and fairly well kept, but very few people or carriages pass. The
park is deserted. I don't think the cor de chasse would awaken an echo
or a regret even, so entirely has the Empire and its glories become a
thing of the past. A rendezvous de chasse was a very pretty sight.
We went once to Compiegne before I was married, about three years
before the war. We went out and breakfasted at Compiegne with a great
friend of ours, M. de St. M., a chamberlain or equerry of the Emperor.
We breakfasted in a funny old-fashioned little hotel (with a very good
cuisine) and drove in a big open break to the forest. There were a great
many people riding, driving, and walking, officers of the garrison in
uniform, members of the hunt in green and gold, and a fair sprinkling
of red coats. The Empress looked charming, dressed always in the
uniform of the hunt, green with gold braid, and a tricorne on her

head,--all her ladies with the same dress, which was very becoming.
One of the most striking-looking of her ladies was the Princess Anna
Murat, the present Duchesse de Mouchy, who looked very handsome in
the tricorne and beautifully fitting habit. I didn't see the Empress on her
horse, as we lost sight of them very soon. She and her ladies arrived on
the field in an open break. I saw the Emperor quite distinctly as he rode
up and gave some orders. He was very well mounted (there were some
beautiful horses) but stooped slightly, and had rather a sad face. I never
saw him again, and the Empress only long years after at Cowes, when
everything had gone out of her life.
The President, Marshal MacMahon, was living at the Prefecture at
Versailles and received every Thursday evening. We went there several
times--it was my first introduction to the official world. The first two or
three times we drove out, but it was long (quite an hour and a quarter)
over bad roads--a good deal of pavement. One didn't care to drive
through the Park of St. Cloud at night--it was very lonely and dark. We
should have been quite helpless if we had fallen upon any enterprising
tramps, who could easily have stopped the carriage and helped
themselves to any money or jewels they could lay their hands on. One
evening the Seine had overflowed and we were obliged to walk a long
distance--all around Sevres--and got to Versailles very late and quite
exhausted with the jolting and general discomfort. After that we went
out by train--which put us at the Prefecture at ten o'clock. It wasn't very
convenient as there was a great rush for carriages when we arrived at
Versailles, still everybody did it. We generally wore black or dark
dresses with a lace veil tied over our heads, and of course only went
when it was fine. The evening was pleasant enough--one saw all the
political men, the marshal's personal friends of the droite went to him
in the first days of his presidency,--(they rather fell off later)--the
Government and Republicans naturally and all the diplomatic corps.
There were not many women, as it really was rather an effort to put
one's self into a low-necked dress and start off directly after dinner to
the Gare St. Lazare, and have rather a rush for places. We were always
late, and just had time to scramble into the last carriage.
I felt very strange--an outsider--all the first months, but my husband's

friends were very nice to me and after a certain time I was astonished to
find how much politics interested me. I learned a great deal from
merely listening while the men talked at dinner. I suppose I should
have understood much more if I had read the papers regularly, but I
didn't begin to do that until W. had been minister for some time, and
then worked myself into a nervous fever at all the opposition papers
said about him. However, all told, the attacks were never very vicious.
He had never been in public life until after the war when he was named
deputy and joined the Assemblee Nationale at Bordeaux--which was an