In the large court of the Grand Hôtel there was a concourse of inquisitive people, attracted by the arrival of the imperial carriage. On the large balcony sat foreigners reading newspapers and chatting.
Suddenly they heard the loud out-cry of a woman clad in black, with distorted features and blood-shot starting eyes. She appeared at the foot of the large staircase, and shrieked incessantly: "My carriage, my carriage!"
General Almonte overtook the empress. He sought to calm her, it was impossible. All eyes were fixed on the surprising apparition.
The general in great distress wishing to bring the dreadful scene to an end, desired the lacquey who was in the empress's service, to bring a carriage into the court of the hotel.
The equipage drove round.
With one spring the empress threw herself in. The general seized the door to follow her. Then her strength failed her--she collapsed, her eyes closed, white foam appeared on her lips; unconscious, with convulsive shudders, she fell back on the cushions.
Several servants hastily appeared. They carried her gently upstairs to her own room.
"What a tragedy begins," said General Almonte, shuddering, as he followed slowly; "and what a conclusion lies in the lap of the future!"
* * * * *
Late in the afternoon, the brilliant carriages belonging to the aristocracy, the haute finance, and the foreign diplomacy, drove slowly round the Bois de Boulogne. The whole Paris world had remained in town, the universal interest in the European crisis chained them to the capital; and the whole world took its accustomed slow drive before dinner, along the beautiful shores of the two lakes, in the charming, wonderfully-kept Bois de Boulogne. Between the imposing heavy-looking carriages with their powdered servants, drove the carriages belonging to the 'demi-monde,' light and graceful, with spirited prancing steeds; and the young gentlemen, without regarding the displeased looks of the ladies of the 'grande monde,' rode close to these carriages, laughingly and jestingly replying to the piquant remarks made by the ladies of the avant-scène and the Café anglais.