“I can’t help regarding the affair, Ingram, as something more than a political ballon d’essai. The silence of our friends both in the Boulevard de Courcelles and the Rue de Lille is very ominous.”
Chapter Fourteen.
Smart Paris.
On the following afternoon, as Lord Barmouth had some business with the Minister of Foreign Affairs over at the Quai d’Orsay, I accompanied Lady Barmouth and Sibyl to a rather queer function. It was a unique opportunity offered to visit in detail one of the most attractive palaces in La Ville Lumière; to while away a few hours very agreeably with a well-chosen variety entertainment presented by some of the most popular artists on the Paris stage; and to aid a philanthropic enterprise, L’Oeuvre Sociale, conceived, I suppose, in a compassionate love of humanity and carried on in a touching spirit of self-abnegation. The palace was that of Prince Roland Bonaparte, in the Avenue d’Jena. Through the galleries, salons, and magnificent library the crush was enormous. The afternoon was hot and the atmosphere stifling; nevertheless, in the cause of charity we of the diplomatic circle must always be en évidence, even though we would rather be away from the crowd in the country or by the sea.
It was evident when we arrived that the visit to the hotel was one of the great attractions of the fête, for many lady visitors, especially the American contingent, examined and admired the handsome staircase, with its green marble columns, its vast collection of pictures, sculpture, bronzes, tapestries, and curiosities, the salons filled with souvenirs of the First Empire and of the Imperial family, and the incomparable library—that of Louis XIV—in exquisitely carved wood.
We mounted to the vestibule on the first floor, where a concert-room had been fitted up, and there with difficulty found seats among the crowded audience.
Aristide Bruant himself was concluding one of his popular songs of the street:
La moral’ de c’tte oraison-là,
C’est qu’ les p’tit’s fill’s qu’a pas d’ papa,
Doiv’nt jamais aller à l’école,
À Batignolles,