with them, and some of the toilettes were wonderful. There were a good
many pretty women, Swedes and Danes, the Northern type, very fair hair
and blue eyes, attracting much attention, and a group of Chinese (all in
costume) standing proudly aloof--not the least interested apparently in
the gay scene before them. I wonder what they thought of European
manners and customs! There was no dancing, which I suppose would have
shocked their Eastern morals. Lord Lyons asked me why I wasn't in
Berlin. I said, "For the best of reasons, my husband preferred going
without me--but I hoped he would send for me perhaps at the end of the
Congress." He told me Lady Salisbury was there with her husband. He
seemed rather sceptical as to the peaceful issue of the
negotiations--thought so many unforeseen questions would come up and
complicate matters.

I went to a ball at the Hotel de Ville, also given for all the
foreigners and French people connected with the exposition. The getting
there was very long and tiring. The coupe-file did no good, as every one
had one. Comte de Pontecoulant went with me and he protested vigorously,
but one of the head men of the police, whom he knew well, came up to the
carriage to explain that nothing could be done. There was a long line of
diplomatic and official carriages, and we must take our chance with the
rest. Some of our cousins (Americans) never got there at all--sat for
hours in their carriage in the rue du Rivoli, moving an inch at a time.
Happily it was a lovely warm night; and as we got near we saw lots of
people walking who had left their carriages some little distance off,
hopelessly wedged in a crowd of vehicles--the women in light dresses,
with flowers and jewels in their hair. The rooms looked very handsome
when at last we did get in, particularly the staircase, with a Garde
Municipal on every step, and banks of palms and flowers on the landing
in the hall, wherever flowers could be put. The Ville de Paris furnishes