industry, and the glory of French arms would check the greed of the
Anglo-Saxon, that arrogant merchant race who would monopolize the trade
of the world. The thought was brilliant, grand, generous, noble, worthy
of a Napoleonic mind. There were millions in it!

Later, upon reaching Vera Cruz, I remembered that nothing had been said
of the yellow fever and the rainy season, or of the magnitude of the
sparsely populated country which it was necessary to clear of predatory
bands who then virtually held it, or of the expense in men and millions
which must be incurred to maintain order while all these great schemes
were being carried out. My eloquent fellow-travelers unhesitatingly
asserted that Mexico yearned for all this prosperity; it was extending
its arms to France; the French army would receive one long ovation in
its triumphant march to the capital amid vivas and showers of roses. All
who KNEW said so. How lucky was mademoiselle to be going there at this
auspicious moment, to witness such great and stirring events!

M. Jubinal looked somewhat incredulous, but the atmosphere created just
then by the occasion was certainly against him. Here was a large company
of French capitalists, backed by one of the most substantial houses in
France, opening direct communication between that country and Mexico,
when hitherto most of the traffic had been conducted through an English
medium. To my youthful mind it DID seem then as though M. Jubinal had
the worst of the argument.

Upon leaving my brilliant companions to find my way to the steamer,
however, the scene changed as suddenly as though a wizard's wand had
wrought its magic. The weather seemed threatening; a dull gray sky hung
low over the bay, and the chopping, white-capped waves reflected the
leaden color of the clouds.