Chapter I: Preface

The story of the Cockaynes was written some years ago,--in the days when Paris was at her best and brightest; and the English quarter was crowded; and the Emperor was at St. Cloud; and France appeared destined to become the wealthiest and strongest country in the world.

Where the Cockaynes carried their guide-books and opera-glasses, and fell into raptures at every footstep, there are dismal ruins now. The Vendôme Column is a stump, wreathed with a gigantic _immortelle_, and capped with the tri-color. The Hall of the Marshals is a black hole. Those noble rooms in which the first magistrate of the city of Boulevards gave welcome to crowds of English guests, are destroyed. In the name of Liberty some of the most precious art-work of modern days has been fired. The Communists' defiling fingers have passed over the canvas of Ingrès. Auber and Dumas have gone from the scene in the saddest hour of their country's history. The Anglo-French alliance--that surest rock of enduring peace--has been rent asunder, through the timorous hesitation of English ministers, and the hardly disguised Bourbon sympathies of English society. We are not welcome now in Paris, as we were when I followed in the wake of the prying Cockaynes. My old concierge is very cold in his greeting, and carries my valise to my rooms sulkily. Jerome, my particular waiter at the Grand Café, no longer deigns to discuss the news of the day with me. Good Monsieur Giraudet, who could suggest the happiest little _menus_, when I went to his admirable restaurant, and who kept the _Rappel_ for me, now bows silently and sends an underling to see what the Englishman requires.

It is a sad, and a woful change; and one of ominous import for our children. Most woful to those of my countrymen who, like the reader's humble servant, have passed a happy half-score of years in the delightful society and the incomparable capital of the French people.

BLANCHARD JERROLD.

RUE DE ROME, PARIS,
_July_, 1871.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. MRS. ROWE'S 13

II. HE'S HERE AGAIN! 30

III. MRS. ROWE'S COMPANY 39

IV. THE COCKAYNES IN PARIS 45

V. THE COCKAYNE FAMILY 62

VI. A "GRANDE OCCASION" 91

VII. OUR FOOLISH COUNTRYWOMEN 104

VIII. "OH, YES!" AND "ALL RIGHT!" 111

IX. MISS CARRIE COCKAYNE TO MISS SHARP 122

X. "THE PEOPLE OF THE HOUSE" 129

XI. MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLERS 140

XII. MRS. DAKER 154

XIII. AT BOULOGNE-SUR-MER 174

XIV. THE CASTAWAY 192

XV. THE FIRST TO BE MARRIED 210

XVI. GATHERING A FEW THREADS 231

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
MY LORD ANGLAIS AT MABILLE Frontispiece

CROSSING THE CHANNEL--A SMOOTH PASSAGE 13

CROSSING THE CHANNEL--RATHER SQUALLY 14

ROBINSON CRUSOE AND FRIDAY 16

PAPA AND THE DEAR BOYS 18

THE DOWAGER AND TALL FOOTMAN 20

ON THE BOULEVARDS 42

A GROUP OF MARBLE "INSULAIRES" 46

BEAUTY AND THE B---- 68

PALAIS DU LOUVRE.--THE ROAD TO THE BOIS 72

MUSEE DU LUXEMBOURG 77

THE INFLEXIBLE "MEESSES ANGLAISES" 105

ENGLISH VISITORS TO THE CLOSERIE DE LILAS--SHOCKING!! 109

SMITH BRINGS HIS ALPENSTOCK 114

JONES ON THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE 118

FRENCH RECOLLECTION OF MEESS TAKING HER BATH 125

THE BRAVE MEESS AMONG THE BILLOWS HOLDING ON
BY THE TAIL OF HER NEWFOUNDLAND 125

VARIETIES OF THE ENGLISH STOCK.--COMPATRIOTS
MEETING IN THE FRENCH EXHIBITION 126

A PIC-NIC AT ENGHIEN 147

EXCURSIONISTS AND EMIGRANTS 152

BOIS DE BOULOGNE 164

THE

COCKAYNES IN PARIS.