A naturally retentive
memory is apt to store up perfectly useless items of information.
What possible object can there be to my remembering that the
engine which hauled us from Calais to Paris in 1865 was built by
J. Cail of Paris, on the "Crampton" system; that is, that the axle
of the big single driving-wheels did not run under the frame of
the engine, but passed through the "cab" immediately under the
pressure-gauge?--nor can any useful purpose be served in
recalling that we crossed the Channel in the little steamer La
France.
In those days people of a certain class in England maintained far
closer social relations with people of the corresponding class in
France than is the custom now, and this was mutual. Society in
both capitals was far smaller. My father and mother had many
friends in Paris, and amongst the oldest of them were the Comte
and Comtesse de Flahault. General de Flahault had been the
personal aide-de-camp and trusted friend of Napoleon I. Some
people, indeed, declared that his connection with Napoleon III.
was of a far closer nature, for his great friendship with Queen
Hortense was a matter of common knowledge.
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