; how he crossed the Place Vendome, and saw a
sentinel pacing at the foot of Napoleon's Column; how he observed that
the sentinel had the misfortune to have a hole in his greatcoat, which
affords an opportunity too good to be lost for quoting that
little-known verse of Burns's--'If there's a hole in a' your coats,'
&c.; how he then, being done with looking at the sentinel, goes on his
way, crosses the Boulevard des Italiens, and enters the Rue de la
Chaussee d'Antin; how he looks about him till he sees No. 50, and,
having spoken a word to the door-keeper, goes up stairs. Then, he
informs his readers that he rang the doctor's bell; and how, the door
being opened by a boy in livery, he was shewn into a drawing-room.
Here, he tells us, he sat down in company with a number of other
patients, waiting their turn to be called by the doctor. Vastly
amusing all this, but nothing to what follows:--'For a considerable
time we all sat in mute silence, and, indeed, in our respective
attitudes, almost motionless, save that every now and then a
gentleman, and sometimes a lady, would arise, slowly walk diagonally
across the carpet to a corner close to the window, press with his or
her hand the top of a little mahogany machine that looked like an
umbrella-stand, look down into it, and then very slowly, at a sort of
funereal pace, walk back. All this I bore with great fortitude for
some time: at last, overpowered by curiosity, I arose, walked slowly
and diagonally across the carpet, pushed the thing in the corner
exactly as I had seen everybody else push it, looked just as they did,
downwards, where, close to the floor, I beheld open, in obedience to
the push I had given from the top, the lid of a spitting-box, from
which I very slowly, and without attracting the smallest observation,
walked back to my chair.' Wonderful power of description this!

Having had the honour of receiving an invitation to dinner at the
Elysee, Sir Francis of course goes at the appointed hour, seven
o'clock. The following is

William Babington Maxwell (18661938) was a British novelist. He was a son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Though nearly 50 years old at the outbreak of the First World War, he was accepted as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and served in France until 1917.

Cyrus Townsend Brady (December 20, 1861 January 24, 1920) was a journalist, historian and adventure writer. His most well-known work is Indian Fights and Fighters. He was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1883. He was also a deacon in the Episcopal church. His first wife was Clarissa Guthrie, who died in 1890. His second wife was Mary Barrett.

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), also known as Sophie May, was an American author of childrens fiction. Using her nieces and nephews as inspiration, she wrote realistic stories about children. She wrote 45 books between 1860 and 1903. The most popular being the Little Prudy books. She lived most of her life in her native town of Norridgewock, Maine, where she lived out her life with her sister, who was also a successful author.