AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1S55 477 



gentleman. &quot; At this the humble manner of Mrs. X. was 

 flung off in an instant, and turning fiercely upon the 

 German lady, she said, &quot; Madam, since you are not 

 the mother of the gentleman, and, of course, cannot be 

 his wife, by what right do you interfere to prevent his 

 answering me ? &quot; The lady thus addressed started again 

 as if stabbed, turned pale, and gasped out, &quot;Pardon, 

 madam ; I am the wife of the gentleman. Instantly Mrs. 

 X. became again penitently apologetic, and answered, 

 &quot;Madam, I beg a thousand pardons; I will not speak 

 again to the gentleman &quot;; and then, turning to me, said 

 very solemnly, but loudly, so that all might hear, &quot;Hea 

 vens ! can it be possible ! 



By this time we were all in distress, the German lady 

 almost in a state of collapse, and her husband hardly less 

 so. At various times during the remainder of the journey 

 I heard them affecting to laugh the matter off, but it was 

 clear that the thrust from my fair compatriot had cut deep 

 and would last long. 



Arriving at our destination, I obtained the key to the 

 mystery. On taking leave of Mrs. X., I said, i That was 

 rather severe treatment which you administered to the 

 German lady.&quot; &quot;Yes,&quot; she answered; &quot;it will teach her 

 never again to go out of her way to insult an American 

 woman.&quot; She then told me that the lady had been evi 

 dently vexed because Mrs. X. had brought her maid into 

 the compartment; and that this aristocratic dame had 

 shown her feeling by applying her handkerchief to her 

 nose, by sniffing, and by various other signs of disgust. 

 &quot;And then,&quot; said Mrs. X., &quot;I determined to teach her a 

 lesson. ? 



I never saw Mrs. X. again. After a brilliant social ca 

 reer of a few years she died ; but her son, who was then a 

 boy of twelve years, in a short jacket, has since become 

 very prominent in Europe and America, and, in a way, in 

 fluential. 



In Paris I delivered my despatches to our minister, Mr. 

 Mason ; was introduced to Baron Seebach, the Saxon min- 



