74 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 



he may be said to have poked his royal nose into every 

 crack and corner of the vessel. Mr. Billings said he 

 heard one of the staff say to the other as His Majesty 

 disappeared into a particularly dark hole, "Is he 

 going in there?" "Going in there? Yes, he's going 

 everywhere." At last the exploration was over and 

 "them kings" came to the surface. The Emperor re- 

 turned to the salon, and then we were all presented, 

 your daughter first (excuse the little piece of egotism, 

 but I suppose you want to know) , and then he remained 

 talking with me for a little time until lunch was an- 

 nounced. His Majesty sat at the end of the table, my 

 friend the Chamberlain placed me at his right hand, 

 and the Captain's wife sat opposite. I was sorry to 

 be separated from the old Chamberlain, because he 

 would have helped me out; but he was placed on the 

 other side, so I had to get on with royalty as well as 

 I could, for the Captain did not speak a word of 

 French. The Emperor was very gracious and talked 

 with great interest of Agassiz, his expedition and so 

 on. When the wine was passed, the Emperor declined, 

 saying it was a rule of his never to take wine, and a 

 rule he never broke except on extraordinary occasions. 

 "However," he added graciously, "this is an extraor- 

 dinary occasion. I will take a glass of champagne." 

 We considered the matter a nice compliment. After 

 lunch we went on deck. They remained for a while, 

 the Emperor talking chiefly with Agassiz, and then 

 they went off accompanied by another salvo of guns 

 to the Emperor's pretty little steam yacht which was 

 waiting for them. This is all I have seen of royalty 



