AS DESPATCH-BEARER IN WAR-TIME-1855 477 



gentleman." At this the humble manner of Mrs. X. was 

 flung off in an instant, and turning fiercely upon the 

 German lady, she said, " 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?" The lady thus addressed started again 

 as if stabbed, turned pale, and gasped out, "Pardon, 

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

 X. became again penitently apologetic, and answered, 

 "Madam, I beg a thousand pardons; I will not speak 

 again to the gentleman"; and then, turning to me, said 

 very solemnly, but loudly, so that all might hear, "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, "That was 

 rather severe treatment which you administered to the 

 German lady. " " Yes, ' ' she answered ; " it will teach her 

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

 woman." 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. 

 "And then," said Mrs. X., "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 rain- 



