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, 
butI supposeyou want to know), andthen 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 
