It was quite different from the
Deauville of to-day, which is charming, with quantities of pretty villas
and gardens and sports of all kinds, but the sea is so far off one has
to take quite a long walk to get to it, and the mornings on the beach
and the expeditions to Trouville in the afternoon across the ferry, to
do a little shopping in the rue de Paris, are things of the past.
Curiously enough while I was looking over my notes the other day, I had
a visit from an old friend, the Duc de M., who was one of the inner
circle of the imperial household of the Emperor Napoleon III, and took
an active part in all that went on at court. He had just been hearing
from a friend of the very brilliant season at Deauville this year, and
the streams of gold that flowed into the caisse of the management of the
new hotel and casino. Every possible luxury and every inducement to
spend money, racing, gambling, pretty women of all nationalities and
facile character, beautifully dressed and covered with jewels, side by
side with the bearers of some of the proudest names in France. He said
that just fifty years ago he went to Deauville with the Duc de Morny,
Princesse Metternich, and the Comtesse de Pourteles to inaugurate the
new watering-place, then of the simplest description.
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