Her husband was a literary man who made
conferences at the Sorbonne and the College de France, and they lived
entirely in that quarter--came very rarely to our part of Paris. He was
an old friend of W.'s, and they came sometimes to dine with us. He
deplored W.'s having gone to the Foreign Office--thought the Public
Instruction was so much more to his tastes and habits. She had an
English grandmother, knew English quite well, and read English reviews
and papers. She had once seen Queen Victoria and was very interested in
all that concerned her. Queen Victoria had a great prestige in France.
People admired not only the wise sovereign who had weathered
successfully so many changes, but the beautiful woman's life as wife and
mother. She was always spoken of with the greatest respect, even by
people who were not sympathetic to England as a nation.
Another of my haunts was the Convent and Maison de Sante of the Soeurs
Augustines du Saint Coeur de Marie in the rue de la Sante. It was
curious to turn out of the broad, busy, populous avenue, crowded with
trams, omnibuses, and camions, into the narrow, quiet street, which
seemed all stone walls and big doors.
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