His uncle was not of
that opinion. He was a very clever man, a diplomatist who had lived in a
great many places and known a great many people, and was entirely on the
Royalist side, but he thought their cause was a lost one, at least for a
time. He often asked some of his friends to meet us at dinner, said it
was a good thing for W. to hear what men on the other side thought, and
W. was quite pleased to meet them. They were all absolutely opposed to
him in politics, and discussion sometimes ran high, but there was never
anything personal--all were men of the world, had seen many changes in
France in their lives; many had played a part in politics under the
former regimes. It seemed to me that they underrated the intelligence
and the strength of the Republican party.
One of the regular habitues was the Marquis de N., a charming man,
fairly broad-minded (given the atmosphere he lived in) and sceptical to
the highest degree. He was a great friend of Marshal MacMahon, and had
been prefet at Pau, where he had a great position. He was very
dictatorial, very outspoken, but was a great favourite, particularly
with the English colony, which is large there in the hunting-season.
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