[Illustration: Mme. Sadi Carnot. From a drawing by Mlle. Amelie
Beaury-Saurel.]
One day Madame Sadi Carnot sat a long time with me. Her husband had been
named undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works in the new
cabinet, and she was very pleased. She was a very charming, intelligent,
cultivated woman--read a great deal, was very keen about politics and
very ambitious (as every clever woman should be) for her husband and
sons. I think she was a great help socially to her husband when he
became President of the Republic. He was a grave, reserved man, didn't
care very much for society. I saw her very often and always found her
most attractive. At the Elysee she was amiable and courteous to
everybody and her slight deafness didn't seem to worry her nor make
conversation difficult. She did such a charming womanly thing just after
her husband's assassination. He lay in state for some days at the
Elysee, and M. Casimir Perier, his successor, went to make her a visit.
As he was leaving he said his wife would come the next day to see Madame
Carnot. She instantly answered, "Pray do not let her come; she is young,
beginning her life here at the Elysee.
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