the
carriage and Hubert within call. The woman was civil enough when she
saw I had not come empty-handed. We took her some soup, bread, and
milk. The children pounced upon the bread like little wild animals.
The mother didn't touch anything while we were there--said she was
glad to have the milk for the boy. I never saw human beings living in
such utter filth and poverty. A crofter's cottage in Scotland, or an
Irish hovel with the pigs and children all living together, was a
palace compared to that awful hole. I remonstrated vigorously with W.
and the Mayor of La Ferte for allowing people to live in that way,
like beasts, upon the highroad, close to a perfectly prosperous
country town. However, they were vagrants, couldn't live anywhere, for
when we passed again, some days later, there was no one in the hole.
The door had fallen down, there was no smoke coming out, and the
neighbours told us the family had suddenly disappeared. The
authorities then took up the matter--the holes were filled up, and no
one was allowed to live in them. It really was too awful--like the
dwellers in caves of primeval days.

We didn't have many visits at the chateau, though we were so near
Paris (only about an hour and a half by the express), but the old
people had got accustomed to their quiet life, and visitors would have
worried them. Sometimes a Protestant pasteur would come down for two
days. We had a nice visit once from M. de Pressense, father of the
present deputy, one of the most charming, cultivated men one could
imagine. He talked easily and naturally, using beautiful language. He
was most interesting when he told us about the Commune, and all the
horrors of that time in Paris. He was in the Tuileries when the mob
sacked and burned the palace; saw the femmes de la halle sitting on
the brocade and satin sofas, saying, "C'est nous les princesses
maintenant"; saw the entrance of the troops from Versailles, and the
quantity of innocent people shot who were merely standing looking on
at the barricades, having never had a gun in their hands. The only
thing I didn't like was his long extempore (to me familiar) prayers at
night. I believe it is a habit in some old-fashioned French Protestant
families to pray for each member of the family by name. I thought it
was bad enough when he prayed for the new menage just beginning their
married life (that was us), that they might be spiritually guided to
do their best for each other and their res